India Plans Series of Satellite Launches By March 2014

Andhra Pradesh: The Indian space agency has lined up a series of launches for this fiscal, including the silver jubilee flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C25 (PSLV-C25) carrying the Mars orbiter, a top official said.

"The Mars mission will be anytime after October 21 this year. As per plans after the ejecting the orbiter, it will start its Mars voyage around November 28 or 29," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan told reporters.

He expressed his happiness at the successful launch of India's first navigation satellite - Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1A (IRNSS-1A).

Speaking about the other launches planned by the space agency this fiscal, Radhakrishnan said an advanced meteorological satellite - INSAT-3D - will be launched through the Ariane 5 rocket later this month.

He said communication satellite GSat-14 will be launched through ISRO's heavy rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Aug 6.

Another communication satellite Gsat-7 will be launched by Ariane rocket this year and the satellite will be shipped to French Guiana spaceport.

Radhakrishnan said another PSLV rocket is planned to carry a foreign satellite SPOT-7 sometime during December this year.

"In January 2014, GSLV Mark III experimental mission is slated. And there is also the launch of India's second navigation satellite IRNSS-1D in March 2014," Radhakrishnan said.

Asked about the revenue potential of the navigation satellite system that will come into play by 2015, Radhakrishnan said: "There is a large group of users for navigation systems. Several new services will also develop."

He said the navigation satellite service can be started with four satellites in place.

The IRNSS is a constellation of seven satellites in the space and two satellites as spares. The total project cost is around 1,450 crore (350 crore for ground systems and the balance for nine satellites).