With the launch of GSLV-MK III, slated for April, it will be able to cater to bigger satellites as well.
Heralding a new era, India on Friday night launched its heaviest commercial space mission ever with its polar rocket successfully putting five British satellites into the intended orbit after a flawless takeoff.
There is a huge spurt in demand to launch smaller satellites, those as light as 1 kg, with a lifespan of two to three years. But there aren't enough rockets to carry these, reports T E Narasimhan
While Team Indus had backing from Nandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata and Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal, it could not even muster half of the Rs 4.5 billion it required for the mission to the moon.
Just over 22 minutes into the flight, the rocket put Astrosat into orbit at an altitude of 650 km above the earth
The success of the PSLV-C34 mission is a result of ISRO's professionalism and the hard work put in by their scientists over the last many decades., says Ajay Lele.
While industry is upbeat, start-ups in the space sector are finding it difficult to cater to the demand due to a lack of funding, issues related to policy like foreign funding, intellectual property, etc, and a lack of support in testing.
ISRO has an opportunity to be the one-stop shop for satellite manufacturing, and Alpha Design is just the booster it needed.
'India has got a unique opportunity to get more and more business from outside as India is cost-effective and reliable.'
Israel is determined to take the bilateral engagement to a different level that goes beyond defence hardware and intelligence software. Kanchan Gupta reports exclusively from Tel Aviv for Rediff.com
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