New Delhi, July 6 (Inditop.com) India’s space research programme will get a boost as the union budget for 2009-10 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday has given a 40 percent hike in fund allocation for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
“The total funds allocation for ISRO for 2009-10 is Rs.4,959 crore (Rs.49.59 billion or $1.01 billion), up from Rs.3,499 crore, which is an increase of around 41 percent,” S. Satish, director (publications), told IANS from the space agency’s headquarters in Bangalore over telephone.
He said bulk of the sum will be used in ongoing projects like development of the advanced rocket geo-synchronous launch vehicle (GSLV) Mark III to launch four-tonne communication satellites apart from the existing polar satellite launch vehicles (PSLVs) and GSLVs.
The space agency has got Rs.230 crore towards its manned space mission.
Though ISRO has worked out the total cost of the mission at Rs.12,000 crore, the sum allocated this year is far more than the Rs.95 crore it got last fiscal for three projects connected with the mission.
According to Satish, Rs.155 crore has been allocated towards development of a semi-cryogenic engine that will use liquid oxygen as oxidiser and highly purified kerosene to fire rocket.
He said the funds will be used to build the necessary infrastructure at the liquid propulsion test facility at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
