India has completed the development of its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), the head of the country’s space agency announced on Friday following a successful third test flight. The milestone will see India enter the commercial satellite launch market.

The rocket was fired on Friday from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launch site at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The spacecraft was successfully placed in orbit with no deviations, ISRO chairman Sreedhara Panicker Somanath announced. 

He added that the launch had marked the completion of ISRO’s small-lift launch vehicle program. The rocket can carry satellites weighing up to 500kg and place them in low-earth orbit (up to 500km above Earth).

The launcher will be key to India’s ambitious plans to launch dozens of satellites with the aim of gathering geo-intelligence. Last year, Somanath announced that India had already configured 50 satellites for launch within the next five years.

The goal, according to the ISRO chief, is to mitigate threats by deploying a diverse array of satellites in different orbits that are capable of tracking the movement of troops and photographing thousands of kilometers along the borders with neighbors China and Pakistan.

Somanath has insisted that India needs ten times more satellites than the 50 it has at present if it is to become a “strong nation.”

New Delhi made significant strides in the space sector in 2023, successfully launching missions to the Moon (Chandrayaan-3) and the Sun (Aditya-L1). Meanwhile, the country is gearing up for ‘Gaganyaan’ – its first manned mission to space featuring four astronauts who received training in Russia.

Last year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed ISRO to aim for setting up an Indian space station by 2035, and seek to land the first Indian on the Moon by 2040.  In a bid to attract global players and expand critical capabilities, New Delhi eased restrictions on foreign direct investment in its space sector earlier this year.

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