Context: Recently,the Union Minister of State for Space informed the Lok Sabha that the Tamil Nadu State Government has identified over 961 hectares in Thoothukudi district for the country’s proposed second rocket launch port.

Key Points

• At present, rockets are launched from the Indian Space Research Organisation spaceport at Sriharikota, near Chennai.
• The government has decided to set up a second facility in the backdrop of an increase in the number of launches by ISRO for domestic and international customers.
• The proposed site is in Thoothukudi’s Kulasekarapattinam town.
• A rocket launch pad at Kulasekarapattinam will be close to the equator and hence ideal for putting satellites in polar orbit.
• ISRO has a Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu where it assembles the second and fourth stages/engines for the PSLV.
• Instead of transporting the second and fourth stages to Sriharikota from Mahendragiri, it will be easier to shift them to the launch pad if it is built in Kulasekarapattinam which is around 100 km away.