Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is in talks to acquire space technology from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to build launch vehicles for low earth orbit satellites (LEOs)

“We have the heritage, and we would like to leverage it. We have seen the presence of private players in countries like the US, but that has not happened in the rest of the world. In space, there is upstream, midstream, and downstream. The midstream and downstream involve equipment in space and applications. The upstream is putting objects into space, and we see players like us playing in the upstream. The robustness of the business model has to evolve with a constellation of satellites for communication and other purposes that will be put into the low earth orbit. We are trying to acquire technology for the small satellite launch vehicles. This would take payloads of 500 kg into the low earth orbit. That is a business we are focussing on. It will happen in the next three to five years,” said AT Ramchandani, Executive Vice-President and Head, of L&T Defence.

The Mumbai-headquartered company has been working with ISRO for 50 years, and contributed to the manufacture of the launch vehicle for the SLV 3. It also contributed equipment required for the Chandrayaan mission, and is working on ISRO’s missions Aditya -L1 and Gaganyaan.

L&T And HAL Consortium PSLVs

L&T and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) were awarded a ₹860-crore contract for the construction of five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) for ISRO, and the first launch will be in mid-2024. With the launch, the companies are expecting to operate a commercial venture.

“The first launch, a pilot of five launches will happen next year, and through this mechanism where ISRO is an observer we build a launch vehicle and participate in the missions. Over time, we run it as a commercial venture wherein ISRO exits out of providing launch services or selling launch capacity,” added Ramchandani.