India targets 50 space launches a year by 2030: IN-SPACe Chief
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New Delhi: India is targeting a major expansion of its space launch capabilities, with plans to increase the number of launches to 50 a year by 2030 as the country seeks to build a full-fledged commercial space ecosystem, Pawan Goenka, Chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), said on Sunday.
In a post on X, Goenka said the decision to open India's space sector to private players five years ago was guided by two key objectives: enabling the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to venture into new frontiers and creating opportunities for private industry to scale up its capabilities.
“Now comes the real test: scaling up. We have set ourselves an ambitious target of 50 launches a year by 2030,” he said.
Goenka said achieving a target of this scale could not be the responsibility of a single organisation and would require the government and private industry to work together.
He said India's space startup ecosystem had expanded significantly over the past five years. From a “barely a handful” of startups, the country now has more than 450 space startups, reflecting growing interest among private companies in launch services, satellites, space applications and other emerging areas.
“Five years ago, when India opened up its space sector, we had two clear objectives: enable ISRO to conquer new frontiers and empower our private industry to scale up,” he said.
“Today, we are seeing both take shape. EOS-05 is a major achievement by ISRO, and this is just the beginning,” Goenka noted.
The private sector has also begun moving beyond prototype development, with an Indian private company successfully demonstrating the capability to launch a rocket into orbit.
However, Goenka said the sector's next major challenge would be to scale up operations and establish the infrastructure and capabilities required to support a much higher launch frequency.
“We have set ourselves an ambitious target of 50 launches a year by 2030,” he reiterated, stressing that achieving the target would require close cooperation between the government and private industry.
With IANS inputs