Sriharikota: The Indian space agency will
confidently look for heavy satellite carriage contracts from foreign parties
after it successfully launches one more Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
(GSLV) rocket, its chief said Sunday.
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) chief K. Radhakrishnan also said the space agency is
working with its American counterpart for development of a satellite. The ISRO Sunday successfully
launched a GSLV rocket with indigenous cryogenic engine. The rocket placed
communication satellite GSAT-14 precisely in the intended orbit. "(After) Flying one more
GSLV, we will be in a position to declare the rocket as commercially
operational," Radhakrishnan told reporters after the launch. He said communication
satellites are of various tonnage and ISRO's GSLV rocket can carry up to two
tonnes. According to Radhakrishnan,
there are niche satellites weighing around two tonnes. He said in another 12 months,
the next GSLV rocket will be ready for a mission. Adding to that, Vikram Sarabhai
Space Centre director S. Ramakrishnan said the GSLV rocket has attained
maturity level.
With one more mission, GSLV
will be as reliable as ISRO's other rocket - the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV), Ramakrishnan said. For ISRO to bag commercial
launch contracts, the costs are in its favour. Radhakrishnan told IANS Saturday
that the country pays around $85-90 million or around Rs.500 crore as launch
fee for sending up a 3.5 tonne communication satellite whereas the GSLV rocket
costs around Rs.220 crore and the GSAT-14 that went up Sunday evening costs
around Rs.145 crore.
The ISRO can send smaller
communication satellites - weighing around two tonnes - till such time it gets
ready an advanced GSLV variant that can lug satellites weighing around four
tonnes. Radhakrishnan said ISRO has
lined up several satellite launches for the current GSLV rocket version.He said GSLV will be used to
launch satellites GSAT-6, 7A, 9, GISAT and Chandrayaan-2/moon mission.
Radhakrishnan said GSLV-Mark
III - the advanced version - is being developed and an experimental mission
will be in April this year. The rocket will have a passive cryogenic
stage/engine. The main purpose of the mission is to study the aerodynamics and
stability of the rocket. He said the cryogenic engine
for the next GSLV version will take around three years for being flight ready.
According to him, the next
fiscal (April 2014-March 2015) would see ISRO launching three IRNSS (Indian
Regional Navigational Satellite System) satellites, taking the total to four
and all being ready for usage. Not agreeing with a view on the
slow down in ISRO's commercial launches, Radhakrishnan said the agency will be
launching French satellite SPOT-7 along with four small satellites using a
PSLV.
He said ISRO will also be
launching a 800-kg German satellite EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis
Programme), three British satellites each weighing around 300 kg and also a set
of Canadian satellites. According to V.S. Hegde,
chairman and managing director at Antrix Corporation, the company clocked a
revenue of Rs.1,300 crore in 2012-13 and expects 15 percent growth in 2013-14.
IANS
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