India, Mauritius to jointly develop small satellite

New Delhi: India and Mauritius will jointly develop a small satellite which will be launched by ISRO early next year, the Union Cabinet was apprised on Friday.

India and Mauritius had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of a joint small satellite during the visit of Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to Port Louis on November 1 last year.

The MoU will help to establish a framework for cooperation between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) on the development of a joint satellite as well as for cooperation on the use of the ground station in the island nation.

"Some of the subsystems for the joint satellite will be taken up through the participation of Indian industries and would benefit the industry," an official statement said.

The satellite realisation is proposed to be completed in a 15-month time frame, it said.

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was apprised about the MoU.

An official statement said the collaboration through the joint development of the satellite will help in further ensuring continuous support from the Mauritius government for the Indian ground station at Mauritius, which is critical for India's launch vehicle and satellite missions.

In addition, the joint satellite building will also help in ensuring MRIC support from their ground station for ISRO's small satellite mission in future.

The estimated cost for the joint satellite is Rs 20 crore, which will be borne by India.

Space cooperation between India and Mauritius dates back to 1986 when ISRO established a ground station in Mauritius for tracking and telemetry support for its launch vehicle and satellite missions.

The current space cooperation is being governed by the country-level agreement signed in July 2009, which superseded the 1986 agreement.

Based on the interest expressed by MRIC in jointly building a small satellite for Mauritius, the Ministry of External Affairs had requested ISRO to initiate discussions on realizing an India-Mauritius joint satellite.

The MEA will provide funding for the realisation, launch and operation of the joint satellite.