Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu announced an ambitious plan to build a Space City in Tirupati to launch private satellites with two large defense manufacturing hubs in Madakasira. The government will invest around 3000 crore for this.
The CM created a broad strategy to position Andhra Pradesh as a global hub for space exploration from centers while addressing the International Mediation Conference at the Asian Center for International Arbitration and Mediation in Visakhapatnam.
Drawing a parallel to the US private space segment, Mr Naidu said that creating Space City near Tirumpani just like the US has SpaceX, the state government will soon launch private satellites from its Space City.
As per the report, the state government has awarded the contract to Skyroot Aerospace, A Hyderabad-based spacetech company founded by a former ISRO scientist.
For this project, the land has been majorly allotted around BS Puram, Kottapalem, and Routhusuramala to set up a rocket manufacturing, assembly, testing, and storage complex. The key reason behind choosing this location was its proximity to India’s primary launch facility – the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
The State Investment Promotion Board sanctioned this space city on August 28 and was subsequently approved by the cabinet.
This initiative is designed to embrace the increasing privatisation in the space sector. It also focused on aligning Andhra Pradesh with the latest trends and positioning the state at the forefront of India’s thriving private space economy.
CM N Chandrababu aims to attract investments to generate 50,000 crore to 1 lakh crore in the next five years to establish Andhra Pradesh as a nation-defense and aerospace hub.
Aligned with these goals, the state government has also approved two major defence projects in Madakasira, Anantapur district, which are two hours away from Bengaluru.
At present, Bharat Forge’s subsidiary Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd is making a Defense Energetics Manufacturing complex, with a total investment of 1430 crores on 1,000 acres, including ammunition plants and high explosives, space to extend operations into missile and rocket energy.
Artillery and ammunition complex is another project, developed by HFCL Ltd with RS. ₹1186 core investment across 1,000 acres of land. It is focused on manufacturing artillery shells. Both hubs with production facilities nearby are out of Bengaluru’s well-built defense ecosystem. These projects will help in driving the self-reliant aerospace and defense landscape of India.
Additionally, the Chief Minister also highlighted the state’s growth in quantum computing. As shared, the first quantum computer in India will start working in Amaravati by the first day of next year, and it will make Andhra Pradesh the sixth state to harness technologies.
This project is a part of Andhra Pradesh’s visionary plan to set up Quantum Valley in Amaravati. It is an ecosystem for serving research bodies, universities, and industries. For these plans, the government has collaborated with the tech giant International Business Machines Corporation for installing a quantum computer at the Amaravati Quantum Computing Centre.
On the IT front, Mr Naidu said that the state has already secured more than $100 billion in investment in the last few years. He further announced that Visakahaptnam is about surpassing India’s existing data with a new project from global tech companies like Google, Cognizant, and TCS.
All the announcements made by the Chief Ministers highlight the state’s strategy for attracting foreign investment and fostering a robust and solid technology ecosystem, and building the space city is a major one.
