“We are still significantly short of capacity in space, probably we need at least double the number of satellites of what we have today to give a reasonable level of service to the country,” he said.
What this also meant was that the nation needs to enhance the ability to launch and also build satellites at a much faster pace than being done at present, Kumar said after inaugurating the Bangalore Space Expo-2016 (BSX-2016) here.
Pointing out that on Thursday ISRO was able to push through one launch a month, he said it has to increase at least one and one-and-half to two times in the immediate future “if we have to provide effective solutions to the country, its government and monitoring requirements.”
Kumar said, “We have set in process, we still have a long way to go because today we are not able to increase our launch frequency because the supply chain that exists today is still inadequate to meet our demand.”
Recalling ISRO’s journey so far, he said almost 138 missions had been completed with 74 satellites of the international community being launched along with India’s primary satellites. “We have a constellation of about 34 satellites with earth observation, communication, navigation and also space science being provided by space infrastructure that has been put in place,” he said.
Noting that it has to be ensured that capabilities built are actually put to practical use, the ISRO chief said the current central and state governments are now realising that space technology and space technology-based tools have a very significant role in delivering good and efficient governance.
“We are seeing a spurt in activities at the government level, which is demanding greater and greater services to be provided,” Kumar said. He said in the last three and three-and-half decades, ISRO’s efforts to engage with government agencies to make use of space technology and space technology-based tools had been a slow process.