Press Trust of India,
angalore, India: 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 include 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 in 2006, 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).
