India has asked G20 nations to contribute to G20 satellite through payloads, instruments: ISRO chief

India has asked the G20 nations to contribute to the G20 satellite proposed by it through payloads, instruments and it will be launched in the next two years, ISRO chief S Somanath said on Thursday. Underlining that weather and climate are going to be important aspects, Somanath said India wants to contribute in this domain by measuring various parameters like air pollution, greenhouse emission, humidity change and precipitation, ocean behaviour, current, waves, soil moisture, and radiation budgeting.

"We offered to build a satellite and we are asking the G20 nations to contribute to this satellite through payloads, instruments that they can develop here.

"We are going to launch (the satellite) in two years. That will be the contribution of India to the whole of the world," Somanath said at Techfest, the annual science and technology festival of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.


In September, Prime minister Narendra Modi had proposed to launch a G20 satellite for environment and climate observation.

"We want to make sure the data is available to the entire world and every nation so that they can use it for their weather modelling, and scientific research. We are welcoming each one of the scientific communities of the world to build a satellite for the world," Somanath added.