Hyderabad: ISRO would launch a US communication satellite using LVM3 on a commercial basis next month, the space agency’s Chairman V Narayanan said on Monday.

Delivering the keynote address on the occasion of 68th Annual Day celebrations of Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) here, he also said the country’s space programme would be on par with any other advanced nation in terms of launches, satellites and others by 2040.

“Launch date is not yet decided. It will be next month. It is a communication satellite, we are planning to launch. A commercial basis communication satellite we are going to launch in our LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark – III), vehicle,” he told reporters.

It is not a collaboration with the US, but an American satellite which would be launched on a commercial basis, he said.

According to him, the ISRO, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs, is working on a lot of programmes.

Right now, 57 satellites are in orbit, and the number would increase by three times in three years for serving the country.

“If I summarise the Indian space programme, a programme which started with cycle era, by 2040, we will be on par with any other space bearing nation, in terms of launches, satellite, communication, application or capabilities,” he added.