DC Edit | A Giant Punch By Isro

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scripted another record by launching the 6.1-tonne satellite — the heaviest launched from India — aboard Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3). It was a defining moment for the Indian space agency, its scientists, engineers and technicians. It highlights India’s arrival as a spacefaring nation with credible heavy-lift launch capabilities, which are essential for deep-space exploration and human spaceflight.

The LVM3, which was earlier known as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III, is the most powerful rocket that Isro ever had. It was designed to place large payloads into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and Low Earth Orbit, and represents years of India’s indigenous engineering in structural design, mission integration and cryogenic propulsion.

India is only the sixth country to have a rocket that can carry a payload of up to 10 metric tonnes. The BlueBird Block-3 satellite — weighing 6.1 tonne — that Isro launched on December 24 was the heaviest satellite ever carried by an Indian rocket. Apart from enhancing Isro’s standing in the space community, it will also help the country to emerge as a key player in the commercial launches.

For a country like India, where satellite services underpin everything from weather forecasting and disaster management to banking, navigation and rural connectivity, heavy lift capability has direct developmental implications. It will also help India in its human spaceflight under the Gaganyaan programme. The LVM-3 will ferry India’s proposed space station modules.

The insertion of BlueBird Block-3 in Low Earth Orbit — which Isro chief described as the most accurate — strengthens Isro’s confidence that it can independently support these ambitions without relying on foreign launch systems and without extravagant spending.

While Isro is on the right path, it still has a long way to go because 10 tonne payload is the lowest lift capacity that six space majors — the US, Russia, Europe, China, Japan and India — have. The government must support Isro with all that it requires to make India proud.