ISRO… The French Connection (Satellites)

[SatNews] Indian Space Research Organisation has given an estimated Rs 500 crore order to Arianespace and renewed the five-year contract with EADS Astrium for joint marketing of satellites.

“There are now agreements with Arianespace for two more launches — GSAT-8 in 2011 and GSAT-10 in 2012”, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said. He did not specify the contract value, but ISRO sources said launch cost of each satellite is around Rs 250 crore. Radhakrishnan said Arianespace has so far launched 12 Indian satellites. He also announced that a strategic alliance signed between EADS Astrium and ISRO in 2005 was renewed for another five years. Under the alliance,ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited and EADS Astrium, wholly owned subsidiary of EADS SPACE, will jointly address the commercial market for communications satellites with payload power below 4 Kw and a launch mass in the range of two to three tons. Satellites in this segment represent a sizeable and stable part of the market. The aim of this cooperation is to optimise INSAT 2K and 3K Platforms along with EADS Astrium payloads.

Radhakrishnan said Megha-Tropiques and SARAL satellites, being jointly developed by ISRO and its French counterpart CNES, would be launched in May and December 2011, respectively. ISRO and CNES would continue to work together and explore new domains, including climate change and other frontier areas.