ISRO's arm Antrix eyeing $150 Million worth contracts

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 04 June 2009, 18:08 IST   |    2 Comments
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ISRO's arm Antrix eyeing $150 Million worth contracts
Bangalore: Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is chasing contracts worth $100-150 million. Antrix is in demand for its low cost space solutions in countries like the U.S., Europe, Algeria, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Middle East. Antrix revenue for 2008-2009 was Rs 940 crore. "We hope to clock eight percent growth and touch revenue of Rs 1,000 crore. We have a backlog of orders worth Rs 3,000 crore which will be completed in the next 3-4 years," said Antrix Managing Director, KR Sridhara Murthy. Antrix, which has more than 150 customers in the telecommunication and broadcasting sectors and 40 customers in remote sensing and imageries, is looking at establishing new businesses such as mobile multimedia communication for which it is building a GSat-6 satellite to provide video to users of hand-held devices. They are in discussion with customers for satellite contract. It is building a navigation satellite called Indian Regional Navigation Satellite which will track vehicles on the ground and a low-cost powerful satellite launch vehicle - GSLV Mark 3. With GSLV Mark 3, Antrix will be able to save 30 percent cost for Indian space missions. "Once the GSLV Mark 3 is developed, we don't have to rely on outside countries to launch heavy satellites. Previously, we were dependent on Europe and French Guyana. It will also help in manned missions in future", said Shankara, ex-director, ISRO's satellite centre (ISAC). The GSLV project, worth around Rs 4,000- 5,000 crore, is expected to be completed in 5-6 years. Along with GSLV project there is other sophisticated satellite called Ocean Sat-2 which is expected to launch by July-August 2009. This satellite can survey ocean in eight different colors and has a data format sharing system. It can observe potential fishing zones, forecast the conditions of the high seas, conduct coastal zone studies and give inputs for weather forecasting and climate studies.