Spaceflight

EADS Astrium and Bangalore-based Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on 20 February signed the contract to provide a 3t-class Ku-band communications satellite for European operator Eutelsat, writes Radhakrishna Rao.

The W2M satellite will be delivered within 26 months for launch during the second half of 2008. EADS Astrium is the prime contractor for the satellite and will provide the communications payload.

ISRO’s Bangalore satellite centre will build the satellite bus and integrate the spacecraft for Antrix.