Lok Sabha Question No. 2935 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-02
Subject: Operational Satellites
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: MANSHANKAR NINAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2935

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 02, 2017

## OPERATIONAL SATELLITES

2935.   SHRI MANSHANKAR NINAMA:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  satellites  which  are  currently  operational  are fulfilling only half of the requirements of the country;
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether it  has  been  affecting  our  capacity  to  resolve  issues relating to governance and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the number of satellites which are currently operational along with  the  number  of  satellites  which  are  under  construction; and
- (e) the steps being taken by the Government for building more and more satellites and to accelerate their use?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG &

PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

## (a) & (b)

The  currently  operational  42  satellites are being  utilised to meet the requirements of resources monitoring, infrastructure planning, enabling weather forecasting, disaster management support, location based services, host of societal applications, including the demands of satellite

- communication. To ensure continuity of services and to meet further  requirements  in  these  areas,  a  plan  is  in  place  to suitably augment the space infrastructure.
- (c) Satellite  based  data  and  services  are  being  used  by  various Ministries/Departments in planning, monitoring and evaluation of  developmental  activities  in  various  sectors,  which  include agriculture, forestry & environment, water resources, urban & rural  planning,  asset  mapping,  mineral  prospecting,  ocean resources, meteorology, satellite communication, location based  services,  tele-education,  tele-medicine  and  disaster management support.
- (d) At present, there are 42 operational satellites in orbit comprising of 18 Earth observation (including meteorological), 15 communication, 7 navigational and 2 Space Science satellites.  26  satellites  are  currently  under  various  stages  of realisation.
- (e) In order to step up the building of satellites, ISRO is involving a consortium of industries for Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) of satellites, wherein the sub-systems and infrastructure is being provided by ISRO. The AIT of a navigation satellite is in  progress  and  the  satellite  is  getting  ready  for  launch  in second half of this year.

In order to accelerate the use of satellites and its services, an outreach facility has been established in Hyderabad to cater to the requirements of capacity building in space-based applications.  This  facility  caters  to  several  activities  like training,  Information  Kiosks,  content  generation,  outsourcing and  mass  communication.  The  facility  comprises  of  large number  of  thin  client  systems  providing  access  to  satellite data  and  various  software  tools  for  building  applications  for various developmental activities.

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