Indian space scientists are warming up to the huge potential in significantly increasing commercial launches for domestic and foreign customers. On August 16, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) completed its programme development phase successfully when the SSLV-D3 launcher placed in the intended orbits ISRO’s Earth Observation Satellite-08 and the SR-O Demosat developed by aerospace start-up Space Kidz.
This has opened the doors for ISRO’s commercial arm, the New Space India Limited (NSIL), to transfer the SSLV technology to private players. It will see these launchers being produced on a mass scale for commercial missions.
The launchers are 34 metres long (10 metres shorter than ISRO’s workhorse polar satellite launch vehicles), and 2 metres in diameter, with a lift-off mass of 120 tonnes powered by three solid propulsion stages and a liquid propulsion-based velocity trimming module in the last stage. SSLVs can carry nano, micro and mini satellites, with a single payload of up to 500 kg or a combination of three satellites weighing 10 kg to 300 kg that can be placed in space within an orbital ceiling of up to 500 km.
ISRO currently is launching about seven to eight missions a year. However, with the mass production of SSLVs, the Indian space sector will be poised to multiply its number of launches manifold, in the process adding to India’s range of space-based technologies.
These launchers provide low-cost access to space, offer low turnaround time, flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, and launch-on-demand feasibility requiring minimal infrastructure.
Although India presently operates from just one spaceport - the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota - it is already a go-to country for several others to have their satellites launched. The advantages offered by the SSLV programme are complemented by the prospects of a second launch port set to come up in a few years at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district.
With the successful completion of the SSLV developmental phase, the stage is now set for ISRO’s first dedicated commercial SSLV launch some time in 2026 when it puts the Australian Space Machines Company’s satellite, Optimus, in space. NSIL and the Indian space sector are well poised to have their cash registers ticking faster in the years ahead.