South Asia Satellite to be launched today

A new horizon of cooperation in space and telecommunication among the South Asian nations is going to be opened up as the much-awaited South Asia Satellite will be launched today.

After the launching of the South Asia Satellite into orbit, the top leaders of the seven South Asian nations will join a videoconferencing from their respective countries.

"Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will join the videoconferencing from her official Ganabhaban residence in the evening," PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said last night.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the videoconferencing from New Delhi.

Besides, the heads of state of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan are expected to join the videoconferencing from their respective countries, sources said.

The launch of communication satellite named "GSAT-09" ,developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), will bring South Asian nations closer.

The satellite, which weighs 2,230 kg and took almost three years to build, would boost services such as telecommunication, direct-to-home, telemedicine, tele-education and other supporting systems in these countries.

The satellite is also expected to help support their water conservation initiatives, by providing data, forecasting weather and sending alerts on natural disasters.

With GSAT-09, South Asian countries can also save the investment they would have had to make on developing a communication satellite and launching it.

However, they have to make their own ground station to crunch data from the 12 Ku-band transponders in the satellite. India has spent around Rs 235 crore to develop the space vehicle.

Source: bss