Five communication satellites next year:Kiran Kumar

27 December, Bengaluru

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)will be deploying five communication satellites next year to meet the urgent transponder requirements of the country.

Talking to newsmen here, ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said that 2017 would be a crowded year with a satellite launch programme for every month.

He said that the next communication satellite would be GSAT 17 which would have 48 transponders and this would be followed by a SAARC satellite with 12 transponders.

Kiran Kumar said that ISRO was also planning next generation communication satellites which would have increased number of beams,upto 32 beams.

He said that the next cluster of satellites in a single lift would be taking place towards the end of January 2017. PSLV-C-37 would be launched with CARTOSAT-2 and a cluster of satellites.

ISRO had during the flight of PSLVC 34 in June this year had launched 20 satellites and this was followed by another launch PSLVC35 in September when eight satellites were launched in two different orbits.

He said after a good year, ISRO was looking another major year of performances in 2017. ”Major emphasis will be on building capacity” he added.