In two years, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will get its second spaceport for Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) in Kulasekarapattinam town in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district.
The private sector will develop the second spaceport, said Dr Pawan Goenka, chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), media reported on Thursday.
“,About 2,000 acres of land has been acquired and handed over to ISRO. The project team is in place, the budget has been defined, the planning has been done, and we will be taking off in about two years from now” Goenka told reporters.
Earlier, Dr Jitendra Singh, space minister, informed that INR 9.8 billion (approx. $118 million) had been sanctioned for the "Acquisition of Land and establishment of space launch centre infrastructure at Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu". Of this sum, INR 210.20 crore (approx. $25 million) have been remitted to the government of Tamil Nadu towards land acquisition.
Advantages of Kulasekarapattinam
The new spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam will reduce fuel consumption over the existing spaceport at Sriharikota. Currently, rockets launched from Sriharikota perform turn-manoeuvres to avoid flying over Sri Lanka, which will not be the case with the new space station.
This fuel loss does not impact large rockets, but adversely impacts the performance of small rockets (120 long tons; 130 short tons), which are largely built by private industry.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government is also planning to launch a Space Industrial Park and Propellants Park near the new spaceport.