spacetoday.net: India wins contract to launch European satellite

India wins contract to launch European satellite

Posted: Thu, Apr 5, 2012, 8:41 AM ET (1241 GMT)
PSLV launch of CARTOSAT-1 (ISRO)

The Indian space agency ISRO announced this week it has won a contract to launch a European commercial remote sensing satellite. ISRO said its commercial arm, Antrix, has signed a deal to launch the SPOT-6 satellite for Astrium. The nearly 800-kilogram satellite will be launched on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the second half of this year, along with other, unidentified satellites. Indian media reported that the contract was valued at about 1 billion rupees ($19.6 million). SPOT-6, along with the planned SPOT-7, will replace the existing SPOT-5 satellite used to provide commercial remote sensing services.