A private launchpad and mission control center were established within the ISRO campus at Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC), SHAR, Sriharikota, for the first time.
- The launchpad is designed and operated by a private company, an Indian space-tech start-up, Agnikul. The facility was inaugurated on November 25, 2022 by ISRO chairman Shri S. Somanath.
Key points
- Establishment of this private launchpad marks a significant step in opening the Indian space sector to private players and affirms the commitment of ISRO/DOS for facilitating the same.
- The current facility has a launchpad and a mission control center. The latter is about 4 km away from the launchpad.
- The system compliant to support liquid stage-controlled launches, monitor key flight safety parameters by ISRO’s range operations teams during launches and share the data with ISRO’s Mission Control Center.
- Agnikul plans to guide & control their upcoming launches from this facility.
- In their first launch, a 2-stage launch vehicle, Agnibaan is intended to carry a payload of up to 100 kg to around 700 km altitude.
- Agnikul Cosmos Private Limited is a Chennai-based start-up incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras). It was founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran.
Private sector in space sector
- Besides enhancing the capacity and resources of the Space sector, increased participation of private players will also discourage the brain-drain of talented Space scientists and experts who were otherwise moving out of India in search of a break.
- IN-SPACe was announced in June 2020. It is an autonomous and single window nodal agency in the Department of Space for the promotion, encouragement and regulation of space activities of both government and private entities.
- The role of New Space India Limited (NSIL) functioning as a single-window operator will also facilitate the ease of doing business in space sector. NSIL in the post reformed space sector would be to build launch vehicles, providing launch services, build satellites, providing space based services, technology transfers, etc.
- ISpA ( Indian Space Association) is the Premier Industry Association of Space and Satellite companies, which aspires to be the collective voice of the Indian Space industry. It will undertake policy advocacy and engage with all stakeholders in the Indian Space domain, including the Government and its agencies.
