Sci-Edu
UPDATED: 12:05, September 18, 2004
India to launch Indonesian satellite
India will send an Indonesian micro-satellite into space on an indigenous launch rocket by early 2006, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported Friday.
Under a contract signed by Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of India's department of space, and Indonesia's National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, the 50-kg Lapan-Tubsat satellite will be launched on the polar satellite launch vehicle.
The Indonesian satellite will ride piggyback with an Indian satellite on the rocket during the last quarter of 2005 or early 2006, the IANS quoted an official statement as saying here Friday.
The launch has been provided by Antrix "at a price which compares well with what the Indian Space Research Organization's competitors offer for launches of micro-satellites," the statement said.
Four satellites of Germany, South Korea and Belgium have so far been launched by the ISRO and contracts were earlier signed for sending two more -- one each from Singapore and Europe -- into space.
Indonesia's space agency, popularly known as Lapan, has in the past provided a location for establishing the Indian Space Research Organization's ground station at Biak in that country. The station, for which Indonesia also provided manpower, was used to support the tracking of Indian satellite launches, the statement said.
Source: Xinhua
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