By D. Balaji, IANS,
Berlin : Increasing use of nano and pico satellites in near-earth orbits will benefit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has a competitive edge with its cost-effective polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), says a study.
The international market for nano and pico-satellites is set to witness about 40 percent in increase next five years, the study by the American aerospace consultants Teal group says.
“We are noticing a growing trend for more nano/pico-satellites, as evident from the number of such (micro) satellites being launched during the past four years than in the previous 16 years,” Teal group senior analyst Marco Caceres told IANS at the 100th Berlin international air show (ILA 2010) here.
The study projects that 416 nano/pico satellites will be placed in the near-earth’s orbits on board 184 launch systems the world over by 2014.
The study of the satellite transport in much lower orbits noted that medium term providers of communication services such as Globalstar, Iridium and Orbcomm will have to replace many of their orbiting satellites.
“We expect this upward trend to continue in this decade. Suppliers of launch vehicles such as Russian Soyuz, marketed by the French Arianespace, will benefit from this increased demand, as will the Falcon-1 from SpaceX, Rockot from Eurockot and Dnepr from ISC Kosmotrans,’ Caceres said.
In a related development at the aerospace expo, the German aerospace centre chairman Johann-Dietrich Worner and Russian space agency Roskosmos signed a new framework contract to participate in space flights on the two Russian research satellites – Foton-M and Bion-M.
“The experiments by our scientists will focus on materials and biological processes in space,” Worner told IANS.
The two satellites (Foton & Bion) have evolved from Russia’s first generation of manned Vostok spacecraft and have been deployed since 1973 and 1985.
“Bion can remain in orbit for 30 days and Foton for three months,” Worner said.
The next flight by Bion-M1 in 2012, followed by Foton-M4 in 2013, will carry German experiments.
German scientists have already contributed through joint ventures with Russian institutes on the biological experiments into the effects of gravitation and radiation that were carried out on Bion-9-11 from 1989-1997.