| The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is about to sign a major contract with a US company, Raytheon.
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| It was announced at the Indo-US space meet here today that the deal would be signed in the next few days.
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| Raytheon will help Isro instal a system that will allow aircraft to use the constellation of global positioning systems (GPS) satellites of the US.
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| Using special receivers, GPS signals allow one to get a positional fix. But the signals must be augmented to provide the accuracy needed for aircraft navigation and landing.
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| Isro, in collaboration with the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has come up with a system, Gagan (GPS aidedgeo-augmented navigation ), to augment the signals from GPS satellites. It involves setting up ground-based GPS reference stations and a navigational payload on a geo-stationary satellite.
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| Gagan Project Director KN Suryanarayana Rao said Raytheon after getting the contract would set up the entire ground systems and the mission control facility.
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| Rao said the navigational payload was being developed by Isro and would be put in a G-SAT satellite to be launched in 2006.
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| After an experimental phase for a year, the payload will be operational by 2008.
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| Raytheon has built similar augmentation systems for the US and Japan. Raytheon was one of the two companies that bid for the contract. French company Alcatel was the other contender.
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| A spokesman for Raytheon said it would be happy to be associated with India’s Gagan, but added that discussions were on and they have not signed the contract. |
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