New Delhi, Jan 16: Ahead of upcoming space missions, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday approved the establishment of the Third Launch Pad (TLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre of ISRO at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The launch pad is expected to be developed at a cost of Rs 3,984.86 crore in the coming four years.

While India currently has two launch pads, it cannot support the new generation of heavier launch vehicles -- critical for upcoming space missions including the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) by 2035 and an Indian Crewed Lunar Landing by 2040.

"The Third Launch Pad project envisages the establishment of the launch infrastructure at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh for the Next Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLV) of ISRO and also to support as a standby launch pad for the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota," a Cabinet communique said.

It "is highly essential so as to meet the evolving space transportation requirements for another 25-30 years", it added.

The project will have a universal configuration that can support the NGLV and the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LMV3) with a semi-cryogenic stage, as well as scaled-up configurations of the NGLV.

Led by the ISRO, the project will be established "with maximum industry participation", the communique said.

It also aims to boost the launch capacity for future Indian human spaceflight missions.

The project will boost the Indian space ecosystem by "enabling higher launch frequencies and the national capacity to undertake human spaceflight and space exploration missions", the communique said.

Currently, India has two launch pads at Sriharikota.

The Indian Space Transportation Systems are completely reliant on two launch pads.

The First Launch Pad (FLP) was built 30 years ago for the PSLVs and it continues to provide launch support for the PSLVs and the SSLV.

The Second Launch Pad (SLP) was established primarily for the GSLVs and the LVM3s. It also functions as a standby for the PSLVs.

SLP has been operational for almost 20 years and has enhanced the launch capacity towards enabling some commercial missions of PSLV/LVM3 along with the national missions including the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

SLP is also getting ready to launch the human-rated LVM3 for the Gaganyaan missions. (IANS)

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