WASHINGTON — Eager to broaden its economic base and attract the attention of corporations from around the world, a tiny island in the Irish Sea is quietly wooing space and satellite companies with the promise of simple regulations and low taxes.

Sea Launch Co., Inmarsat and Loral Skynet are among the companies that have set up subsidiaries on the Isle of Man to take advantage of the incentives — which recently grew when the government entirely dropped corporate income tax on space industry activities.

Driven by a desire to stand out despite its small size, the Isle of Man’s government has developed a close relationship with its business community and created an environment designed to make it easy for private companies to thrive, said Alistair Ramsey, press and public relations officer for the island’s government.

The Isle of Man has long had a reputation as a banking, insurance and shipping center, and the government now is working to become known as an optimal place for other kinds of businesses to set up shop, he said.

"The Isle of Man has been one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe over the last 10 years, and we have a desire to diversify the Manx economy into new and innovative technologies," Ramsey said in a telephone interview from the capital city of Douglas. Manx is the traditional reference to things related to the Isle of Man. "We have a small economy, and we only need a small slice of cake to boost it significantly."

Sea Launch, based in Long Beach, Calif., has had an operation on the Isle of Man since the mid-1990s, when it set up a division to own the command ship used for Sea Launch missions. According to a statement provided to Space News by Sea Launch, the company needed to have a British unit to be able to use British government-backed financing to build the ship, constructed by Kvaerner Govan, a Scottish shipyard.

London-based Inmarsat has a subsidiary on the Isle of Man to manage and coordinate the launch of its next-generation Inmarsat-4 satellites, according to a statement provided by the mobile satellite company. The company declined to provide details, but indicated that it was attracted by the specialized financial and regulatory services available on the island.

Loral, meanwhile, is looking to take advantage of the Isle of Man’s access to orbital slots through the International Telecommunication Union, according to industry sources. The company is considering using about a dozen orbital locations under the island’s name, these sources said.

Loral made its arrangements through Mansat, a company based on the island and in Houston that promotes the Isle of Man’s space agenda in a semi-official capacity.

"We don’t have a traditional space agency or a traditional government program. We are being driven by economic interests as opposed to political interests," said Chris Stott, Mansat’s chief executive officer. "As a company and as an island, we see the value of space in terms of benefiting our economy."

Mansat also is cooperating with the Boeing Co. of Chicago to build an Earth station on the island, Stott said.

Andrew Corlett, an attorney with Cairns Advocates Ltd. in Douglas, said part of the Isle of Man’s interest in carving itself a niche as home to the space industry stems from its interest to express its independence. Cairns provides legal services to Mansat.

Even as the Isle of Man forgoes revenue from corporate activities, the government is in better shape than ever, Ramsey said.

Flush with money from other sources of revenue, such as sales and personal income taxes, the Manx government has been rapidly increasing public spending even as it cuts taxes on corporations, he said.