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Matthieu Duvelleroy
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Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
 On the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to France, Astrium has signed a Long Term Agreement with Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on utilisation of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch services.
This Agreement, which was signed by Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Chairman ISRO/Antrix & Secretary Department Of Space and Mr. François Auque, C.E.O of Astrium, enables Astrium to offer attractive solutions in the international markets for in-orbit delivery of its earth observation satellites, using the PSLV launch services from Antrix/ISRO. Over the past 5 years, both companies have been successfully cooperating in the field of space activities, as evidenced by the award of two telecommunication satellite contracts, W2M for Eutelsat and HYLAS for Avanti Systems. These co-operations represent a major breakthrough for the partnership between the European and Indian space technology organisations.
About Astrium
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services. In 2007, Astrium had a turnover of €3.5 billion and 12,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment and its wholly owned subsidiary Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2007, EADS generated revenues of €39.1 billion and employed a workforce of more than 116, 000.
About ISRO / ANTRIX
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is a renowned space agency, which undertakes state-of-the-art developments in space technology and its applications. Since its inception in 1969, ISRO has established operational space systems such as INSAT for telecommunication, television broadcasting and meteorological services, and the Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) for resources monitoring and management. Satellite launch vehicles such as the Polar Satellite launch Vehicle (PSLV) for launching remote sensing satellites into polar orbits and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch vehicle (GSLV) for launching communication and meteorological satellites into Geosynchronous transfer orbit have also been operationalised. So far, PSLV has successfully launched 16 commercial foreign satellites. Antrix is the commercial arm of ISRO, which globally markets the products and services developed by ISRO. Antrix has been collaborating with Astrium for joint manufacturing and offering of commercial communication satellites in global market, and is currently engaged in building two communication satellites for European customers under this alliance. |
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