Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has informed on the status of the Currently, 34 satellites are operational in the country comprising of :-
(i) 13 Communication Satellites namely, INSAT-3A, INSAT-3C, INSAT-4A, INSAT-4B, INSAT-4CR, GSAT-6, GSAT-7, GSAT-8, GSAT-10, GSAT-12, GSAT-14, GSAT-15 and GSAT-16.
(ii) 12 Earth Observation Satellites namely, Resourcesat-2, RISAT-1, RISAT-2, Cartosat-1, Cartosat-2, Cartosat-2A, Cartosat-2B, Oceansat-2, SARAL, Kalpana-1, Megha-Tropiques and INSAT-3D.
(iii) 7 Navigational Satellites namely, IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F & 1G.
(iv) 2 Space science Satellites namely Mars Orbiter Mission & Astrosat.
Government is not seeking any foreign assistance/collaboration for satellite operations.
About 30 service providers are utilising Ku-band (a part of K band) transponders onboard indigenous communication satellites for various communication applications, which include Direct-To-Home Television, Digital Satellite News Gathering, telecommunication, VSAT services for banking, tele-education, business communication.
ISRO has an action plan in place for developing indigenous satellites, with the participation of Indian industries, for earth observation, communication, navigation and space science and planetary exploration.