The world has witnessed the true potential of ISRO through milestone projects like “Mangalyaan and PSLV-C37”. Adding another name to this list on 5th May, 2017, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota has launched GSAT-9 as a “gift” to all the neighboring South-Asian countries.
The launch took place at 4:57 p.m. on Friday in what appears to be yet another successful launch by the ISRO. It is believed that this satellite will be crucial in providing data for communications and help the countries during Natural Calamities and Disaster management. It will provide the data to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
These are the highlights of the launch:
1. All the six participating countries’ main leaders have thanked India in a video conference.
2. This is likely to be a counter to China’s space diplomacy and considered a brilliant move that focuses on welfare of majority of the neighboring countries.
3. This decision was made in 2014 after PM MODI has taken the office and comes into action after his personal request to ISRO.
4. It will also provide telecommunication links to all the countries and offers help in the fields of education, banking, TV broadcasting.
5. As Bhutan’s Prime Minister said during the video conference, this is the first time in history that a country has launched a satellite which offers all its services for free to its neighboring countries.
6. Also our neighboring-rival country Pakistan which is also a part of SAARC(South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation) has opted out of this plan.
