ISRO to launch GSAT-4 next year for common man

Bangalore, Dec 11: In an attempt to democratise the technology for the use of common man the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned to launch on experimental communication satellite GSAT-4 next year to enable access to Internet connectivity in all remote villages.

Delivering his inaugural address at the 3rd IEEE International Conference on e-Science and Grid Computing here last night, the ISRO Chief G Madhavan Nair said that taking into consideration of over one lakh villages sans telephone connectivity in the country, ISRO had planned to launch GSAT-4 satellite equipped with KA-band transponders.

He said the GSAT-4 satellite which will have digital connectivity on-board would cover over 1400 villages initially before expanding the computer connectivity to all the remotest of places in the country. The satellite was expected to be put into space by mid next year, he said.

The GSAT-4 would help in an endeavour of ISRO to reach out to all the villages in the country, which were deprived of the utilisation of the computers and internet connectivity. The satellite will also enable in taking the technology to the doorsteps of villagers who could avail the facility of data transfer and applications of computers, to enhance their standards of living, he added.

The ISRO also plans to build a hypersize wind tunnel next year to augment its space programmes, which were progressing smoothly despite hiccups of earlier technology embargoes imposed by developed countries. He exhorted the scientists to evolve standardisation in grid computing which plays a major role in promoting technology innovation, thereby helping the community in a larger way.

The four-day conference was jointly organised by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the premier R&D arm of the Department of Information Technology, and Union Ministry of Communications and IT. The conference, sponsored by IEEE Computer Society's Technical Committee for Scalable Computing, was designed to bring together leading international and interdisciplinary research communities, developers and users of e-Science applications and enabling IT Technologies.

The conference also witnesses the presentation of 60 top quality research papers, 21 posters and five live research demos selected from submissions from all over the world. UNI