Manned space mission not sanctioned yet: Minister

New Delhi, May 9: The government has not yet given sanction to the proposed manned space mission which will cost Rs 9,500 crore in the next eight years.

Replying to a supplementary during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State in the PMO, Prithivraj Chavan, said Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had put up a proposal to send a manned mission into the space in the next eight years but the government had not yet given the sanction. He clarified that ISRO's project related to man in space and not man on moon.

He said ISRO planned to launch about a dozen communication satellites in the 11th plan period, adding 9 such satellites were already orbiting the space. Besides, 7 remote sensing satellites, too, were doing job in nether world.

The Minister said at present, 199 transponders were providing services through communication satellites and 500 more transponders would be in service by the end of the 11th plan.

Stating that the total income from the lease of INSAT transponders was estimated at around Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal, Mr Chavan said it would go up to Rs 1000 crore by the end of the 11th plan.

While stating that ISRO's launch at 20,000 dollars per kg was very competitive in the world, he, however, accepted that India had yet to acquire the capability to launch heavy satellites. ''We do not have the capability to launch INSAT''.

Hansraj Ahir (BJP), who put the question, however, lamented that India's share in the launch and leasing business was meagre at just one per cent.

UNI