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NEW DELHI --- In the presence of the President of France and the Prime Minister of India, EADS Astrium and ANTRIX, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), have signed a contract to provide a communication satellite for the international market.
The aim of the alliance between EADS Astrium and ANTRIX/ISRO, which builds on the proven expertise of both Indian and European companies, is to jointly offer communications satellites in the market segment around 4kW of payload power and with a launch mass of 2 to 3 tons.
This cooperation combining Indian platforms along with European payloads is designed to offer optimal, flexible and cost effective solutions to telecommunications operators.
The first success of this alliance is demonstrated by the award of the W2M satellite contract by Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL). This is a breakthrough for the partnership between the European and Indian space technology organisations, which together have won their first commercial export contract.
Under the W2M contract, EADS Astrium is prime contractor in charge of overall programme management and will build the communications payload. ANTRIX/ISRO will build the satellite bus, based on the flight proven I-3K model, integrate and test the spacecraft. ISRO will also be in charge of early in-orbit operations.
W2M will be delivered to Eutelsat in 26 months for launch in the second quarter of 2008.
W2M will operate typically 26 transponders in Ku-band and up to 32 depending on operational modes, for a designed operational lifetime of 15 years. W2M displays great flexibility to operate a wide range of services from television broadcasting to data networks and broadband. It will have a fixed beam coverage for Europe, North Africa and Middle East and a steerable beam which can be re-oriented in orbit according to market requirements, notably towards Africa and central Asia.
EADS Astrium is Europe’s leading satellite system specialist.
Its activities cover complete civil and military telecommunications and Earth observation systems, science and navigation programmes, and all spacecraft avionics and equipment. In 2004 EADS SPACE had a turnover of EUR 2.6 billion and 11,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2004, EADS generated revenues of EUR 31.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 110,000.
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. Antrix is the commercial arm of ISRO, which globally markets the products and services developed by ISRO.
Eutelsat Communications is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A. The Group is a leading satellite operator with capacity commercialised on 22 satellites providing coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas. Eutelsat Communications is headquartered in Paris, and the Group’s workforce comprises over 450 commercial, technical and operational employees from 25 countries.
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