ISRO is planning to build a mobile launchpad to help in launching its small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) class of vehicles into space, according to a report in December 2019. The maiden test-flight of SSLV is due in the first quarter of 2020.
The project will be part of the new spaceport proposed in Kulasekarapattinam, a town in Thuthukudi (Tuticorin), Tamil Nadu. The process for land acquisition has begun: ISRO needs an additional over-2000 acres of land in the city. For the mobile launchpad project, ISRO has already requested Rs 1200 million from the central government. It is also keen to partner with private players for the development of its future rockets. The district administration has appointed a special tehsildar along with eight more tahsildars to speed up the process of land acquisition for the centre.
The new launchpad would be ISRO’s third rocket launchpad.
At present, it has two launch pads at the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. All the PSLV and GSLV rockets are launched from here, including the Chandrayaan-2 and the resent Cartosat-3 satellites. The SDSC was established in 1971 and has two active launchpads. The first of these is mainly used for the PSLV satellites. The second is used for the GSLV spacecraft. The new lauchpad is expected to be an important foothold for ISRO’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), which are the smaller counterpart of the PSLV.
The PSLV spacecraft require more fuel as they fly east before heading to the South Pole to avoid any debris falling on Sri Lanka. Hence, the smaller rockets like the SSLV will help ISRO in many ways, especially with Antrix, the agency’s limited payload for commercial venture operations. The new launch pad in Kulasekarapattinam will lift off over the Lakshadweep Sea and would completely avoid Sri Lanka. ISRO says it would be beneficial for PSLV spacecraft as well though analysts say that the size of the proposed spaceport might be constricting for PSLV rockets to take off.
The first two launches of the SSLV are intended to be developmental flights and are scheduled to take off from the SDSC from Sriharikota. The first flight from the second launchpad is to take off from 2020 after which all the SSLV spacecraft are scheduled to take off from Kulasekarapattinam spaceport.
The demand for additional launch pads has been justified owing to increase in the number of satellite launches from India, both for domestic and international customers. ISRO says that it had launched as many as 17 missions in 2018 alone.