The Tamil Nadu spaceport at Kulasekharapatnam is expected to host its first rocket launch next year, ISRO chairman V Narayanan said on Thursday, as construction progresses on the agency’s second launch site in the country.
Narayanan said nearly 2,300 acres had been acquired by the Tamil Nadu government and handed over to ISRO for the project. “All work is going on successfully there. Next year, a rocket will be launched from there,” he told reporters in Chennai.
The announcement provides the first clear launch timeline for the facility since Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid its foundation stone at Kulasekharapattinam, a coastal village in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district, on February 28, 2024. The project is intended to expand India’s launch infrastructure beyond the existing spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Narayanan made the remarks on the sidelines of an event at the Periyar Science and Technology Centre, where he inaugurated a full-sized statue of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The event was attended by Russian Consul General Valerii Khodzhaev and the centre’s executive director, Shanmugasundaram.
The acquisition and transfer of almost 2,300 acres represent a substantial administrative step in developing the coastal launch complex. However, the statement did not provide details of the specific rocket, launch date, operational capacity or the remaining construction milestones before the first launch.
The spaceport announcement came alongside updates on other ISRO activities. Responding to questions about the agency’s role during recent severe rainfall, Narayanan said weather forecasting was primarily the responsibility of the India Meteorological Department under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. ISRO, he said, supplies satellite data required by the department, while accurate forecasting also depends on real-time temperature and humidity profiles from different locations.
Narayanan also said the recently launched NVS navigation satellite had been moved from an elliptical orbit into its required 36,000-kilometre circular orbit using its onboard liquid apogee motor. The satellite was “fully healthy”, he said, although in-orbit testing of its payloads was still required before it could be declared operational.
The Kulasekharapatnam project is also being presented in the context of India’s expanding space programme and its international partnerships. Khodzhaev said the Gagarin statue was a symbol of India’s position as a space power and of Russia-India cooperation in the sector. Narayanan separately thanked Russia for its support to India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.
The next major milestone for the Tamil Nadu facility will be the launch identified by ISRO for next year. Further details on the launch vehicle, schedule and operational arrangements were not announced in the statement.
