Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday informed that the Government of India has approved the establishment of a new spaceport in Kulasekarapattinam, Tamil Nadu for carrying out the launches of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLV) developed by ISRO.

The Union Minister also said that the Indian Space Policy – 2023 has been approved and released in the public domain.

The Policy opens up the sector for enhanced participation of Non-Government Entities (NGEs) across the entire value chain of the space economy, while clearly delineating the roles of various stakeholders viz. IN-SPACe, ISRO, NSIL and DOS.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Government has set up the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) as a single-window agency for promotion and authorization of space activities. The budget allocations for IN-SPACe:

2021-22 Rs. 10 Cr

2022-23 Rs. 33 Cr

2023-24 Rs. 95 Cr

Jitendra Singh also informed that the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory – India (LIGO-India) project has been approved by the Government of India at an estimated cost of Rs. 2600 Crore, with Department of Atomic Energy as the Lead Agency. He said, after completion of the project, the LIGO-India will be operated as a national facility for detecting Gravitation Waves and Research in related areas of Astronomy.

On the issue of Chandrayaan-3, Jitendra Singh said, the spacecraft was successfully launched onboard LVM-3 on July 14 2023 at 14:35 hrs from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR. Currently, the spacecraft is in the translunar orbit, with the Lunar-Orbit Insertion (LOI) planned on August 5, 2023.