ISRO to launch 32 satellites this year

K Sivan, Chairman, ISRO, said that during this year, besides the most complex Chandrayaan-2, which will be the 25th mission from second launch pad, other development flights of small satellite launch vehicle will also be launched.

“Gaganyaan, the manned missions and activities will go in full steam to accomplish the various development and qualification milestones,” he added.

Stating that ISRO is aiming to re-instate microwave remote sensing capability through the RISAT series and attain operational geo-imaging capability through the GISAT series, he said “Iww t is planned to progressively improve the payload capability of GSLV and its variants.”

“The country will meet the high throughput bandwidth requirement of digital India and also in-flight connectivity with the launch of GSAT-20,” he said, adding “on the application side, crop production estimation will be enhanced to cover 10 additional crops and also provide vital inputs for water and energy security.

Claiming that ISRO is opening its doors to a large number of aspiring youngsters–especially from rural areas–through tailored outreach programmes, he said this was initiated with the establishment of six space incubation centres in unrepresented areas with the first such centrein Agartala.

He said that major infrastructure projects are underway for stepping up the launch capacity, and that the second vehicle assembly building for the second launch pad will be completed soon and the ongoing PSLV Integration Facility for the first launch pad is in full swing.

ISRO also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Home Affairs to provide technical support for establishing a state-of-the-art Integrated Control Room for Emergency Management.

Since 2019 is the centenary birth anniversary of the founding father of the Indian Space Programme, Vikram A Sarabhai, a year-long celebration will commence on August 12, consisting of a host of national and international events such as the establishment of department chairs, fellowships, visiting scholarship in universities that were linked with Sarabhai during his formative years.