Bangalore: The largest private spacecraft manufacturing facility in India was inaugurated in Bangalore on Wednesday, making private manufacturing of spacecrafts in India easier in terms of infrastructure.

The 15,000 sqmt facility, built by Hyderabad-based aerospace manufacture Ananth Technologies, is capable of conducting the assembly, integration and testing of four large spacecrafts at the same time, with four separate units present within the facility.

“India’s space program over the last six decades have achieved multiple landmarks. Today, India can build, assemble and launch its own satellites. With ISRO at the forefront of space programs, partnerships with private organisations will help India take its space program to the next level,” said Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Dr S Somanth at the inauguration of the facility in KIADB Aerospace Park.

The unit can conduct assembly, integration & testing of four large spacecraft simultaneously, the company said in a statement. All four units are independent of each other and capable of conducting the end-to-end integration of processes in four different class of spacecraft, it said. Somanath was quoted as saying: “I am certain that India’s Space Policy will enable us to build satellites not only for domestic consumption but for international market too”. he further stated.

“India’s Remote Sensing Data Policy and Launch Vehicle Policy are in line and these will help further the Indian Space programs. ANANTH Technologies has taken a huge leap of faith and India needs more such entrepreneurs and many more such partners to revolutionise our space program,” he added.

The statement said this is a first of its kind facility in India, adding that since its establishment in 1992, Ananth Technologies has contributed towards manufacturing of 89 satellite and 69 launch vehicles built/launched by ISRO, including two satellites for European customers that ISRO had built in collaboration with Airbus, France.

However, as of now, Sudheer Kumar, Director of Capacity Building Program Office at ISRO said that no collaborations had been made with the company on the usage of facility.