India tests its most powerful satellite launch vehicle

India's space agency yesterday successfully tested its most powerful satellite launch vehicle that can put heavier payloads into space, and, it hopes, win India a bigger slice of the US$300 billion global space industry.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also tested an unmanned crew module on the vehicle, which could give the agency the option of manned missions.

Once operational, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III will be able to put satellites weighing about 4 tonnes into orbit, which would almost double India's current capability.

"The powerful launch vehicle ... will change our destiny in placing various spacecraft into communication orbits," said S. Somnath, project director of the new GSLV vehicle.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to develop India's 50-year-old space programme and the government increased funding for space research by 50 percent to almost US$1 billion this financial year. But ISRO's growth has been stymied by a lack of a heavier launcher and the slow execution of missions. Between 2007 and 2012, it launched only about half of its planned 60 missions, government data showed.

Experts said the test of the GSLV took India a step closer to attracting more foreign business, which would help Asia's third-largest economy emerge as a stronger player in the global space race.