PM Narendra Modi’s SAARC Satellite to be launched in December next year.
India is expected to launch much awaited SAARC satellite in December next year, space agency chief A.S. Kiran Kumar said on Friday. The satellite would provide a range of public services to all Saarc member countries except Pakistan, as they had refused to participate in PM Narendra Modi’s plan.
“The two-tonne satellite will have 12 Ku band transponders, with each dedicated to one country in the region for providing communication, education, tele-medicine, disaster monitoring and other need-based services,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman told reporters here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed an exclusive satellite for nations in the region as a gift as India is the only one with the capability to build and launch satellites for communications, earth observations and space sciences.
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The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) was formed in 1985 with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as its seven members and expanded subsequently to include Afghanistan.
At the last Saarc summit in Katmandu on November 26-27, 2014, heads of the region endorsed Modi’s proposal for such a satellite on the lines of regional satellites in Europe and North America.
“At a Saarc meeting in Delhi on June 22, experts finalised modalities to have a dedicated satellite for the region. Five representatives from each country, including Pakistan participated in the meeting,” Kiran Kumar said on margins of a science event.
On approval by the Modi government, the state-run space agency will take 18 months to build the satellite at its ce