The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced Thursday that it will launch on Sunday its most powerful rocket yet, carrying the heaviest Indian telecommunications satellite ever placed in orbit.
Weighing 642 tons and standing 43.5 meters tall, the LVM3-M5 launch vehicle — a two-stage rocket equipped with two strap-on boosters — is scheduled to lift off from the Sriharikota launch pad on India’s east coast at 17:26 local time (11:43 GMT).
The rocket is an upgraded version of the one that carried an Indian-designed probe to the Moon’s surface in August 2023. It will deploy the 4.4-ton CMS-03 satellite dedicated to telecommunications over the Indian Ocean and the national territory — the heaviest ever launched by India, ISRO said on social media.
After successfully placing a spacecraft in orbit around Mars in 2014 and landing a rover on the Moon in 2023, ISRO plans to send an astronaut into orbit on its own by 2027.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed his ambition to have an Indian walk on the Moon by 2040.
