Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will nearly triple its launches to 70 in the five years to 2012, even as the space agency focuses on unmanned moon trips and sending an Indian to space.

Ambitious plans: Isro chairman G. Madhavan Nair.

“Future development would focus on manned space missions, reusable satellites and Ka band satellites,” said G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of Isro.

Ka is a microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum used in communications satellites. Ka band satellites have transponders for high-speed Internet and mulitmedia delivery aimed at improving connectivity.

Isro would launch nine remote sensing or earth observation satellites in the next five years that could be used for civilian applications. These include a radar imaging satellite that can see through clouds, which would be useful to map terrain during disasters.

During India’s 10th Plan that ended in 2006, the Bangalore-based Isro launched 26 missions and built heavier rockets to hurl telecom satellites into space. “There will be a good mix of satellites for communications and remote sensing” in the coming years, said Nair.

India plans to triple its space programme budget to Rs45,000 crore by 2012, which includes building technologies for manned space missions.

The space commission chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet this month to finalize the plan for the country’s first manned space mission by 2014.