BANGALORE, June 5: India's space agency has won a 10-million-dollar contract to launch its first satellite for the European Union, the space chief said on Saturday. Madhavan Nair, head of the Indian Space Research Organization, said the two sides signed an agreement to send a European satellite into orbit from the Indian-built Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle by the end of next year.

Mr Nair said it would be the first EU satellite to be launched by India, which has sent some of its own satellites into orbit from the European cosmodrome in French Guiana.

Mr Nair said his agency was also negotiating with Singapore to send a satellite into space as India seeks to become a player in the lucrative global launch market.-AFP