India is set to enhance its footprint in the multi-billion dollar global market for satellites.
On Saturday, Indian space scientists signed a five-year contract with EADS-Astrium of France for joint manufacture and launch of satellites. The deal was sealed during the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Indian Space Research Organisation’s Satellite Centre (ISAC) here.
“This is an important milestone of the President’s visit today. Previously, we (Isro and EADS-Astrium) have launched two satellites namely, W2M and HYLAS,” Dr K. Radhakrishnan, chairman, Isro, told this newspaper.
Earlier, addressing 500-odd scientists during the visit of Mr Sarkozy, Dr Radhakrishnan said Isro would launch two communications satellites with the help of Ariane-5 rockets of Arianespace, France. “We have signed commercial agreements with Arianespace for two more launches — GSAT-8 in 2011 and GSAT-10 in 2012,” he added.
The Isro chief 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.
These organisations would work together and explore new domains, including climate change and other frontier areas.
Mr Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni slipped into white lab overalls and took a close look at Megha-Tropiques inside the clean room at ISAC during their visit to the facility.