Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief Sivan said that New Space India Limited (NSIL) would acquire three communication satellites on Friday. These satellites are GSAT 20 GSAT 22 and GSAT 24. The company will be the owner and operator of these satellites manufactured by ISRO.
New Delhi, ANI. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief Sivan said on Friday, ‘New Space India Limited (NSIL) will acquire three communication satellites. These satellites are GSAT 20, GSAT 22 and GSAT 24. The company will be the owner and operator of these satellites manufactured by ISRO. On a question related to the transfer of other satellites to NSIL, the country’s first public sector space unit under the Department of Space, Sivan said, “We are looking at transferring them on lease.” He said that NSIL is also working on transferring the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to the private sector.
NSIL was incorporated on 06 March 2019 as a wholly-owned Government of India company. It is the commercial arm of ISRO. Its main task is to activate Indian industries to take up high technology space-related activities. In addition, it oversees the development and commercial use of products and services for the Indian space programme.
There are 17 Communication Satellites, and 8 are Navigation Satellites, and 17 are Earth Observation Satellites. According to the ISRO chief, the GSAT 24 satellite will be launched from the European Space Agency Arianespace’s Ariane rocket. He said, ‘GSAT24 will be ready for launch by the end of this year or by January next year. The other two satellites GSAT20 and GSAT22, are under construction. GSAT20 will be launched by Indian rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. It is noteworthy that for the budget 2021-22, Rs 13,949 crore was allocated to the Department of Space. 700 crore has been allocated for NSIL.
Last year, ISRO launched its 42nd communication satellite CMS-01 (formerly GSAT-12R) on a PSLV-C50 rocket from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. This was the 52nd mission of the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket and the 77th launch mission of ISRO from the Satish Dhawan Space Center.