Hindustan Aeronautics Limited inks SSLV tech transfer agreement with ISRO, IN-SPACe, NSIL

New Delhi: Aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Wednesday signed an agreement with Indian Space Research Organisation and other space agencies for commercial manufacturing of small satellite launch vehicles that will be used by private companies to launch smaller satellites to low-earth orbits for civil and military purposes.

HAL would produce these rockets for 10 years but ISRO would handhold the aeronautics firm in the first two years in which two prototypes would be manufactured, top government sources told DH.

A new space port being readied at Tamil Nadu would be used to launch these rockets.

The SSLV will ferry nano, micro and mini satellites weighing up to 300 kg to sun-synchronous orbits or 500 kg to low earth orbits at an altitude of around 400 km and offer on-demand launch services, without requiring clients to wait for larger rockets to carry them as co-passengers.

Under the technology transfer contract that HAL signed with ISRO, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the aviation major will absorb the technology in the first two years, which will be followed by a 10-year production phase.

“The agreement grants HAL a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to the SSLV technology, which includes comprehensive design, manufacturing, quality control, integration, launch operations, and post-flight analysis documentation, as well as training and support. HAL will be responsible for the mass production of SSLV to meet Indian and global demands,” the company says in a statement.

With New Delhi eyeing a $ 44 billion space market including $ 11 billion export, the new class of rocket is likely to play a key role in the commercial space market, dominated by the USA, European Union and China. The communist country is already way ahead of India as it completed over 200 space missions since 2020 as compared to India’s less than two dozens.

The SSLV launches will happen at ISRO’s new space port at Kulasekarapattinam that will help cut down the launch cost because of a unique flight path, benefiting the companies. Spread over an area of 2,233 acres the space port with a capacity of launching up to 25 SSLVs in a year, is expected to be ready by December 2026.

Earlier this year, HAL secured the SSLV contract with a winning bid of Rs 511 crore to emerge as the sole manufacturer of the SSLV after the completion of the transfer of technology process. In the process, it defeated two consortia -- one led by Alpha Design Technologies, backed by the Adani Group, and the other led by Hyderabad-based defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Limited.