First, we will send a radar in partnership with NASA to space that will detect any changes on Earth as small as 10 metres across. Then, we will launch a series of uncrewed
Gaganyaan
missions to space, followed by two missions with astronauts. After that, we will send two Chandrayaan missions to the moon to get lunar samples and even land a 350-kg rover there. In addition to all this, we plan to send an orbiter mission to study Venus. By 2035, we will have our own Bharatiya Antariksh Station in space. And finally, by 2040, India will land astronauts on the moon.
Sounds like a lot? Let’s decode India’s big plans for space and how the country and ISRO could create history, with a step-by-step approach starting this year. Let us simplify these ambitious missions for our readers.
NASA is planning to put a man on the moon again, and also on Mars in the coming years. But India is also not far behind. The success of Chandrayaan-3 in 2023, when India became the first country to touch down near the lunar south pole, has acted as a stepping stone for the nation to dream big. But we will get to the moon in just a bit.
First, mark these big dates.
On top of the list is the big mission with NASA, termed NISAR. To be launched very soon, ISRO will send a synthetic aperture radar to space to track all geographical changes on Earth in unprecedented detail like never before. This will be a giant step for mankind, much beyond the capability of existing Earth observation satellites. This is because NISAR will capture subtle changes on Earth with unprecedented resolution and precision, see through dense cloud cover day and night. In fact, it would detect changes as small as 10 metres across, far away from space. Just imagine the impact!
Then, in the first half of this year, India will send an uncrewed mission to a low Earth orbit as part of mission Gaganyaan. Now, it has also been India’s dream to send its astronauts to space. Astronauts are also being trained for this. The process will kick off in the next few months when India sends an uncrewed mission to low Earth orbit. In fact, the expanse of the Gaganyaan mission has increased as India has now decided to send six such uncrewed missions to space before it sends two missions with our astronauts to space by 2028 and lands them safely back on Earth. Gaganyaan has a budget of Rs 20,193 crore.
Now this budget is so big because the Gaganyaan programme is intrinsically linked to another big ambition of India, which is having our version of the International Space Station—the Bharatiya Antariksh Station. The launch and development of the first module of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station is targeted to be completed by 2028—when our astronauts will visit space. The Bharatiya Antariksh Station, once ready and operationalised by 2035, will lay the foundation for launching longer-duration Indian human space missions.
But, in between chasing the stars, let us not forget the moon. India’s ultimate aim is to land our astronauts on the moon by 2040 and create history. The success of Chandrayaan-3 has propelled that dream, and now India will be sending two more Chandrayaan lunar missions to prepare us before the eventual human trip to the moon.
Chandrayaan-4 will be a path-breaking mission in 2028 for lunar sample collection as it will ascend from the moon’s surface, dock and undock in lunar orbit, and transfer the samples from one module to the other. The module will return and perform a re-entry to Earth for sample delivery. This will help ISRO study the lunar samples in greater detail, far more than the limited studies that the lander & rover mission could do in Chandrayaan-3.
Chandrayaan-5 will go a step further by sending a rover of 350 kg in a highly advanced lander module that will go to the south pole of the moon. It is going to be a heavy mission with the rover being designed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and will be deployed onto the lunar surface via a lander designed by ISRO. The advanced scientific instruments on the rover will give new insights into the south pole and take India much closer to landing humans on the moon. Ultimately, all these milestones are expected to translate into India’s first crewed mission to the moon by the year 2040.
In between all this, India also has a dream of sending an orbiter mission to Venus, like the one we sent to Mars—the Mangalyaan in 2014. The Venus mission planned for 2028 will be a big challenge too as the planet is located nearly 64 million kilometres away. But it will help us improve our understanding of the origin and evolutionary processes of Venus, its atmosphere, and its ionosphere.
