Parliament Question: India’s Space Launch Programme (July 2023–June 2026)
India’s space launch programme update (July 2023–June 2026)
- Reported launch and in-orbit milestones, launch-vehicle operationalisation, and infrastructure/policy measures for July 2023–June 2026.
- Introduced enabling measures for non-government entities, including permission for temporary test facilities within ISRO premises and support for authorization, commercialization, and manufacturing clusters.
- Approved establishment of a Third Launch Pad at Sriharikota and reported development of a SSLV Launch Complex at Kulasekarapattinam to strengthen launch capacity and support small satellite launches by non-government entities.
What happened (July 2023–June 2026)
The Department of Space reported that, between July 2023 and June 2026, India successfully launched 12 launch vehicle missions, 11 national satellites, and 9 satellites for international customers. The milestones highlighted include lunar soft-landing near the Moon’s south pole via the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s solar observatory mission Aditya-L1 launched on PSLV, and the achievement of 100 launches from India’s spaceport at Sriharikota during the same timeframe.
The government also reported in-orbit technology demonstrations and capacity-building milestones: SPADEX demonstrated docking/undocking in space; the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) completed development with its 3rd developmental flight and an additional technology transfer agreement with Indian industry. The first joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission was reported as successfully launched on an ISRO GSLV vehicle, and the CMS-03 mission is reported to have launched the heaviest satellite to GTO from Indian soil using the LVM3 launch vehicle.
UPSC framing can treat India’s space launch programme update as a case study in building launch infrastructure, diversifying launch vehicles, and enabling non-government entities through policy reforms—balancing capacity growth, cost/time reduction, and ecosystem development.
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