ISRO to launch Italian, Algerian + Singapore, Netherlands satellites

Isro to launch Italian, Algerian satellites

K.Raghu

Antrix Corp. Ltd, the commercial arm of India’s space agency, has won
a pair of deals from Algeria and Italy to launch earth observation
satellites next year

Bangalo Antrix Corp. Ltd, the commercial arm of India’s space
agency, has won a pair of deals from Algeria and Italy to launch earth
observation satellites next year on the polar satellite launch
vehicle, or PSLV, its workhorse rocket.

The contract awarded by the Algerian space agency to launch Alsat-2A,
a 200kg remote sensing satellite, is the first won by Antrix from an
African nation. The Algerian agency has the option to launch a second
such satellite. For the Italian space agency Agenzia Spaziale
Italiana, Antrix will launch a satellite named IMSAT, which will be
the second Italian satellite to be boosted into space by the Indian
Space Research Organisation, or Isro, which in April 2007 launched
Agile, a 352kg scientific satellite.

The Algerian and Italian satellites, besides a 100kg satellite for
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Cubesat, a three-
satellite package from the Netherlands, would ride piggyback on
heavier Indian satellites, said K.R. Sridhara Murthi, managing
director of Antrix. He didn’t disclose financial details.

Antrix is also in talks with space agencies of South Africa and
Nigeria to carry out similar launches, Murthi said. “We are also
looking at opportunities bigger than that—remote sensing satellites,
where payloads (are) of 800kg or even higher.”

Isro offers the home-grown PSLV to carry satellites of up to 1,700kg
into low-earth orbit at a cost that’s nearly 30% cheaper than that
charged by firms such as International Launch Services, owned by Space
Transport Inc. and two Russian organizations, Khrunichev State
Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. Low-earth orbit
is the region above earth between 200km and 2,000km, ideal to place
earth observation or remote sensing satellites.

India is still a fledgling competitor in the global satellite
manufacturing and launch industry, which is expected to grow to $145
billion (Rs6.3 trillion) over 10 years to 2016, from $116 billion in
the 10 years to 2006, according to Paris-based research firm
Euroconsult.

“(Isro’s) benchmark is with international specifications on quality,
reliability and credibility of the systems. And then, you are also
cost competitive,” said K. Kasturirangan, director of the National
Institute of Advanced Studies, a think tank in Bangalore. “The
opportunity is just growing.”

http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/2500...an-Algeri.html