U.S., India Find Way Around ITAR Export Laws With Bilateral Space Launch Agreement

ISRO's PSLV-C15 rocket lifts off with five satellites aboard on July 12, 2010.

India’s successful PSLV flight yesterday represented more than the successful placement of five small satellites into orbit. It also marked a successful effort by the Obama Administration to begin breaking down the restrictive ITAR laws that have hurt U.S. high-tech manufacturers.

The Times of India reports:

Almost a year ago on July 20, 2009, external affairs minister SM Krishna and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton met at Hyderabad House in New Delhi and signed what is known as Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) which strengthens Indo-US space ties.

On Monday, this pact became a reality when PSLV for the first time placed in orbit a satellite with a large number of US components. According to Isro officials, this flight is therefore politically important with regards to Indo-US relationship.

The satellite is nearly 200-kg Alsat (Algerian Satellite), owned by Algerian Space Agency and is built by a French company with several US-made parts. Isro officials said the Alsat launch was significant because it was the first one following the signing of the TSA between India and the US.

TSA facilitates the launch of US satellites and satellites with US components on Indian launch vehicles. It will cover launches involving satellites owned by US government or academic institutions or by third country space agencies and universities which have US equipment on board.

Strict ITAR regulations have been blamed for hurting U.S. high-tech manufacturers by limiting their ability to export sensitive technologies. The rules have inspired foreign satellite manufacturers to develop their own expertise and to market their products as “ITAR free.”

In a press release, ISRO described the launch as flawless:

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C15), today (on July 12, 2010) successfully launched CARTOSAT – 2B from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch of PSLV – C15 was the sixteenth consecutive successful flight of PSLV.

After a smooth countdown of 51 hrs the vehicle lifted-off from the First Launch Pad at the opening of the launch window at 09.22 hrs (IST). After about 20 minutes of flight time, India`s advanced remote sensing satellite CARTOSAT – 2B along with four auxiliary satellites was successfully injected into its circular orbit of 637 km with an orbital inclination of 98.1^o.

The preliminary flight data indicates that all major flight events involving stage ignition and burnouts, performance of solid and liquid stages, indigenously developed advanced mission computers and telemetry systems were exactly as predicted.

PSLV – C15 in its flight, in addition to CARTOSAT – 2B, carried four auxiliary satellites namely STUDSAT a pico-satellite weighing less than 1 kg, built jointly by students from a consortium of seven engineering colleges form Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, two nano satellites NLS 6.1 and NLS 6.2 from University of Toronto, Canada and ALSAT-2A, a micro-satellite from Algerian Space Agency.