ISRO goes global, PSLV lifts off
Pallava Bagla, Maya Sharma
Monday, April 23, 2007 (Bangalore)
Indian space agency ISRO successfully entered the highly competitive world of the world space launcher market.
The 10th consecutive successful launch of PSLV put in orbit an 352 kg Italian scientific satellite.
This was India's first commercial launch. The rocket blasted off perfectly from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and all stages of the rocket functioned as planned.
It's the first time that a foreign agency has hired a complete ISRO rocket - a contract won by India. It shows just how ISRO has embraced the free market spirit.
Without going into actual figures, ISRO indicated that they were charging around 30 per cent less than the regular international price of $15,000 to $20,000 per kg of the payload to make the launch commercially attractive to the Italian customer.
''The cost of launch was negotiated on a commercial basis. We have to keep confidentiality to win a market. We are not losing anything. We are making what we are spending and more,'' said G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO.
This will be the 11th launch for India's smaller, tried and tested rocket.
* At take off the PSLV weighs 230 tons, stands 44 meters tall carrying two payloads
* At takeoff the first stage ignites and three minutes into the flight the massive heat shield separates
* One after another the third and fourth stages ignite taking the rocket higher
* Almost 22 minutes into the flight at an altitude of 549 kilometres, the AGILE satellite is put into orbit.
This rocket has the capacity to carry far more than the Italian satellite. So ISRO is using it to test its 185 kilogram Advanced Avionics Module.
The electronics package is essentially a nerve centre for any rocket controlling its flight. If it works well on this mission, it could be the brain of a future, Indian rocket.
But the bigger focus remains on ISRO giant step into space market. Other nations already part of this exclusive club that conduct commercial launches include America, Russia, the European consortium and China.
With this launch, India enters the multi-billion dollar world launcher.
Source - NDTV.com
Full Version: India launches Italian satellite
QUOTE(VAMAN @ Apr 24 2007, 02:52 AM) 
ISRO goes global, PSLV lifts off
Pallava Bagla, Maya Sharma
Monday, April 23, 2007 (Bangalore)
Indian space agency ISRO successfully entered the highly competitive world of the world space launcher market.
The 10th consecutive successful launch of PSLV put in orbit an 352 kg Italian scientific satellite.
This was India's first commercial launch. The rocket blasted off perfectly from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and all stages of the rocket functioned as planned.
It's the first time that a foreign agency has hired a complete ISRO rocket - a contract won by India. It shows just how ISRO has embraced the free market spirit.
Without going into actual figures, ISRO indicated that they were charging around 30 per cent less than the regular international price of $15,000 to $20,000 per kg of the payload to make the launch commercially attractive to the Italian customer.
''The cost of launch was negotiated on a commercial basis. We have to keep confidentiality to win a market. We are not losing anything. We are making what we are spending and more,'' said G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO.
This will be the 11th launch for India's smaller, tried and tested rocket.
The electronics package is essentially a nerve centre for any rocket controlling its flight. If it works well on this mission, it could be the brain of a future, Indian rocket.
But the bigger focus remains on ISRO giant step into space market. Other nations already part of this exclusive club that conduct commercial launches include America, Russia, the European consortium and China.
With this launch, India enters the multi-billion dollar world launcher.
Source - NDTV.com
Pallava Bagla, Maya Sharma
Monday, April 23, 2007 (Bangalore)
Indian space agency ISRO successfully entered the highly competitive world of the world space launcher market.
The 10th consecutive successful launch of PSLV put in orbit an 352 kg Italian scientific satellite.
This was India's first commercial launch. The rocket blasted off perfectly from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and all stages of the rocket functioned as planned.
It's the first time that a foreign agency has hired a complete ISRO rocket - a contract won by India. It shows just how ISRO has embraced the free market spirit.
Without going into actual figures, ISRO indicated that they were charging around 30 per cent less than the regular international price of $15,000 to $20,000 per kg of the payload to make the launch commercially attractive to the Italian customer.
