In an exclusive interview with NewsX, Dr. Kailasavadivoo Sivan, former chairperson of ISRO talked about the new spaceport in Tamil Nadu.
When asked about the importance of this spaceport he stated, “This spaceport was needed as this is a new technology that will make small satellites available and to make these small satellites launce we have to make small satellite launch vehicles. But right now these satellites are being launched by big launch vehicles which are not cost-effective so people are looking for a small satellite to be available.”
He further stated that with this spaceport now there will be a lot of opportunities for the private industries to make tomorrow’s satellite launch vehicle.
Adding more to this, he quoted that launch this launch vehicle was to be done from the south and Kulasekarapattinam was the best location, therefore, we discussed with the government of India to get approval and the Tamil Nadu government took full interest to take it in the highest level to give land to us.
K Sivan said that the importance of the private launch vehicles will benefit private parties who will be making use of this launch site for launching so it is going to create economy for the country and also industrial development will happen which will increase the rate of employment will happen.
When asked about his next big step in the space and technology industry he said, “There is a lot of demand for the application of the satellite and we understand there is a large economy involved. We have seen a nearly 450 billion dollar space economy globally however, India only has a 2% of contribution to it.”
In the future, this economy is going to increase to 1 trillion and hence we target at least 10-15% of space economics to come to India.
