There certainly is need to dramatically boost lifting power. It is just that the upper limit on the communication satellites currently is approaching 5-6 tons, which is adequately covered by GSLV Mk III. As the communication sats go heavier, it becomes riskier - for eg. the latest EADS comm sat blew up its bus rendering all 50 plus xponders useless. Regarding comm sats there is always a debate about launching many small comm sats with more powerful xponders or launching a single large one. The point is that comm sats is *not* the reason one needs a boost in lifting power.rachel wrote:Our own ISRO comm-sat announced recently (GSAT 11) will be over 4 tons. The latest EADS commsats with 50plus Ku and Ka xponders are about 5-6 tons, IIRC.
There certainly is a need to dramaticaaly boost lifting power.
The boosting power is needed for deep space missions. For human space flights [where human rating is more important than heavy lift capability, which again is important!] An additional advantage is that it reduces the launch cost per kg. Now the launch cost per kg can also be reduced by alternative means, for eg. RLV. ISRO is correct in pursuing both RLV and UMLV. If everything goes right, which rarely does in space exploration, the next decade particularly the period between 2015 - 2020, will be particularly important for ISRO. That is when both RLV/TSTO and UMLV will come into fruition.
So what China has now is immaterial. What is material is what China, US and Russia has in next decade. In next decade, in terms of heavy lift, India will be on par with Russia and China [and in some cases maybe even ahead]. Only US will be ahead of us. Again I will not be surprised if India is on par with US by 2025 in some other areas!