Cabinet Approves Third Launch Pad for ISRO at Sriharikota.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has received Cabinet approval to establish a Third Launch Pad (TLP) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, with a sanctioned budget of ₹3,985 crore. The project, set to be completed within 48 months, will support ISRO's Next Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLVs) and act as a standby launch pad, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced recently.

The TLP is a crucial addition to ISRO's infrastructure, aimed at enhancing capacity for future missions, including Indian human spaceflight programs, crewed lunar missions, and the proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS). It is designed as a universal launch pad capable of supporting NGLVs, LVM3 vehicles with semi-cryogenic stages, and scaled-up configurations of NGLVs.

Currently, India relies on two launch pads at Sriharikota:

• The First Launch Pad (FLP), operational for over 30 years, primarily supports PSLV and SSLV missions.


• The Second Launch Pad (SLP), in service for two decades, supports GSLV and LVM3 missions and acts as a standby for PSLV. It also facilitated notable missions like Chandrayaan-3 and is being readied for the human-rated LVM3 launches under the Gaganyaan mission.

A government statement emphasized that the expanding vision of India's space program, including an Indian crewed lunar landing by 2040 and BAS by 2035, demands advanced infrastructure. The TLP will cater to the heavier NGLVs required for these future missions, ensuring India's readiness to meet space transportation needs for the next 25-30 years.

HBL