Chennai: The NewSpace India Ltd, the commercial arm of Department of Space (DOS) apart from buying satellites from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) can also lease assets from the latter, said K. Sivan, Secretary, DOS.
Sivan, also the Chairman of ISRO told, “NSIL will acquire three communication satellites- GSAT 20, GSAT 22 and GSAT 24- made by ISRO. The company will be the owner and operator of the satellites.”
Queried about transferring ISRO’s other satellites to NSIL, Sivan said, “We are thinking about asset transfer on lease basis. Plans are there.”
Presently there are about 17 communication satellites, eight navigation satellites (six under operation, two in messaging services) and 17 earth observation satellites of ISRO under operation. According to Sivan, the GSAT 24 satellite will be launched by Ariane rocket belonging to European space agency Arianespace.