ISRO Is Building New Rocket To Send 500 Kg Commercial Satellites Up 2000 Km Into Earth's Orbit

Right now in India, all eyes are on the Chandrayaan-2 Mission, the spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon and waiting to touch down on its surface.

Meanwhile, ISRO hasn't been lazing around. They've been hard at work on the next build, a mini satellite launcher.

Images courtesy: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation had previously talked about plans to build a smaller rocket solely for putting satellites into Earth orbit. The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is expected to be done by the end of this year, with an inaugural flight planned right after.

ISRO is designing the SSLV specifically to carry smaller commercial satellites into low-earth orbit, less than 2,000 km above the surface. It could go a long way towards generating revenue for the space agency, especially given that flights will be open to groups outside India to book.

The first SSLV flight will put a single Indian defence earth observation spacecraft into orbit. The first commercial flight shortly after has meanwhile already been booked out by US-based Spaceflight Inc.

"ISRO is always chasing a target. Work on SSLV is going on in full steam. We are targeting a December launch for the vehicle," ISRO chairman K Sivan had said recently after Chandrayaan-2, entered lunar orbit.

The SSLV is banking on the stellar reputation of the PSLV workhorse rocket. Between 1994 and 2015, the rocket put 84 satellites into orbit, 51 of which were for non-Indian customers. Given the size of the rocket though, nano-satellites were wasteful to launch on their own, and were instead put into orbit as part of other payloads.

The SSLV should fix that issue, allowing for more frequent launches. It's capable of carrying 500 kg into low-Earth orbit, and can be assembled by a smaller team in just days. ISRO has also gained a reputation for satellite launches on a budget, something the SSLV will also push in order to attract more clients.