"Today there is a glut in the launch-vehicle market," Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told AFP.

Kasturirangan, who is also the chief of India's Space Commission, said Western nations launch satellites on their own vehicles.

"It is a complicated geopolitical issue. Developing the launch vehicle market is not purely your capability and reliability that dictates everything.

"I think you will have to play it in a consortium mode, maybe in a strategic partnership mode," he said.

India is offering its polar satellite launch vehicle capable of launching 1,000-1,200 kilogramme (2,205-2,640-pound) units. Next month it will stage the second flight of its geosynchronous satellite-launch vehicle, which caters for communication satellites.

Kasturirangan said ISRO has an agreement with the European Space Agency to incorporate India's polar satellite launch vehicle in Ariane launches, but is yet to get a contract.

ISRO is aiming at similar tie-ups with other established agencies to promote its launch vehicles and is negotiating with firms such as US-based Lockheed Martin.

"We are discussing with quite a lot of such aerospace firms across the Western world. The whole idea is to see whether there can be mutually beneficial business arrangements.

"From a financial angle it could be an attractive proposition," Kasturirangan said. "The partnership could be in joint building of systems, joint marketing and joint operations."

He said Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO, has earned about one billion rupees (21 million dollars) since it was formed about a decade ago.

The corporation has contracts for receiving data from Indian remote sensing satellites in about 13 countries including the United States and Japan.

It also has contracts with nations such as Myanmar to provide support to ground stations.

"A major contract is with Intelsat where we have leased nine transponders from INSAT 2E for revenues of 100 million over 10 years," Kasturirangan said. Transponders are devices which relay radio signals.

"We have also started leasing transponders to several broadcasters in the country and providing consultancy services. So revenues have slowly grown from a few million rupees to touch one billion now," he said.

But Kasturirangan said ISRO was not keen to see Antrix grow into a large corporation.

"Our idea is to bring together a potential marketing entity including industrial houses to use the space capabilities that India has created and market it and create a viable commercial base for this activity," he said.

About 550 small and large Indian firms built systems and parts for the space programme and ISRO said it would further outsource its requirements.

"Lot of space activities of a regular nature should remain within the industries. They will work closely with Antrix to get support in terms of how to orient their space products so that it becomes marketable," Kasturirangan said.

SPACE.WIRE