The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to build re-usable satellite launch vehicles, another milestone in its space endeavour. ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar has said in Mysuru that ISRO was working on designing reusable satellite launch vehicles in an effort to cut down cost.
He said “ISRO will complete the design in 2016. The aim is to bring back the vehicle from the orbit and test if this process is economically viable. The objective is to access space with best minimum cost possible.”
He was in Mysuru to deliver a lecture on ‘Space Technology and Societal Applications’. ISRO now uses separate vehicles to launch satellites and the vehicles cannot be reused. It had planned to test re-usable satellite launch vehicles in September but things did not go as planned, Kumar added. Kumar said ISRO is also working on ‘Geo tagging of post offices’ across the State. The facilities available in as many as 1.5 lakh post offices across Karnataka will be mapped under the project for the benefit of people.
ISRO chairman said ISRO is developing a ‘Space-based information support’ to educate Gram Panchayat members on various schemes available for the development of villages. As part of the project, the Panchayat Raj department will impart training to members in 7,000 blocks spread across the country.
Stressing on the ‘Tele-education Programme’ initiated by ISRO, he said that the country needs more such education institutions and expert teaching faculty. To address the need of education, ISRO developed ‘EDUSAT’ - exclusively for educational services, which cater to a wide range of interactive educational delivery modes such as one-way TV broadcast, video conferencing, etc.
The chairman also highlighted various communication satellites developed to address issues during natural calamities, medical services, and farmer’s issues among other issues.
ISRO has launched 21 satellites in 2015 and out of this 17 satellites were foreign satellites boosting the commercial capabilities of ISRO. According to reports, ISRO is launching its next satellite in the IRNSS constellation will be launched in January 2016.
The satellite for SAARC Countries, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier, is getting ready and is waiting for clearance from various member countries.