London, Apr 27 : Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh Thursday undertook a visit to the Satellite Applications Catapult at Oxford and witnessed a technical demonstration by Chief Technical Officer Paul Febvreat Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
According to an official statement issued by the minister’s office, Dr Jitendra Singh described India as a key Global Player in the Space sector and reiterated that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is keen to take its Space cooperation with the United Kingdom (UK) to newer heights.
He further appreciated the work done by Satellite Applications Catapult and said that Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India’s premier space agency is looking forward to collaborating with the Catapult Centre and wider space sector of the United Kingdom.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Space Sector in India is emerging as a major foreign exchange earner through the launch of a large number of foreign satellites. He further stated that India has launched 385 foreign satellites so far, out of which 353 were launched in the last 8 years under this government, which is around 90 percent of all launches.
The Minister said that ISRO has gradually become one of the six largest space agencies in the world. India has one of the largest fleets of communication satellites (INSAT) and remote sensing (IRS) satellites. These satellites cater to the increasing demand for fast and reliable communication and earth observation respectively, he added.
On his visit, Dr Jitendra Singh also announced India UK Space Parks partnerships. He urged the space parks in the UK to collaborate with Space parks in India.
The minister said, the list of achievements of India’s Space industries is quite long and informed that Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO has launched more than 100 satellites so far and has immense in-house satellite building capabilities for GSAT, Earth Observation Satellites and Space based Satellite Navigation Systems.
