Tuesday, February 02, 2010

New satellite to power satphones

India will soon have its own dedicated satellite for providing satellite phone (satphone) services, instead of depending on foreign satellites. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is launching a satellite next year which will carry a large S-band transponder to help India provide its own signals for satellite phones.

“We are in the process of building a high-beam antenna which will be deployed on board a satellite for providing satellite phone (satphone) services using S-band transponder. We can connect handheld devices when it is launched in a year or so,” former Indian space agency chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters on the sidelines of the India Semiconductor Association’s (ISA’s) Vision Summit here on Monday.

ISRO has already designed the antenna that will be mounted on the spacecraft for dedicated satphone services. Once launched, India will become a major player in use of satellite phones and this might also help bring down the cost of satellite phone services.

“Presently, some foreign satellites are being used for satphone services in the country. Development work is on to synthesize the antenna. It will be deployed in one of the communication satellites with S-band transponder,” Nair added.

International Maritime Satellite Organisation (INMARSAT) operates a constellation of geo-stationary satellites designed to provide phone, fax and data communications through handheld devices across the world.

On being asked about the weaponisation of space programme which have been launched by countries like

China, Nair said effective measures were being taken to protect the country’s space assets. China recently developed an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/new-satellite-to-power-satphones/384301/

No comments: