Source : Mint
Indian Space Station by 2035, presence on Moon by 2040: S Somanath reveals ISRO goals at Gujarat Space Conference
Outlining India’s ambitious vision for its space programme, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath said the country will build a space station by 2035 and an Indian presence on the moon by 2040. The ISRO chief was speaking at the International Space Conference 2024 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Reflecting on the recent successes and the guidance provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Somanath said the prime minister has always been a fervent advocate for the space endeavours of India.
“Let me look at the type of vision that the prime minister has given after this success story of the last six months. I think he also has been an ardent supporter of space programmes ever since he was a CM of this state… What he told us is that we must create continuous activity of humans’ presence in space,” the ISRO chief said.
“Though we have a Gaganyaan programme, it must continue over a long period leading up to a human landing on the moon and an Indian landing on the moon by 2040. It looks far away, but it’s not far away. It’s so close. And we must build a space station by 2035, a space station that is accessible for Indians to go there and do research…,” he added.
“We have a roadmap for what we have planned till 2047… We can build a space station, we can send human beings to the moon, and we can create moon-based economic activity in space,” the ISRO chief said, according to an ANI report.
“We’ve not given the prime minister an over-ambitious target. 2040 is 17 years away and that’s a good time to develop technologies to send humans to the Moon. Our work on the proposed space station too is progressing aggressively and we should be able to have the first unit ready by 2028,” Somanath told TOI.
Somanath’s speech comes on the heels of a series of successful missions and announcements by ISRO, including the launch of the Aditya-L1 spacecraft to study the Sun from the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1) and the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) to analyse cosmic X-rays.
ISRO is also preparing for the Gaganyaan mission, with a series of tests planned throughout 2024 to ensure readiness for the targeted 2025 launch.
