Though ISRO made the announcement of the space station today, it has been quietly working on a key technology that will enable this future space station. A mission to Venus has been planned for a tentative launch in 2023, with the objective to study the atmosphere and surface topography of Venus

NEW DELHI: In a historic announcement in the country's space programs, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 20th June 2019 said that India will set up its own space station.

ISRO, asked researchers to use the fourth stage of its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to find ways to dock a robotic arm with the spacecraft, just two days after it said it was looking to build a space station within a decade reports the Business Standard.

The significance is that the fourth stage of the vehicle can be used for the experiments that will be conducted in the space station. If successful in building its own space station, India will be the fourth country, after Russia, the US, and China, to set up a space station.

In recent years, India’s space ambitions have been expanding beyond having planetary missions to talking about anti-satellite missile tests, creating a Defence Space Agency, and now its own space station by 2030.

But what will a space station mean to India and is it worth spending vast sums of money on it? It’s important to understand that space technology impacts our lives in myriad ways, from communications, agriculture management, disaster management, land management, and national security. ISRO’s former chairman G Madhavan Nair said establishing a space station is a must for ‘keeping the leadership in the space arena’.

Unlike the ISS, India's space station won’t be very big; it will probably weigh around 15-20 tons, it will be used for micro-gravity tests, and it will be able to accommodate a small group of persons for 15-20 days. ISRO chairman K Sivan says the plan for India’s own space station is a logical extension of the Rs 10,000 crore human space program scheduled for 2022. Without a space station, he said, the human space program will not have a conclusion.

ISRO chairman K Sivan, during a joint press meet with minister of state for department of space Jitendra Singh in New Delhi, said the high-profile project of setting up India's own space station will be an extension or next phase of the Gaganyaan mission or the human spaceflight program, which involves sending three Indian astronauts to space for seven days in the lower earth orbit (LEO) of 120-400 km.

He said, "Our Gaganyaan program has to be sustained after we launch a human space mission. In that regard, India is planning to have its own space station. We don't want to part of the existing International Space Station (ISS), therefore we want to set up our own. However, our station, which will be set up in 5 to 7 years, won't be very huge. It will have a mass of 20 tons and will be used for scientific studies, including micro-gravity tests."

The ISRO chief explained that the work on the space station will be taken forward after the Gaganyaan mission, which would be launched by December 2021. "We will forward the financial documents to the government for budget approval only after the Gaganyaan mission."

On a question about sending people to this India's own space station, