Mumbai, Maharashtra-headquartered Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been a key player in powering ISRO's space missions for over five decades and is now looking to expand its reach to the international market. L&T is hopeful that Indian firms will play a role in the supply chain for America's next space station.
Vikas Khita, Vice President of L&T Precision Engineering and Systems, mentioned that while earlier talks with Blue Origin for supplying orbital launch capabilities and space habitat solutions faced challenges, remnants of those discussions are still ongoing, now involving NASA.
Khita told news agency PTI that L&T has been in discussions with Blue Origin, a Jeff Bezos's aerospace manufacturer, for supplying orbital launch capabilities and space habitat solutions.
While these talks encountered some challenges, remnants of the discussions are still ongoing, now involving NASA.
NASA is collaborating on developing a space station owned, built, and operated by a private company — either Axiom Space, Voyager Space, or Blue Origin. NASA is giving each company hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and sharing their expertise with them.
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| Progress photo showing the Axiom Space station being built. (Image - ENRICO SACCHETTI/Axiom Space |
NASA's next space station is called Gateway. It's a lunar space station designed to support deep space exploration and serve as a multi-purpose outpost for lunar surface missions, science in lunar orbit, and human exploration further into the cosmos. Gateway is central to NASA's Artemis missions, which aim to return humans to the Moon and eventually pave the way for human missions to Mars and beyond.
Known as India's largest engineering firm, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been involved in the fabrication of various satellites for ISRO, including the GSAT series and IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) satellites.
Moreover, L&T has even contributed to the development of ISRO's launch vehicles, including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). L&T is also involved in ISRO's Gaganyaan program, which aims to send Indian astronauts into space.
L&T is also interested in building space ports, space parks, and manufacturing clusters, aligning with the Indian government's decision to open up the space sector for private participation.
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