Chennai, July 28 - A technology safeguards agreement (TSA) signed with the US last week will open up fresh opportunities for India in the field of space launches, say officials.

The agreement, signed July 20 in New Delhi, will facilitate the launch of non-commercial US satellites and satellites with US components on Indian launch vehicles.

'It will open up more satellite launch opportunities for India,' said K.R. Sridhara Murthi, executive director of Antrix Corp, the Rs.1,000-crore ($200 million) commercial and marketing arm of the country's space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

'Earlier, satellites built with US-made components were not available for Indian launch vehicles,' Murthi told IANS from Bangalore on phone.

At present, the total market for non-commercial launches is estimated to be around 40 satellites a year, of which India's share is very small. However, with the TSA agreement, India is poised to make a larger penetration into the market, said ISRO officials.

Generally, non-commercial satellites are lightweight and may not fetch big revenues for a rocket launch agency as the satellite transport fee depends on its weight and the orbit into which it has to be launched.

ISRO's advantage is that it is one of the few space agencies in the world that can sling a light satellite into low orbit.

Though the deal will give advantage to the country in the non-commercial satellite field, India is still prohibited from launching US satellites or using US-made satellite components in the heavy commercial satellite segment.