India to launch six more satellites in 2015-16

Chennai: India will launch six more satellites during 2015-16 of which two would be communication satellites, three navigation satellites and one space science satellite ASTROSAT, parliament was told on Thursday.

In a written reply, Jitendra Singh, minister of state in the prime minister's office, told the Rajya Sabha: "Six more satellites are planned to be launched during 2015-16. These are two communication satellites GSAT-6 and GSAT-15; three navigation satellites IRNSS-1E, IRNSS-1F & IRNSS-1G; and one space science satellite ASTROSAT."

In addition, it is also planned to launch 13 more satellites belonging to four countries using the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

As of April 2015, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched 74 satellites.

Out of these, seven satellites failed to reach orbit due to launch failure and three satellites failed in orbit, Singh said.

In addition, ISRO has successfully launched 40 foreign satellites belonging to 19 countries and four micro and nano satellites built by students of Indian universities using the PSLV rocket, he said.