The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plays a key role in boosting the communications infrastructure in India. The agency is launching a series of satellites that aims to bring the benefits of applications such as telemedicine and tele-education to more residents across India. It is also launching Insat-4A, which will offer direct-to- home (DTH) satellite television services, bringing Indian citizens more choice in the television arena as this market begins to heat up.

India is potentially a very strong market for satellite communication services, whether on the applications or telephony/entertainment side, and satellite services can have an impact in all areas of Indian society. The country has a population of more than 1 billion, and according to recent research by the Population Reference Bureau, the country could overtake China as the most populous nation on the planet by 2050. ISRO will be a vital player in boosting the quality of life of its citizens through satellite communications. As well as providing commercial applications, it will also launch satellites that will help in areas such as weather forecasting and disaster warning.

ISRO recently announced a collaboration with EADS Astrium. Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, signed a memorandum of understanding with Astrium which will see the two organizations jointly address the commercial market for communications satellites with payload power below 4 kilowatts and a launch mass in the range of 2 to 3 tons.

Another area where the company hopes to make an impact is in the launch vehicle arena. ISRO has a number of launch vehicles and is hoping to pick up commercial contracts for launch services in the region.

In an exclusive interview to Satellite News, ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair talks to International Editor Mark Holmes about the organizations plan’s to make India a more vibrant market for satellite communications and the role ISRO can play in boosting the quality of life to Indian citizens.

Satellite News: Could you tell us about the main space programs the organization is working on?

Nair: ISRO has a fairly busy agenda for the coming year to augment its space systems for communication, television broadcasting, meteorology and resources survey as well as expanding the recent initiatives of space applications programs like telemedicine, tele-education and village resources centers. We have already lined up the launches of the first three satellites in the Insat-4 series — Insat-4A, Insat-4B and Insat-4C — within the next two years. Of these, Insat-4A, which will cater to DTH services, is scheduled for launch in August 2005 followed by Insat-4C and Insat-4B.

Following the launch of Cartosat-1 in May, we are already getting the follow-on satellite, Cartosat-2, ready for launch by the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)next year. This will give further [enhancements] to remote sensing applications in cartography, infrastructure planning and development. While Cartosat-1 has a 2.5-meter spatial resolution, Cartosat-2 will have a 1-meter spatial resolution. We are also developing Oceansat-2 to continue the services of Oceansat-1 that was launched in 1999. More importantly, we are developing the Radar Imaging Satellite, RISat-1, giving us night and day imaging capability as well as imaging during cloudy conditions.

Our first scientific mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1, and Astrosat, which is a multi-wavelength observatory in space, are also quite challenging missions that need to be completed in the coming two to three years.

In the field of space transportation, while our PSLV has very well stabilized with eight successful launches in a row – including the latest in May – and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) has entered into operational era with all its first three flights being successful, we are well on our way to develop GSLV Mk-3, which is slated for its first test launch by 2008. GSLV-Mk-3 will give us a capability to launch up to 4 tons into geosynchronous transfer orbit. We are also carrying out research and development on a future space transportation system including two stages to orbit and recoverable launch vehicles. In this direction we are going to launch a space capsule recovery experiment on board a PSLV along with Cartosat-2 to demonstrate recovery of an orbiting space capsule.

Our main emphasis, however, will be on space application programs. With the launch of an exclusive satellite, Edusat, we have started providing educational services that can reach our population in the rural and remote areas. The telemedicine network that provides specialty consultation to patients in remote areas is expanding fast. It now connects more than 100 rural and remote area hospitals to 22 specialty hospitals in major cities. We have initiated the set up of village resources centers that combine the capability of our communication and remote sensing satellites to help farmers in their day-to-day activities like planning their agriculture, keeping them informed on weather-related and market-related information as well as providing telemedicine consultation.

Satellite News: Could you tell us about your plans in terms of the PSLV? How important is it for India to have a vibrant space industry?

