New Delhi: Thirteen of the 34 Indian satellites operational in the country are communication satellites.
These sare: INSAT-3A, INSAT-3C, INSAT-4A, INSAT-4B, INSAT-4CR, GSAT-6, GSAT-7, GSAT-8, GSAT-10, GSAT-12, GSAT-14, GSAT-15 and GSAT-16. The others include 12 Earth Observation Satellites; seven Navigational Satellites;and two Space science Satellites.
About 30 service providers are utilising Ku-band (a part of K band) transponders onboard indigenous communication satellites for various communication applications, which include direct-to-home television, digital satellite news gathering, telecommunication, VSAT services for banking, tele-education, business communication. The government is not seeking any foreign assistance/collaboration for satellite operations, Space Department minister Jitendra Singh has told Parliament.
The Indian Space Research Organization has an action plan in place for developing indigenous satellites, with the participation of Indian industries, for earth observation, communication, navigation and space science and planetary exploration.
Meanwhile, ISRO has signed MoU/ cooperative agreements for exploration and use of outer space with 37 countries viz. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, The Netherlands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States of America and Venezuela.
The fields to explore newer research activities addressed in these MoUs include Joint development of advanced scientific instruments to observe earth and universe; joint realization of satellite missions; jointly carrying out calibration and validation experiments; conducting airborne campaign with advanced instruments; deep space navigation and communication support for space science missions; development of advanced technologies for building and launching of spacecrafts for earth observation and space science exploration.
Application possibilities in the field of remote sensing addressed in these MoUs include - natural resource management; vegetation biomass estimation; meteorological & oceanographic applications; atmospheric parameter retrieval & modelling; climate monitoring and weather forecasting; disaster management support.
