India to launch 5 satellites in 2014-15

NEW DELHI - India is to launch into space at least five foreign satellites this year and next year, sources said Saturday.

"All these satellites will be launched by the state-owned Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) from the spaceport of Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh," the sources said.

The commercial arm of ISRO has signed deals with Britain's DMC International Imaging, a subsidiary of the Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, to launch three 350 kg disaster monitoring satellites and with ST Electronics of Singapore to launch a 400 kg TeLEOS-1 Earth observation satellite, the sources said.

The ISRO will also launch SPOT-7, a French satellite in the next two to three months, they added.