India Ready To End Use of Foreign Laudchers

摘要

The launch of the Insat-4C telecommunications satellite, currently scheduled to occur in July, will mark the end of India's total reliance on foreign rockets to launch its largest pay-loads, according to a senior officials of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO has been launching the country's remote sensing satellites since 1988 with rockets designed and built in India. But while those satellites typically weigh less that 1 metric ton, the Insat satellites weigh in at around 2 metric tons and up until now have needed to be launched from abroad. Beginning with Insat-1A in 1982, a total of 13 Insat satellites were launched by foreign rockets — four by the United States and the rest by Europe's Ariane-space launch consortium.