Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 6: India is aiming to significantly expand its space launch capabilities, with plans to increase the number of launches to 50 a year by 2030 as the country works towards building a full-fledged commercial space ecosystem, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) Chairman Pawan Goenka said on Sunday.
In a post on X, Goenka said the decision to open India’s space sector to private players five years ago was driven by two key objectives — enabling the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to venture into new frontiers and creating opportunities for private industry to expand its capabilities.
“Now comes the real test: scaling up. We have set ourselves an ambitious target of 50 launches a year by 2030,” he said.
“A goal of this scale cannot be achieved by one organisation alone. Government and private industry have to build this future together,” Goenka added.
He said India’s space startup ecosystem had grown significantly over the past five years.
From “barely a handful” of startups, the country now has **more than 450 space startups**, reflecting growing private-sector interest in launch services, satellites, space applications and other emerging areas.
“Five years ago, when India opened up its space sector, we had two clear objectives: enable ISRO to conquer new frontiers and empower our private industry to scale up,” Goenka said.
“Today, we are seeing both take shape. EOS-05 is a major achievement by ISRO, and this is just the beginning,” he added.
The private sector has also begun moving beyond prototype development, with an Indian private company successfully demonstrating its capability to launch a rocket into orbit.
Goenka, however, said the next major challenge would be to scale up operations and develop the infrastructure and capabilities required to support a much higher launch frequency.
He reiterated that achieving the target of 50 launches annually by 2030 would require close cooperation between the government and private industry.