PSLV to Launch Singapore University Satellite

Antrix Corporation of Department of Space and Nanyang Technological University, (NTU), Singapore signed an agreement today, January 24, 2003, under which ISRO's PSLV will launch X-Sat of NTU. The agreement was signed by Prof Er Meng Hwa, Deputy President and Prof Tan Soon Hie, Director, Satellite Engineering Centre from NTU and Mr K R Sridhara Murthy, Executive Director, Antrix Corporation at a simple ceremony held at Antariksh Bhavan, Bangalore, the headquarters of ISRO and Antrix. Dr K Kasturirangan, Chairman, ISRO and Dr P S Goel, Director, ISRO Satellite Center also participated in the ceremony.

The 100 kg class X-Sat, which is being developed by NTU, Singapore, is a remote sensing micro-satellite for earth observation and imaging in visible spectral bands. The satellite will be used for land and coastal observations employing multi-spectral imaging. The three-axes stabilized spacecraft will have deployable solar panels.

X-Sat is the fifth satellite for which Antrix Corporation is providing launch service using ISRO's PSLV. The satellites launched earlier are PROBA of Belgium, BIRD and DLR-TUBSAT of Germany and KITSAT-3 of Korea. Under the agreement signed today, besides launching X-Sat on one of the forthcoming launches of PSLV during 2005/06, Antrix will also provide NTU with the necessary support for testing the satellite.