ISRO on Thursday secured the Cabinet’s nod to set up the Third Launch Pad (TLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, at an outlay of ₹3,985 crore. The project is scheduled to be completed in 48 months, said Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

This project will cater to the launch infrastructure of ISRO’s ‘Next Generation Launch Vehicles’ (NGLV) and function as a standby launch pad in Sriharikota.

“This will also enhance the launch capacity for future Indian human spaceflight missions, including sending crd to moon and setting up space station,” the Minister said. The third launch pad is designed to be universal and adaptable so as to support not only NGLV but also the LVM3 vehicles with semicryogenic stage as well as scale up configurations of NGLV.

Third in 30 years

A government statement added that as on January 16, the Indian Space Transportation Systems are completely reliant on two launch pads – First Launch Pad (FLP) & Second Launch Pad (SLP). FLP was realised 30 years ago for PSLV and continues to provide launch support for PSLV & SSLV.

The SLP was established primarily for GSLV & LVM3 and also functions as a standby for PSLV. It has been operational for almost 20 years and has enhanced the launch capacity towards enabling some commercial missions of PSLV/LVM3 along with the national missions including the Chandrayaan-3 mission. SLP is also getting ready to launch the human-rated LVM3 for the Gaganyaan missions.

“The expanded vision of Indian Space Programme during the ‘Amrit Kaal’, including the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) by 2035 and an Indian Crewed Lunar Landing by 2040, requires a new generation of heavier launch vehicles with new propulsion systems, which cannot be met by the existing launch pads,” the statement said.

The expeditious establishment of a third launch pad to cater to a heavier class of NGLVs and as a stand by for SLP is essential so as to meet the evolving space transportation requirements in another 25-30 years.