Hyderabad: ISRO plans to launch a US communication satellite next month on a commercial basis using its LVM3 rocket, the space agency’s Chairman V Narayanan said Monday.
Speaking at the 68th Annual Day celebrations of the Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) in Hyderabad, Narayanan said the launch date has not been finalised.
He clarified that it is not a collaboration with the US, but an American satellite being launched commercially by India.
Narayanan said India currently has 57 satellites in orbit, a number expected to triple over the next three years to support national needs. He added that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidance, India’s space programme is progressing rapidly and, by 2040, will be on par with any advanced space-faring nation in terms of launches, satellites, communications, applications and overall capabilities.
