Why is it in news?
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From May 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to send up at least eight earth observation (EO) satellites of varied hues and at the rate of almost one a month.
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GSAT-32 as replacement to GSAT-6A: Communication satellite GSAT-32 is also in the offing next year to replace GSAT-6A, which was lost in a failed launch and was meant to mainly serve the ground forces.
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Why surprising?: Until now, such defence-use satellites were spaced out over a few years; or were put up only once a year as in the case of the Cartosat-2 series high-resolution imaging satellites.
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Previous launches of strategically important satellites: HysIS, launched in November; Microsat-R in January; and the EMISAT sent into orbit on April 1 are all launched for “strategic use”.
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DRDO payloads: While traditionally, payloads for ISRO’s satellites come from the Space Applications Centre, the payloads of the Microsat-R and EMISAT were from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Source
The Hindu