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India Reveals Ambitious Satellite Program
New Delhi (AFP) September 28, 1999 - India will place an array of communications and remote-sensing satellites into orbit in the next millennium, the chief of the main space agency said on Tuesday. "Work is on in full swing for the future launches, which will expand the Indian Space and Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite family," K. Kasturirangan told a news conference in Bombay. The ISRO chief said the state-run organisation planned to launch two locally-built Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) between 2001 and 2002. "They will usher an era of extensive research in remote sensing. This will be followed by Oceansat II, the second in the series of the first Oceansat satellite launched earlier this year," he said. Kasturirangan said another satellite being jointly developed by India and France for climate and weather applications would also join the ISRO family.
"The challenges include all weather observations, stereo and hyper-spectral observations with high resolution," local television networks quoted the ISRO chief as saying. Kasturirangan said a new broadcasting satellite, part of the new-generation Insat-3A series, would be also ready by November and launched next year. "With several satellites of the Insat and IRS series already in orbit and a mix of satellites to be launched in the next few years, this will prove that India has the best civilian satellite system," he said. Kasturirangan also said that the ISRO was preparing an advanced version of its satellite-launching rocket called the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). India hopes to tap into the global commercial satellite launch market which focuses on 20 to 30 launches a year with total fees of about 2.5 billion dollars. The ISRO in May for the first time successfully launched the PSLV rocket which put into orbit a German, South Korean and locally-made satellite. The maiden launch of a prototype PSLV rocket ended in disaster when it crashed after blast-off in September 1993. The fourth and last test flight successfully placed an Indian-built IRS into space in September 1997. Copyright 1999 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India. |
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The ISRO hopes the 2005 launch of the 100-milion-dollar satellite will help France and India carve a larger piece of the global remote-sensing market, estimated to reach 12 billion dollars in six year from six billion dollars at present.