ISRO creates a space for the private industry, to collaborate for 27 satellites
Jul 20, 2018, 20:51 IST
- Indian Space Research Organisation has officially signed a tender with two private firms and one public enterprise to assemble and launch 27 satellites over the next three years.
- It’s even created a facility specifically for the public-private collaboration at the ISRO Spacecraft Integration Test Establishment (ISITE).
- If the collaboration is successful, reports state that the contract could be extended for another two years resulting in 18 more satellites.
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The Spacecraft Assembly Integration and Testing (AIT) activities are now going to be outsourced to Alpha Design consortium, Tata Advanced systems and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Between the one public entity and two private players, the satellite will be developed using subsystems from the ISRO supply chain.
Rather than dealing with a scattered supply chain, the agency has put together a space just for the public-private partnership. These three firms will be working out of the ISRO Spacecraft Integration Test Establishment (ISITE) in Bangalore.
Each firm has been allocated with the responsibility of completing nine satellites each year. The satellites are homogenous with some meant for communication while others will help with imaging and meteorological capabilities.
Reports state that if the three-year endeavour is successful, the contract has a clause that allows an extension for another two years which would mean 18 more satellites.
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The main obstacle for ISRO, so far, has been that their in-house capabilities are limited, which is why offloading the some aspects of the production cycle to private players could optimise the satellite launch processes.
(Representative image)