THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 12th five-year plan period will be a busy one for ISRO’s Sriharikota spaceport. If things pan out as ISRO hopes it would, then 2012-2017 will see more number of missions compared to previous five-year plan periods. ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan, addressing the national conference on ‘Space Transportation Systems: Opportunities and Challenges’, organised by the VSSC and Indian National Academy of Engineering at Thumba on Saturday, said that the ISRO was targeting 45 to 50 launches during the 12th five-year plan.In the 11th, the target had been 30, with six missions per year. The 10th five- year plan had witnessed 20 missions. (The Sathish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, has at present two launch pads. ISRO is planning a third one which will be able to accommodate advanced launch vehicles). No Flaw in GSLV Design: Radhakrishnan said that the GSLV, which had two crashes in 2010, had no flaw in design. There have been problems in implementation which are being corrected. The next GSLV launch will be in the second quarter of 2012, he said.In March 2012, the ISRO will launch a microwave remote sensing satellite which will be useful for the farm sector as well as disaster management. Cloud cover will not be a problem for this satellite, which gives it an edge over conventional satellites. The ISRO chairman said the years ahead would be a busy one for ISRO. At present, 170 transponders are in service, but the current requirement is 500.The three-day conference, which focuses on low-cost space transportation, is being attended by a large number of scientists from India and foreign space agencies such as NASA, ESA and JAXA. It will conclude on Sunday.
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