Champagne Supernova

• On April 28 ISRO launched 10 satellites from a launch vehicle. This puts it on par with top international space agencies.
  
• The eight nanosatellites launched for international clients earned ISRO Rs 2.4 crore
  
• ISRO's commercial operations earned it Rs 300 crore last year
  
• Some of its customers include WorldSpace Radio, GE Americom, Matra Marconi Space (France) and Melco (Japan)

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In layman terms, ISRO has achieved what very few countries have—using a single vehicle to put several satellites into their respective orbits. Once released, they get activated and ground stations across the globe monitor their signals. In April 2007, a Russian vehicle had placed 13 satellites in orbit, but the payload was around 300 kg as against PSLV-C9's 823 kg. Nair even betrayed a hint of smugness as he allowed himself a subtle dig at Russia: "We do not know how many were actually placed in their designated orbits."

What ISRO is also thrilled about is the commercial success of this launch. K.R. Sridhar Murthy, managing director of the space agency's marketing wing, Antrix Corporation, says ISRO earned $0.6 million (about Rs 2.4 crore) from the launch of the eight nanosatellites. While the international rates for putting nanosatellites in orbit range between $15,000 to $20,000 per kilo, ISRO made an exception in this case and charged $12,000 per kg. This is because the current lot of nanosatellites are meant for academic use.

All the eight nanosatellites, weighing 50 kg, have been developed by university students in Japan, Canada, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. These will be used in communication experiments, forest fire detection and the like, says S. Satish, director, PR, of ISRO. Satish says that while the nanosatellites might have limited objectives, with this launch, PSLV has proved itself to be a reliable launch vehicle. And this provides a major impetus for Chandrayan-1, ISRO's moon mission.

When ISRO launched the 352-kg Italian satellite AGILE on April 23, 2007, it charged market rates. AGILE is now being used for astronomical observations. The space agency's second successful commercial launch was on January 21, 2008, when the PSLV-C10 launched Israeli satellite TECSAR as per a contract between Israel Aerospace Industries and Antrix Corporation. It weighed 300 kg and has a synthetic aperture radar which has the capability to see through clouds and carry out all-weather imaging day and night. The agency refused to give details of how much it charged for the two launches but says last year it earned Rs 300 crore, of which 75 per cent was in foreign exchange.

Murthy explains that in other countries, space agencies engage in research and development, while the commercial part is handled by the private sector because the volume of operations are high. In case of India, such a situation does not exist and most activities take place within ISRO, like production of satellites and launch vehicles. In the past ISRO produced launch vehicles and satellites only for Indian use. But it did toy with the idea of launching on a commercial basis. "It was felt that if the capacity of a launch vehicle is good enough, then we can take on other satellites without taking too big a risk. So we developed a model to network all the capabilities within ISRO and the private industry. After that we started providing products and services to other countries," says Murthy.

While Antrix was founded in 1992, ISRO first provided imagery to a US company around 1995 and now it markets imagery using Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data to 20 countries, including the US, Europe, Middle East, China, Myanmar and Australia. The other area is providing capacity from INSAT to telecom providers and TV broadcasting firms. "More than 100 companies within India are our clients in this area," points out Murthy.

K. Narayana, former director at SHAR, and currently its honorary advisor on technical reviews and launch ranges, says the two Indian satellites launched—the cartosat-2A and IMS-1 (remote sensing satellites) have a typical design life of three-five years. cartosat-2A carries a spatial resolution of one metre and swath of 9.6 km, which is the best yet for any Indian satellite. This means any object up to one metre in size can be resolved and seen crystal clear. It can be steered across easily, facilitating imaging of any area more frequently. Currently, Google uses such technology courtesy the Ikanos satellite for its mapped images. cartosat-2A will be useful in rural and urban development applications, monitoring crop patterns, flood risk zones, droughts, mineral exploration, land use and land cover mapping, snow melt run-off estimates and forest surveys. IMS-1 has similar uses to monitor soil, vegetation and oceans. Data from IMS-1 will assist student communities and space agencies from saarc and African nations in capacity building on satellite data.

In terms of services other than launches, ISRO monitors data and sends it to various control centres abroad. It also helps in maintaining direction and position of satellites. Some of ISRO's customers include WorldSpace Radio; GE Americom; panamsat; Hughes Space and Communication, US; Matra Marconi Space, France; and Melco, Japan. The agency has tied up with French space company Astrium. "Together we are manufacturing two satellites for Eutelsat, a European telecommunication organisation," says Murthy. ISRO's Andaman facility helps Thailand in radio tracking, while UK customer Avanti uses its satellites in the area of high definition television.

Given its expertise in the areas of launches, supply of satellite parts, transponder capacity and picture data, it's only natural that ISRO has a mix of global customers. It has also earned a reputation of being a dependable organisation. As Murthy puts it simply, "We launch on time. That attracts customers too."