India plans to launch on 5 May the ‘South Asia Satellite’ that will benefit all the countries in the region, except Pakistan which is not a part of the project.

The Mission

• The launch of this communication satellite (GSAT-9) on board the space agency’s rocket GSLV-09.
• The satellite with a lift-off mass of 2,195 kg, would carry 12 ku-band transponders.
• The satellite is designed for a mission life of more than 12 years.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made an announcement about this satellite during the SAARC Summit in Kathmandu in 2014.
• It was named as ‘SAARC Satellite but changed to South Asia Satellite due to Pakistan issue.

Function of the Satellite

• It is meant for providing communication and disaster support, connectivity among States, countries of South Asia region.
• It will provide a significant capability to each of these participating States in terms of DTH, certain VSAT capacity plus linking among the states for both disaster information transfer and also in terms of library type of things.
• There is a potential for each participating country to use a dedicated transponder with a capacity of 36 to 54 Mhz for its own internal use.
• Each country would be responsible for content generation and its use.

Source : LiveMint

GS III : Science and Technology;

GS II : India and its neighborhood- relations