ISRO working on small launch vehicles | Fusion - WeRIndia

In the recent days, demand for small satellites is growing. They are widely used especially for communication purpose.

Considering the demand for small satellites, ISRO is working on designing smaller launch vehicles. These will help carry satellites that weigh 500 to 700 kg.

They also can move up to 500 kilometres from the earth’s surface i.e from the Space Centre in Sriharikota.

With the building of smaller satellite launchers, ISRO wants to capture the market of small satellites.

These small satellites are easy to produce. The small launch vehicles are different from the PSLV. And the integration of these vehicles takes just 72 hours.

ISRO needs 50 to 60 such smaller vehicles each year. However, rather than building these smaller vehicles, ISRO wants to primarily focus on the Gaganyan. It wants to give this to the industry.

ISRO urged the industry to come forward and the share the load of the agency.

The Centre announced around ₹10,000 crore for 40 satellite launching programme, out of which ₹9,000 crore will be given to the industry to manufacture them.

According to ISRO Chief K. Sivan, 30 PSLV and 10 GSLV mark III have been approved by the Prime Minister which cost ₹10,400 crore.

However, over ₹9,000 crore will be given to the industry. ISRO is likely to launch 59 satellites in the coming three years. That means it is planned to launch two satellites each month.

A biennial event has been organised by ISRO at Bengaluru yesterday. It is the Bengaluru Space Expo 2018 and he spoke at the inaugural session of this event.

He also informed that incubation centres will be opened by ISRO at six places throughout the country in order to encourage innovation and startups.

Image credit: NASA PhoneSat image by Steve Jurvetson is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/5479393514