Chennai, Mar 5 (UNI) The Bhoomi Puja was performed on Wednesday for construction of ISRO's second spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam in the southern Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu which would offer geographical advantages in India's space exploration endeavours.
Senior officials of ISRO, including itsChairman V.Narayanan, were present at the traditional Bhoomi puja event.
The spaceport, which will cater only to launch Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) to place satellites in Low Earyh Orbit (LEO), as main missions involving PSLV, GSLV and LVM-3 rockets,
would continue to be launched from the primary spaceport of Sriharikota where it was two Launch Pads, is expected to be completed by next year.
At the ground breaking ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for
the second spaceport on February 28 last year.
This second rocket launch centre will come up in a 2,233 acre area at a cost of about Rs 950 crores and it would herald a new era in India's space exploration journey.
The strategic significance of Kulasekarapattinam spaceport was that it would optimise fuel consumption during satellite launches.
Unlike launches from Sriharikota-SDSC SHAR Range, which necessitate southeast trajectories to circumvent Sri Lanka, launches from Kulasekaripattinam will enable satellites head directly towards southward trajectory, that will result in fuel conservation.
This will be a full launch centre in Thoothukudi district and this launch pad will only be used by the private sector.
"This is of use only for the private sector, because no ISRO rockets will be launched. The SSLV will be completely transferred to the private sector", ISRO had earlier said.
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