''The cost of launch was negotiated on a commercial basis. We have to keep confidentiality to win a market. We are not losing anything. We are making what we are spending and more,'' said G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO.
This will be the 11th launch for India's smaller, tried and tested rocket.
- At take off the PSLV weighs 230 tons, stands 44 meters tall carrying two payloads
- At takeoff the first stage ignites and three minutes into the flight the massive heat shield separates
- One after another the third and fourth stages ignite taking the rocket higher
- Almost 22 minutes into the flight at an altitude of 549 kilometres, the AGILE satellite is put into orbit.
The electronics package is essentially a nerve centre for any rocket controlling its flight. If it works well on this mission, it could be the brain of a future, Indian rocket.
But the bigger focus remains on ISRO giant step into space market. Other nations already part of this exclusive club that conduct commercial launches include America, Russia, the European consortium and China.
With this launch, India enters the multi-billion dollar world launcher.
Source - NDTV.com
Congratulation to India, hope to see more achievements
India to launch 3 more foreign satellites
Thu May 10, 10:51 AM ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India, which placed an Italian satellite into orbit last month, plans to launch three more foreign satellites, a government minister said Thursday.
"The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has already signed agreements for putting into space three more foreign satellites," Prithviraj Chavan, a minister in the prime minister's office, told parliament.
Chavan did not elaborate on the agreements or disclose when the satellites would be launched, but said ISRO was focusing on such commercial ventures.
"ISRO's marketing arm, Antrix Corporation, is being encouraged to promote the commercial use of capacity available on Indian space systems," Chavan said in parliament's upper house.
On April 23, an Indian-made rocket launched with Italy's Agile astronomical satellite and put in into orbit in ISRO's first commercial venture aimed at carving a slice of the global multi-billion-dollar space launch market.
India wants to compete with the US, Russia, China, Ukraine and the European Space Agency in offering commercial satellite launch services, a market worth up to 2.5 billion dollars a year.
However, Chavan said ISRO's "capabilities and developing alliances for global marketing will be considered only after meeting national needs."
India started its space programme in 1963, and has since developed and put its own satellites into space.
ISRO has designed and built launch rockets to reduce its dependence on overseas space agencies, but has only recently begun exploring commercial spin-offs.
It carried out the first successful launch of a domestic satellite, which weighed 35 kilogrammes, by a home-built rocket in 1980.
SOURCE - YAHOO! NEWS
Thu May 10, 10:51 AM ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India, which placed an Italian satellite into orbit last month, plans to launch three more foreign satellites, a government minister said Thursday.
"The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has already signed agreements for putting into space three more foreign satellites," Prithviraj Chavan, a minister in the prime minister's office, told parliament.
Chavan did not elaborate on the agreements or disclose when the satellites would be launched, but said ISRO was focusing on such commercial ventures.
"ISRO's marketing arm, Antrix Corporation, is being encouraged to promote the commercial use of capacity available on Indian space systems," Chavan said in parliament's upper house.
On April 23, an Indian-made rocket launched with Italy's Agile astronomical satellite and put in into orbit in ISRO's first commercial venture aimed at carving a slice of the global multi-billion-dollar space launch market.
India wants to compete with the US, Russia, China, Ukraine and the European Space Agency in offering commercial satellite launch services, a market worth up to 2.5 billion dollars a year.
However, Chavan said ISRO's "capabilities and developing alliances for global marketing will be considered only after meeting national needs."
India started its space programme in 1963, and has since developed and put its own satellites into space.
ISRO has designed and built launch rockets to reduce its dependence on overseas space agencies, but has only recently begun exploring commercial spin-offs.
It carried out the first successful launch of a domestic satellite, which weighed 35 kilogrammes, by a home-built rocket in 1980.
SOURCE - YAHOO! NEWS
PSLV rocket launches with AGILE. Credit: ISRO
PSLV rocket launches with AGILE. Credit: ISRO
That's pretty cool.
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