ISRO aims at increasing satellite launches to 12 per year

Hyderabad, April 23: The Indian Space Research Organisation is trying to increase its capacity to deliver by scaling up the frequency of launches to 12 per year from the seven at present by building more satellites and lowering the cost of access to space.

“Earlier, we were doing 2-3 launches per year, then we increased it to 4-5, last few years we have been doing seven launches. Now, we are trying to go up to 8-9 PSLV per year, two GSLV-Mk II and one GSLV-Mk III. Total about 12 per year,” space agency Chairman A S Kiran Kumar told PTI. The space agency is in the process of constructing a second vehicle assembly building to improve the turnaround time and throughput for the PSLV so that with the same launch pad ISRO can do more launches, he said.

Kiran Kumar said that the “approval for a proposal to build a space station was yet to come.”

“ISRO plans to undertake the Chandrayaan-2 mission in the first quarter of the next calendar year, Chandrayaan-2 is a fully Indian affair. There is no Russian participation in that,” Kiran Kumar said.

“All the developments required for that, all the variable thrust engines, lander, rover all that work is going on and we are getting ready for this launch,” he said.

On reusable launch vehicle, he said ISRO has identified its next steps in terms of air-breathing propulsion system.

“We are now trying to do an experiment where it will demonstrate that the thrust generated is more than the friction so that you have a net positive thrust.