Nair: PSLV has unequivocally demonstrated its reliability and its versatility for launching multiple satellites in polar as well as geosynchronous transfer orbit. PSLV can place up to 1,600 kilograms in polar orbit of about 630 kilometers or 1,300 kilograms in geosynchronous transfer orbit. With such a reliable vehicle that costs about 30 percent lower for the same class [by other launch service providers], there is no reason why we should not look for international customers for using this vehicle.

We have also recently established a sophisticated second launch pad at our Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and along with the already existing launch pad, we can undertake PSLV and GSLV launches more frequently.

Having involved a number of industries in our space program since its beginning, it is prudent to use the capabilities of these industries to produce PSLV in numbers and look to market it to international customers. We have so far launched four satellites of other countries and we have in the pipeline another three satellites – the Agile satellite for Italy, the Lapan-Tubsat for Indonesia and a satellite for the Singapore Nanyang Technological University. We are looking for more customers.

Satellite News: Could you tell us about your plans to develop the GSLV?

Nair: Considering the number of satellites required to meet the growing demand for telecommunication and television services, we undertook the development of GSLV to launch these satellites on our own. GSLV has already completed two developmental test flights and one operational flight when it put our Edusat satellite into the specified geosynchronous transfer orbit. We are in the process of developing a new satellite bus that weighs about 2 tons so we can have regular launches of communication, television broadcasting and meteorological satellites using this GSLV.

Satellite News: Do you see yourselves as competing against established global companies such as Arianespace and International Launch Services for business?

Nair: ISRO has the basic objective of meeting the national requirements for communication, television broadcasting, weather forecasting, disaster warning and remote sensing. This launch capability that we have established in meeting our primary objectives is being offered to the international market. Our launch vehicles are tuned to meet our own requirements and they are not intended to compete with other launch vehicles like Arianespace. But with a substantial capability to launch satellites, we also look forward to providing launch services on a commercial basis.

Satellite News: You are targeting 25 percent revenue growth from your operations. Do you think this is a realistic target?

Nair: The marketing of Indian space capability has been entrusted to Antrix Corporation working under the Department of Space. Antrix has been successful in marketing Indian remote sensing satellite data in collaboration with Space Imaging in the United States. It has succeeded in getting four small satellites – from Germany, Belgium and the Republic of Korea – that have been launched by PSLV and three more satellites on backlog previously mentioned. It has also made substantial inroads in leasing out Insat communication transponders to international customers including Intelsat.

PSLV’s successful launch record, entry of GSLV into its operational era, Cartosat-1 already in orbit and Insat-4A and Insat-4B that provide DTH capability slated for launch in the coming months all bode well for Antrix’s growth in the coming years.

Satellite News: What are the major financial challenges facing the organization?

Nair: The Indian space budget is voted by the parliament. The plans for the space program are formulated on the basis of decade profile, which is further refined for five-year plans under the Indian government. Once the five-year plan is approved in principle, the individual projects are formulated for approvals and the annual budget worked out based on the required cash flow. Considering that the space program is very well tuned to national requirement in a self-reliant way, we do not see any major financial constraints.

Satellite News: How do you see the satellite services landscape changing in India throughout the next 12 months? What role do you expect ISRO to play on this changing landscape?

Nair: In India, the growth of telecommunication and television broadcasting services has been quite phenomenal in the last couple of years. And the time now has come for ISRO to separate the commercial requirements and the social commitments. It is in this direction that an exclusive satellite, Edusat, was launched to cater to the educational services. The demand for DTH services justifies the launch of Insat-4A and Insat-4B to provide these services.

We have arrived at the satellite capacity requirements after prolonged interactions with the government and the private entrepreneurs, and their requirements are judiciously evaluated to derive satellite specifications and the phased building up of capacity in space. The implementation is proceeding accordingly. In the Insat-4 series, we have planned seven satellites to be launched in a phased manner at the end of which the total number of transponders available for ISRO will be 250.

Having proved the capability to meet the growth of demand for satellite capacity in a cost-effective manner and in a self-reliant way, ISRO will continue to play a very significant role in the communication and broadcasting sectors.

(S Krishnamurthy, ISRO, [email protected])