India plans to undertake 70 space missions in five years, a nearly three-fold jump from the previous half-decade, as it seeks to address requirements and develop new technologies to meet future needs. "We have proposed something like 70 missions totally (in the 11th plan (April one 2007 to March 31, 2012) compared to about 26 missions in the tenth plan period," Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair, told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

The proposed missions have a "good mix" of both INSAT class satellites as well as remote sensing ones, he said.

Nair, also Secretary in the Department of Space, indicated that the aim is to address requirements of the area of communication transponders and work in the fields of microwave remote sensing, hyper spectral and other new technologies of the future.

"Future developments will be towards the manned space mission and reusable satellites and Ka-band satellites," he added.

The 2008-09 annual budget for the Space Department has gone upto Rs 4,072 crore, a 25 per cent increase over the previous financial year, ISRO officials said. PTI

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