ISRO to enhance partnership with industry-MSMEs to double satellite launches

New Delhi, Nov 7 (KNN) The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning to increase partnership with the industry including the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to meet the rising demands of satellites.

The space agency has worked jointly with around 500 MSMEs and transferred about 300 technologies to Indian industries for commercialization.

Mylswamy Annadurai, the director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) said that ISRO had been targeting to double the launch frequency to 18 per year from 2018-19 because of high requirements.

Annadurai said that the experience with the industry had been very good and vendors were very enthusiastic working with the space programme.

ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said the space agency does as much activity as possible with the industry and had also been looking at the possibility of building a PSLV in a joint venture with a set of industry partners by 2020-21.

Kiran said 80 per cent of work relating to launch vehicles (rockets) is done by the industry, whose contribution to the building of satellites is in the range of 30 to 35 per cent. The chairman said that the goal is to outsource around 90 percent of the work to the industry. (KNN/AG)