The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed a deal, believed to be valued around Rs 100 crore, to launch an 800 kg satellite of Astrium SAS, a company under EADS, France.
ISRO said in a statement a commercial launch services agreement between Antrix Corporation Limited (ANTRIX), its commercial arm, and ASTRIUM SAS, has been inked but gave no financial details of the deal. But sources in the Bangalore-headquartered space agency said here that the contract was worth around Rs 100 crore.
“Under this agreement, an advanced Remote Sensing satellite — SPOT-6 — weighing nearly 800 kg, built by ASTRIUM SAS, will be launched on-board ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, during the second half of 2012,” ISRO said.
Along with SPOT-6 satellite, the PSLV, in its “core alone” configuration, will also carry other co-passenger payloads. This launch services deal signed between ANTRIX and ASTRIUM is a part of the long-term agreement signed between the two agencies in September 2008. In November 2010, under a commercial contract between ANTRIX and ASTRIUM, an advanced communication satellite HYLAS was successfully built by ISRO and ASTRIUM together for a European customer.
“In the coming days, further collaboration possibilities between ANTRIX/ISRO and ASTRIUM would be explored,” ISRO added in the statement.
Insat-2E completes 13 years
After 13 years of completion of its operations, the Insat-2E, the last of the five satellites in the Insat-2 series, has successfully completed its mission life, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Insat-2E was built with a planned mission life of 12 years and continued to function beyond that, the ISRO said in a statement here on Tuesday.
Launched on April 3, 1999, aboard the European Ariane-5 launcher, Insat-2E was positioned at 830 East longitude in the geostationary orbit. Insat-2E carried 14 C-band and five lower extended C-band transponders for various communication services. The satellite also carried a Very High Resolution Radiometer and a Charge Coupled Device camera for meteorological observation.
The 11 communication transponders of 36 MHz bandwidth onboard Insat-2E were leased to International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (Intelsat), the first such lease from an Indian satellite. Insat-2E was controlled from Master Control Facility at Hassan.