The Indian Space Research Organisation has reportedly settled on a dual communications/meteorology specification for its planned Saarc satellite.
The bird will be built in India and its capacity offered to neighbouring countries, reported local paper…
The Indian Space Research Organisation has reportedly settled on a dual communications/meteorology specification for its planned Saarc satellite.
The bird will be built in India and its capacity offered to neighbouring countries, reported local paper Deccan Herald citing ISRO sources.
ISRO did not respond to requests for comment.
The domestic satellite plan is a response to China increasingly striking up space cooperation deals in the region, added the report.
In recent years China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) has helped launch satellites for nearby Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and the country has long been keen to help emerging space nations procure their first spacecraft.
Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) comprises India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and its latest member Afghanistan.
Bangladesh recently cleared a US$374m budget to launch its first satellite, and CGWIC is understood to have been one of the parties to have approached the country to help procure it.
Nepal, Maldives and Afghanistan have also been looking into their debut spacecraft in recent years.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was cited in November telling the Saarc summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, that its satellite could be launched by December 2016.
It comes as ISRO promotes AS Kiran Kumar, a director of its Space Application Centre research arm, to chairman of the agency.
Kumar replaces the retiring K Radhakrishnan, who is credited for spearheading the agency’s low-cost Mars mission Mangalyaan, which has been orbiting the red planet since late September.
