Dr. Jitendra Singh, India’s Minister of State for Science and Technology, said in front of the parliament that the launch of foreign satellites by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) brought in $279 million in foreign currency. Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, made this money by launching 345 foreign satellites from 34 different nations. 56 million of these gains were paid out in dollars, while 223 million were paid out in euros (220 million Euros). There are 2,226 crore rupees in the total.
KEY POINTS:
- The first nations to use ISRO’s services to launch satellites were Germany and South Korea.
- After 2015, 83% of the international launches took place.
- US spacecraft account for 66% of ISRO’s international launches, which also includes non-government satellites.
- The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) of ISRO were used to launch each of these spacecraft.
- Since 1975, the Indian government has launched 342 foreign spacecraft in addition to 129 domestic ones, which illustrates the success of ISRO’s commercial satellite programme.
Countries that used ISRO launch Pad:
- Germany was the first nation to use Indian services to launch a satellite, and since then, ISRO has gone a long way, launching a total of 345 foreign satellites.
- In the 23 years since its ground-breaking debut, it has successfully launched 11 satellites for Germany.
- Among the first nations to launch a satellite with ISRO was South Korea.
- In comparison to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, India has launched the most satellites, at least according to ISRO data up to January 2022.
- About 83 percent of these international satellite launches took place after 2015.
- In actuality, the ISRO did not launch any satellites for the USA until 2015.
- However, following this, there was no turning back for India-US space cooperation because, according to K Sivan, the former ISRO director, the US accounts for 66% of all foreign satellite launches by ISRO.
- ISRO has launched numerous non-government satellites for the US.
- For the launch of foreign satellites onboard PSLV between 2021 and 2023, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), India’s first space PSU, has already signed six launch contracts with customers from four different countries. NSIL started operating in 2019.
Important Takeaways for All Competitive Exams:
- ISRO Chairman: Dr. K Sivan
- Minister of State for Science and Technology: Dr. Jitendra Singh
- ISRO’s foundation Date: 15th August, 1969
- ISRO’s Founder: Dr. Vikram Sarabhai