India is hoping to launch a record 68 satellites in a single mission early next year, taking a giant step in space commerce as it competes for a bigger share of the burgeoning global space market worth billions of dollars.

India and the U.S. have signed a bilateral Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) by which both nations can use each other’s land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply.

India has successfully tested its indigenously developed supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine, which engineers hope could one day allow a tenfold reduction in the cost of space launch.