3 min readNew DelhiMay 27, 2024 04:37 PM IST
First published on: May 27, 2024 at 02:58 AM IST
ISRO’s recent invitation to private firms to build India’s heaviest rocket is a long-awaited step to ensure greater participation of the private sector in the country’s space programme. And it will help India emerge stronger in the international space market amid a rapidly-increasing demand for satellite launches, according to experts The Indian Express spoke to.
Earlier this month, ISRO’s commercial arm, New Space India Limited (NSIL), invited applications from private firms for “end-to-end” manufacturing of Launch Vehicle Mark-III or LVM3, the rocket that was used in the Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 lunar missions.
Previously called GSLV-MkIII, the LVM3 is ISRO’s most powerful rocket so far. It can carry up to 4-tonne satellites into the geostationary orbit and up to 8-tonne satellites into the lower earth orbits.
According to the offer, ISRO’s plan is to have a 14-year collaboration with the selected private entity. The first two years would be the “development phase” for transfer of technology and know-how and then, over the next 12 years, it is envisaged that the private partner would be able to build four to six LMV3 rockets each year.
“With the commercialisation of LVM3, Indian companies will now have a wider array of launch vehicles to offer in the global market. It will increase the country’s share in the global market,” Lieutenant General Anil Kumar Bhatt (retd), director general, Indian Space Association, told The Indian Express.
And, Lt Gen Bhatt added, it will allow ISRO to focus on the NGLV (Next Generation Launch Vehicle), a much bigger launch vehicle being developed as part of India’s vision to set up its own space station and send an Indian to the Moon.
Akshat Johri, assistant general manager of IIFCL, a government-owned project advisory company which has assisted NSIL in finalising the commercialisation procedures, said the decision to allow private manufacturing of LVM3 has come at a “very opportune moment”.
“As of now, Falcon 9 of SpaceX is the only significant launch vehicle taking heavy payloads to space. Chinese launch vehicles are busy with their country’s own missions and Russian vehicles like Soyuz are not being used by many due to war-related sanctions. The Ariane Group (of Europe) is still testing its new Ariane 6 rocket, after having retired Ariane 5 in July last year, and JAXA of Japan has just finished testing its H3 rocket.
“This is a very opportune moment for India to grab some space for LVM3. There is a growing market for satellites in the lower earth orbits as well,” he said.
Besides the LMV3, ISRO has also given private players a chance to make the recently developed Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and its main workhorse, PSLV. The first privately manufactured PSLV is likely to take flight in August this year.
LVM3 is ISRO’s most powerful rocket so far. (File Photo) 
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