India Approves $67.5 Million Arianespace Deal

India’s cabinet has approved a contract worth up to $67.5 million with Arianespace for launching satellites, according to Aug. 9 published reports out of New Delhi.

In June, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) signed an agreement with the European launch provider to orbit the Insat-4G communications satellite for providing navigation, telecommunications, TV broadcasting and broadband services.

The launch is slated for the end of 2008 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guiana Space Center at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Earlier this year, Arianespace orbited the Insat-4B satellite. Insat-4G will mark the 14th ISRO satellite to use the European launch provider.

In another development, ISRO officials reportedly are planning a launch window between Aug. 31 and Sept. 8 to orbit Insat-4CR from ISRO’s spaceport in Sriharikota, India. The communications satellite is similar to Insat-4C, which was lost during the unsuccessful July 2006 launch of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F02) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center.

Like its predecessor, Insat-4CR will carry 12 Ku-band transponders to provide TV broadcasting services in Southeast Asia, including direct-to-home (DTH) television services plus very small aperture terminal (VSAT) applications, video picture transmission (VPT) and digital satellite newsgathering. Insat-4CR has a designed mission life of 10 years.