New Delhi: Continuing with its efforts toward space exploration, India will launch the SAARC satellite, proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by December 2016, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Kiran Kumar said on Friday.
The two-tonne satellite will have 12 Ku band transponders, with each dedicated to one country in the region for providing communication, education, tele-medicine, disaster monitoring and other need-based services.
PM Narendra Modi had in June last year asked ISRO to develop a SAARC satellite which can be dedicated as a 'gift' to the neighbouring countries to help them in areas such as tele-medicine, weather forecasting and communication.
At the last SAARC summit in Kathmandu in November 2014, Modi made an announcement on India's decision to develop the satellite.
Speaking on the sidelines of IISC Alumni Global Conference 2015 'Science for Society', Mr Kumar said meeting has taken place (with SAARC countries), and experts finalised modalities to have a dedicated satellite for the region.
He said five representatives from each country, including Pakistan participated in the meeting.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) is coordinating with its counterparts in the region on details of their needs.
The estimated time to build the satellite is 18 months. ISRO will build the satellite at its centre in Bengaluru and then launch the spacecraft from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
“Each country will have some capability exclusive for them such as ground station for specific needs like direct-to-home (DTH) link and tele-connectivity,” Kumar added.
When asked about NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, Mr Kumar said “NISAR is a launch for 2021, committee meetings are going to take place again in July.”
The NISAR mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO optimised for studying hazards and global environmental change. Using advanced radar imaging, the satellite will also provide an unprecedented detailed view of Earth.
(With Agencies input)
