ISRO to offer launch services soon

Bangalore, May 28: Diversifying from selling remote sensing images worldwide, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will soon make a big splash in the area of satellite building and offering launch services to other countries.

The cooperation agreement signed with European EADS-Astrium had resulted in Antrix Corporation bagging two contracts for building communication satellites to Europe, besides five foreign satellites being lined up for launch by Indian launch vehicles over the next two and a half years.

The five satellites ISRO would launch included a micro-satellite from Argentina, an experimental satellite from Singapore, one from Taiwan and two from Europe, Antrix Corporation Executive Director K R Sridhara Murthi told UNI.

The Singapore satellite had come and was waiting to be launched piggyback on a polar satellite launch vehicle with Cartosat later this year, he added.

EADS Astrium-Antrix/ISRO alliance signed the first contract for supply of W2M, a three to 3.5 tonne communication satellite to Eutelsat. The aim of the alliance, which builds on the proven expertise of both Indian and European companies, was to jointly offer communications satellites in the market segment around 4kW of payload power and with a launch mass of two to three tonnes.

Antrix had also bagged the order for the innovative flexible broadband satellite HYLAS (highly flexible satellite) of the European Space Agency. The two-tonne satellite would be the first of its kind in the world.

HYLAS is a hybrid Ka Band/Ku Band satellite with European coverage. It would be used mainly to provide broadband internet access and distribute and broadcast High Definition Television (HDTV).

HYLAS, a moderately sized satellite, would demonstrate advanced technological capabilities of European space companies which were truly competitive on a global scale. It also made significant progress in solving the social problem of poor broadband coverage in many parts of Europe and served as a template for future large scale projects.

The Broadband HYLAS payload ranged from 150,000 to 300,000 simultaneous users. Use of high-gain Ka Band spot beams would enable provision of up to eight simultaneously active spots, a capacity equivalent to more than 40 conventional 33 MHz transponders.

Two flexible Ku Band transponders would allow the distribution and broadcast of a range of HDTV programmes for Avanti Screenmedia customers over the largest part of the European continent.

Mr Murthi said India was also planning a multimedia satellite for a private organisation called DEVAS that would take three years to build. The Direct to Home satellite in S band would experiment several new technologies. DTH was gaining ground in the country, competing with cable channel systems, and new technologies would provide consumers more flexibility in the sector. INSAT 4C, with 12 KU bands, scheduled for launch this year through a GSLV flight from the Satish Dhawan spaceport in Sriharikota, was already booked.

Stating that India would have to fight hard to gain entry into the already shrinking launch market worldwide for commercial satellites, that was currently around two billion dollars, Mr Murthi said even a five per cent share in the next few years should be creditable. There used to be over 100 launches in a year till a few years ago, but last year there were only 56 launches worldwide and only half of them were commercial launches.

On the remote sensing business, he said ISRO would soon set up receiving stations in Algeria, China and some parts of CIS countries.

Mr Murthi said Antrix earned a revenue of Rs 380 crore to Rs 390 crore last year, compared to Rs 362 crore the previous year.

Currently, it contributed to around one seventh of the expenditure of ISRO and going forward it would be 25 per cent of ISRO budget.

UNI