ISRO Secures European Satellite Launch Contracts Amidst Russia’s 90% Loss in Orders due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and ISRO’s position in the space sector strengthened. European nations depended on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for satellite launches but distanced themselves after the invasion and on the other hand ISRO’s rockets continued gaining success in their missions.
Although Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the largest space agency in the world in the number of launches per year. Europe is the largest customer of SpaceX. SpaceX is the most economical and most diversified in types of payload launch. After SpaceX ISRO is the most suitable agency now get more contracts from Europe. In 2021, Russia conducted 35 satellite launches for Britain and various other nations. However, this figure declined to two in 2022.
ISRO Secures European Satellite Launch Contracts Amidst Russia’s 90% Loss in Orders
The relationship between India and Russia is strong and has a good mutual understanding, However, the relationship between Europe and Russia is not positive. Recently ISRO developed its new rocket called SSLV (small satellite launch vehicle) as its name indicates, it is designed only for the launch of micro, nano, and small satellites. This newly launched vehicle will fill the vacuum that ISRO was lacking in small satellite launch markets from Europe and other parts of the country. This new launch vehicle is more economical and ready to launch on demand.
Russian Space Agency Roscomos is facing a financial crunch and its revenue declined sharply from 32.3 billion rubles in 2018 to 10.5 billion rubles in 2021. The space agency appears to have sunk further into a financial crisis as demand for its satellite launch services declined. This article is based on the Eurasian Times.
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