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New spaceport announced in Hope Island, Andhra Pradesh!

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On 17 Jan, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu announced a new spaceport in Hope Island as part of their Space City project. ✨️

This new launch site appears to be primarily aimed at catering to private launch providers in India. 🚀

This will bring the total number of spaceports in India to 3 – SDSC-SHAR in Sriharikota, SSLV Launch Complex at Kulasekharapatnam, and the above mentioned spaceport at Hope Island!

Our infographic below illustrates how Earth’s rotation provides a free velocity boost to launch vehicles that lift off closer to the equator.
Graphic by @Lokeshkr73
Graphic by @Lokeshkr73
The Earth spins from west to east in a prograde direction, and this rotational speed varies with latitude. At the equator, the surface velocity is about 1,650 km/h (~460 m/s), and it gradually decreases as one moves toward the poles, becoming nearly 0 m/s at the poles.

Rocket launches take advantage of this natural boost by launching eastward from sites near the equator. By doing so, the rocket already has a significant horizontal velocity even before its engines fully accelerate it. In contrast, launches into polar orbits do not benefit from this effect because the trajectory is perpendicular to Earth’s rotation.

At present, launching to a polar orbit from SDSC-SHAR requires rockets to perform a “dog-leg” maneuver to avoid flying over Sri Lanka, followed by adjustments to the flight profile. While this loss is manageable for larger launch vehicles such as PSLV, GSLV, and LVM3, it has a much greater impact on smaller rockets like SSLV, Vikram-1, and Agnibaan.

For this reason, ISRO is currently constructing the SSLV launch complex at Kulasekharapatnam (expected to be completed by 2027). This facility will primarily be used to launch SSLV, along with other private small-lift launch vehicles, into polar orbits.