India’s second spaceport: Here’s how Sriharikota’s little sister is fulfilling the country’s space ambitions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for India’s second spaceport, Kulasekarapattinam. It will serve as a launch pad for smaller satellites. And Sriharikota will be used for bigger and heavy lunches.

India’s 2nd Spaceport: In recent years, India’s success in the space sector has changed perceptions of it, and the country has now emerged as the world’s launch pad for space projects. With the historic success of the Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 missions, India is now looking at the Gaganyaan mission in which ISRO plans to send Indian astronauts to low Earth orbit for a short duration on board an Indian launch vehicle. The Indian space agency is also expanding its commercial launches, where it will send satellites and payloads from other countries through its reliable PSLV and GSLV launch vehicles. Now ISRO plans to build a new launch pad near the southern tip of Tamil Nadu. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the country’s second spaceport, Kulasekarapattinam. This spaceport was intended as a launch pad for smaller satellites.

India’s 2nd spaceport

According to ISRO chairman S Somanath, the new spaceport will have 24 launches every year. It will also have mobile launch facilities.
“The land acquisition has been completed and the Tamil Nadu government has handed over the land to ISRO. So we have to start construction now. The construction will take two years,” PTI quoted Somanath as saying.

Indian Space Association (ISpA) Director General Lieutenant General (Retd) AK Bhatt said the new spaceport will play a crucial role in the coming years due to increasing launch frequency.

“This facility will play an important role in accommodating the increasing launch frequency of both ISRO and the growing private space industry in the coming years,” said Indian Space Association (ISpA) Director General Lt. Gen. (Retd) AK Bhatt.
The new spaceport will spread over 2,292 hectares and is expected to cost around Rs 986 crore.

Will be ready in 2 years

S Somanath said the new spaceport will be ready by 2026. Notably, there are two launch pads at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. Similarly, Kulasekarapattinam will start with one launch pad, and in the coming years it will also have missile integration facilities, checkout computers and a mobile launch structure.

Location advantage

The location of the new launch pad will play a crucial role as rockets launched from Kulasekarapattinam can save fuel by avoiding special flight paths. The PSLV missiles launched from Sriharikota are required to perform a ‘dogleg maneuver’ (a sharp turn to change direction from a straight flight path). This is done to avoid overflying Sri Lanka and the risk of falling space debris. The new launch pad allows the spacecraft to launch directly into space without performing a ‘dogleg maneuver’, meaning greater payload capacity with lower fuel consumption.

Big profits from small satellites

Kulasekarapattinam will be used by ISRO to launch nano and micro satellites, which are becoming the instruments of choice due to their affordability. The global small satellite market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $13.7 billion by 2030. ISRO has so far launched 432 satellites for 34 countries, including micro and nano satellites. Now, the Indian space agency is focusing on entering the global small satellite market with its SSLV rocket.

The new launch pad can perform two launches per month, meeting the global demand for launching small satellites.