ISRO to build new class of powerful communication satellites

Bangalore, Aug 31 (PTI) Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) plans to build a new class of powerful communication
satellites that packs more capacity and new technologies, its
Chairman K Radhakrishnan said here Wednesday.
This kind of spacecraft would handle larger amount of
power and accommodate more number of transponders in the same
satellite, he told PTI adding that ISRO planned to incorporate
new technologies in them and get into higher bands.
"Today, we are at Ku band. We want to get into Ka band and
even higher band. This is one of the priorities (in the coming
five-year plan (which starts in April next year)",
Radhakrishnan, who is also Chairman of Space Commission
and Secretary in the Department of Space, said.
"In remote sensing (satellite field), we have to get into
environmental studies and climate change studies. This is one
requirement, new requirement (in the next five-year plan)," he
said.
He said the Bangalore-headquartered ISRO would launch its
first navigation satellite next year, under its Indian
Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) programme which
would be followed by six more such spacecraft. "So, these will
have live coverage over Indian region," Radhakrishnan said.
ISRO's GSLV today can carry satellites weighing 2.2 tons
into space. Radhakrishnan said GSLV-Mk III (which can lift
four tonne spacecraft) is going to be one of the "major
targets" in the coming five-year plan.

Radhakrishnan emphasised that the first and foremost
priority of the ISRO was flying indigenous cryogenic engine
and stage.
"That's (cryogenic technology) the future for ISRO because
future launch vehicles will require cryogenic engine and
stage," he said.
ISRO's earlier attempt in April 2010 to flight test the
home grown cryogenic engine and stage, a complex technology,
had ended in failure when the launch vehicle veered off its
path and plunged into the Bay of Bengal along with GSAT-4
satellite.
Radhakrishnan also said ISRO was now going to make a "very
major inroad" in science, and referred to Astrosat, a multi
wave-length observatory in space, which it plans to launch in
the next financial year.
He stressed the need to build "sufficient number of
scientific talent" to utilise the space-based data generated
by ISRO's satellites.
"Space exploration not only gives you excitement, it
drives the technology downstream," he observed.