ISRO geared up to meet Modi’s deadline for manned mission to space by 2022: Sivan

Bangalore: ISRO Chairman K Sivan has exuded confidence in meeting the deadline of putting an Indian in space by 2022 as per the promise made by Prime Minister on his Independence Day speech on Wednesday, saying that the space agency had already developed the necessary technology.

Speaking to reporters at Indian Space Research Organisation headquarters here today, Dr Sivan said the Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP) is on line and it will be achieved.

He said the agency had already tested the technology for the last few years and will develop the other infrastructural facilities for the manned mission in a time bound manner to meed the deadline.

He said GSLV Mk III may have taken its first flight yet, but many more flights of this launch vehicle meant for manned mission will be completed by with unmanned missions in the next two years before the manned mission is finalised. ‘’The crew module, environmental control and life support system have been developed. The flight suit is developed indigenously and other sub-systems for crew module ares also in place. Now we have to put in place ground infrastructure and it will be done in time’’, he said.

Prime minister Modi had said in his Independence speech from Red Fort today that India will launch its first manned space mission by 2022.

Dr Sivan said ISRO would be able to do this mission to put an Indian man into near space in two to three years. ‘’It is a great task but we have done the necessary technology development and will do it’’.

He said thee purpose of the mission was to prove India was an equal to the top space faring countries that send their astronauts to the space. ‘’But it was mainly to trigger a technogical development in many other fields including space and other useful space of human science useful for coming Indian generation,’’ ISRO chief said.

Dr Sivan said the budget for human mission was not big as the space agency had already developed the basic technology, but it it would need to spend another Rs 10,000 crore to create the basic infrastructure and other facilities.