GSLV Mark III

Launch vehicle

The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM 3), previously referred as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk3), is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit, it is also due to launch crewed missions under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. GSLV Mk III has a higher payload capacity than it's predecessor, GSLV Mk II. After several delays and a sub-orbital test flight on 18 December 2014, ISRO successfully conducted the first orbital test launch of GSLV Mk III on 5 June 2017 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Total development cost of project was ₹2,962.78 crore (equivalent to ₹38 billion or US$480 million in 2020). In June 2018, the Union Cabinet approved ₹4,338 crore (equivalent to ₹49 billion or US$620 million in 2020) to build 10 GSLV Mk III rockets over a five-year period. The GSLV Mk III has launched CARE, India's space capsule recovery experiment module, Chandrayaan-2, India's second lunar mission, and will be used to carry Gaganyaan, the first crewed mission under Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. In March 2022, UK-based global communication satellite provider OneWeb entered into an agreement with ISRO to launch OneWeb satellites aboard the GSLV Mk III along with the PSLV, due to the launch services from Roscosmos being cut off, caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The first launch took place on 22 October 2022, injecting 36 satellites for Low Earth Orbit.