ISRO to launch CMS-03 satellite in November, says Chairman Narayanan
Bengaluru (PTI): ISRO has scheduled two launches of its heavy-lift rocket LVM-3 to place in orbit two satellites -- CMS-03 and private US communications satellite BlueBird--before this year-end, chairman V Narayanan said on Thursday.
Narayanan said the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite, launched on July 30, was currently in the calibration stage and will become operational within 10-15 days.
"The satellite is healthy and both the payloads are working well," he added.
At a press conference to announce the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave 2025, the ISRO chief listed out future missions of the space agency and asserted that 90 per cent work on the Gaganyaan project was complete.
The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first human spaceflight mission under development.
"Next month beginning, we are going to have the LVM3-M5 lift off to place a CMS-03 satellite," Narayanan said.
According to ISRO officials, the CMS-03 also known as GSAT7-R is likely to be launched on November 2.
BlueBird-6, a 6.5 tonne satellite of a US firm, is expected to be launched by the year-end, Narayanan said.
"We have received the satellite and are working for the launch, and the launch vehicle build-up is going on," the ISRO Chairman told reporters here.
One of the heaviest commercial satellites, BlueBird-6, arrived in India from the United States on October 19.
Asked about the progress of Chandrayaan-4, the ISRO Chairman said the project is in its design phase.
"Right now, we are working on the design phase and its approved projects. Also establishing the infrastructure that is the basic standard," he said.
The Chandrayaan-4 mission includes bringing back moon rocks and soil to earth after a soft landing on the lunar surface, launching a spacecraft from the moon, demonstrating a space docking experiment in lunar orbit and getting the samples back to earth.
Speaking about NavIC, India's indigenous navigation satellite system, Narayanan said, "We have four satellites and are building three more satellites. Yes, there were setbacks, but we're working on it."
"The NavIC navigation constellation, too, will be completed within 18 months with three new satellites," he added.
Responding to a question on the NVS-02 satellite which had a technical glitch, he said, "The satellite has gone to the elliptical orbit and we could not take it to circular orbit because of a valve malfunction."
The failure analysis committee formed to look into it has completed the investigation and zeroed down on the fault, he said.
"The recommendation of the committee will be placed before the government," he added.
Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly outlined the space mission 2047, the ISRO chief said today, India has around 56 satellites in the orbit serving the common man of this country.
"In another three to four years timeframe, the number of satellites are going to be increased to something around three times and by 2027, we are going to accomplish the Gaganyaan programme," he said.
"We are going to build our own space station called Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and first module, we have got the project approval and right now the work is going on and it is going to be placed in the orbit by 2028," Narayanan said.
Speaking on the next generation launcher, he said that the capability of the first launch was only 35 kg which was successfully accomplished in the year 1980.
"Today, we are talking about something around 30,000 kg to low earth orbit through the next generation launcher. Also, PM Modi has given a guideline for building a launcher for enabling the crewed lunar mission," the ISRO chief said.
"We are in the conceiving phase. We have not completed the design but it has to lift off something about 75,000 to 80,000 kg type of mass it has to lift off. That is the type of work that is going on," he added.
According to him, till today, around 433 satellites from 34 countries have been accomplished. Out of that, almost 95 satellites were accomplished during the last ten years.
"That means when the entire launch programme started from 1980, in 45 years, the last 10 years is 95 per cent of the foreign satellite launch. That shows the exponential growth of the space sector," he said.
"Initially, we were going through the experimental phase, gradually we moved to operational phase. Today we have exponential growth," Narayanan said.
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Ballari violence: Were cops made scapegoats to cover political failure?
Bengaluru: Across Karnataka, a serious discussion has begun after the violence in Ballari and the swift action taken against police officers who were on the ground that day. The core question being asked is simple: when law and order fails, why are police officers the first to be shown the door, while political responsibility is quietly pushed aside?
The January 1 clash in Ballari was not a sudden street fight. It was a political confrontation involving supporters of two sitting MLAs. A banner related to the unveiling of a Valmiki statue became the flashpoint. What followed was stone-pelting, firing, and the death of a Congress worker. The situation spiralled within hours.
Within a day, Ballari SP Pavan Nejjur was suspended. Soon after, senior officers were reshuffled. Deputy Inspector General of Police Vartika Katiyar was transferred. No official reason was cited in the notification. But the timing made one thing clear: accountability, at least on paper, had been fixed.
Since then, there has been unease within police circles and political debate outside it.
Unconfirmed reports that Nejjur attempted suicide after his suspension were firmly denied by senior officers and the home minister. They said he was safe, resting, and under stress. Still, the very fact that such reports gained traction says something about the pressure officers feel when action is taken overnight, without public clarity.
Opposition leaders have called Nejjur a scapegoat, pointing out that he had taken charge only hours before the violence. They have asked how an officer can be blamed for a political clash he barely had time to assess. They have also drawn parallels with earlier incidents where police leadership was suspended after tragedies, while political decision-making remained untouched.
However, responding to this criticism, Home Minister G Parameshwara rejected the argument that the suspension was unfair because Nejjur had assumed charge only hours earlier. “It is not important whether he reported to duty on the same day (of incident) or one hour back. Duty is duty. He is not new to the department. IPS officers are trained to handle such situations any time. If he had acted swiftly and promptly, he could have prevented the situation from escalating.” He had said adding that Nejjur did not discharge his duties properly and that this was the reason for his suspension.
Now, fresh and unconfirmed reports suggest that Vartika Katiyar may have met a senior cabinet minister, questioning why she was made to pay the price for a situation that was political in nature. There is no official confirmation of this meeting. But the talk itself has added fuel to the debate.
What is being discussed in the state is not whether the police made mistakes. Many acknowledge that the situation on January 1 was mishandled. A clash earlier in the day was allowed to cool down without strong preventive action. Later, a banner came up near a politically sensitive location. The crowd should not have been allowed to build up. Better anticipation was needed.
At the same time, critics are asking whether the entire burden can be placed on officers when the trigger itself was political rivalry. Who installed the banner? Who mobilised supporters? Who had armed private gunmen present at the spot? These are questions that are still part of the investigation, yet administrative punishment moved faster than political accountability.
This has led to a wider comparison with past incidents, including the Bengaluru stampede after the RCB victory celebrations. There too, police officers were suspended after lives were lost, while decisions taken at higher levels were defended as unavoidable. Many are now saying Ballari fits into the same pattern.
The argument being made is not that the police are blameless. The argument is that responsibility appears to stop at the uniform. When things go wrong, officers are transferred or suspended to send a message. But when the violence is rooted in political rivalry, that message feels incomplete.
Within police ranks, there is also quiet concern about working conditions. Officers say they are expected to manage volatile political situations overnight, often with little room to push back against powerful interests. When things hold, they are invisible. When they collapse, they stand alone.
The Ballari episode has once again exposed this fault line.
For the government, the challenge is larger than one suspension or transfer. The real test is whether it is willing to publicly acknowledge political failures when law and order breaks down, instead of letting the system suggest that the police alone dropped the ball.
For now, what remains is a growing feeling across Karnataka that accountability is selective. And that whenever politics turns violent, the easiest answer is to change the officers, not the decisions that led to the violence in the first place.
