New Delhi: India will have four functional launch pads by 2029 and a dedicated 2,000-acre complex in Tamil Nadu for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said on Sunday, sketching a launch calendar that has been stretched thin by demand.
Speaking at an event in the capital, Narayanan said the Kulasekarapattinam complex would help meet growing demand for satellite deployment, and that ISRO would support startups and private firms through technology transfers while retaining its public-sector character.
On human spaceflight, he said the first uncrewed Gaganyaan test is planned within the next two months, and that two more uncrewed tests would follow before astronauts fly. The programme has slipped repeatedly, and Narayanan's timeline puts the immediate milestone inside this financial year.
He also announced plans for Chandrayaan-5, a joint lunar mission with Japan that will carry a 350-kg rover. India's last lunar landing attempt, Chandrayaan-3, put a lander and rover down near the south pole in August 2023.
The launch-pad arithmetic matters because India's two operational spaceports, at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Kulasekarapattinam, have limited slots for a growing manifest that includes commercial satellite launches, the Gaganyaan series and heavier earth-observation missions. Four pads by 2029 would roughly double the current capacity.
Narayanan's remarks came on a day when the government's space ambitions were on display on several fronts. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Indian Air Force's 'Wings over Ganges' air show in Varanasi, the final day of a three-day event marking the force's 94th anniversary.
On the private sector, ISRO has been transferring technology to Indian firms for satellite and launch-vehicle manufacturing, and has said it will continue to do so without ceding its own role as the country's primary space agency.