India targets 50 space launches a year by 2030: IN-SPACe Chief

New Delhi, Sep 6 (AHN) India is targeting a major expansion in its space launch capabilities, with plans to increase the number of launches to 50 a year by 2030 as the country looks 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.

"A goal of this scale cannot be achieved by one organisation alone. Government and private industry have to build this future together," Goenka added.

He said the country’s space startup ecosystem has expanded significantly over the past five years.

From a “barely a handful” of startups, India now has more than 450 space startups, reflecting the growing interest of 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 mentioned.

"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 the development of prototypes, with an Indian private company successfully demonstrating the capability to launch a rocket into orbit.

However, Goenka said the next major challenge for the sector would be to scale up operations and establish the infrastructure and capabilities needed to support a much higher launch frequency.

“We have set ourselves an ambitious target of 50 launches a year by 2030,” he said, stressing that achieving such a target would require close cooperation between the government and private industry.