Antrix Corporation of the Department of Space (DOS) and Space Imaging, USA, signed an agreement yesterday (January 27, 2004) in Bangalore, extending the sales and marketing agreement for the Indian remote sensing satellite data between the two agencies. Mr K R Sridhara Murthi, Executive Director, ANTRIX and Mr Robert Dalal, CEO of Space Imaging signed the agreement in the presence of Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO and the Antrix Board. This agreement gives Space Imaging rights to market and sell data from ISRO's latest remote sensing satellite, RESOURCESAT-1, and the forthcoming CARTOSAT-1, worldwide. The National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, under DOS acquires and markets the data in India.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of ISRO, Mr Madhavan Nair said "ISRO, Antrix and Space Imaging have worked as partners to fulfill India's vision of a global commercial Earth-observation program and the Indian Remote Sensing satellite system has emerged as one of the most high-profile programs in the commercial imaging industry."

Mr Robert Dalal, CEO of Space Imaging said that in the past eight years, 19 ground stations have been installed to access IRS-1C and IRS-1D, and hence the success of these satellites is without question. "The continuation of our long-standing marketing relationship with Antrix is an important step in our business plan. Combined with its successful launch and Space Imaging's worldwide user base, we are certain to gain maximum exposure of RESOURCESAT-1 imagery across many global markets" he added.

It may be noted that RESOURCESAT-1, the most advanced remote sensing satellite built by ISRO so far, was launched in October 2003 by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). CARTOSAT-1 is scheduled for launch this year.