Chennai: Indian Space Research Organisation‘s second launch complex (SLC) atKulasekarapattinam in Tuticorin district will be ready in two years, Isro chairman V Narayanan said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating the S Ramakrishnan Centre of Excellence in Fluid and Thermal Science Research at IIT Madras, he said small satellites weighing 500kg will be launched from the spaceport. The SLC at Kulasekarapattinam is being built at the cost of 950 crore.
“At present, we have only two launch pads at Sriharikota. We will soon have two more. Along with Kulasekarapattinam, Sriharikota will have a third launch pad,” Narayanan said. He also said the NISAR satellite, the joint mission of NASA and ISRO, will be launched in two months.
The NISAR satellite aims at measuring Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces, and ice masses, providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise, and groundwater. ISRO is also planning to test two experiments under the Gaganyaan mission, including a crew escape system experiment and an uncrewed mission with a humanoid Vyommitra, Narayanan said.
The first of the five PSLV rockets built by the industry consortium will also be sent this year, he added.
Earlier, speaking at the event, he said, “The cryogenic engine technology was denied to India, but today, we have three different such engines, with the third one being human-rated. Only six countries in the world have this technology.”
S Ramakrishnan, the former director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, was a distinguished alumnus of IIT Madras.
The centre will serve as a nodal centre for research in heat transfer, cooling systems, and fluid dynamics. These are essential for the next generation of spacecraft and satellite technologies. Scientists and engineers from ISRO will work alongside faculty and researchers from IIT Madras to address complex thermal challenges in space applications.
“The research at this centre of excellence (CoE) will directly impact upcoming lunar, Mars, and deep-space missions, ensuring India remains at the forefront of space technology,” a release from IIT Madras said.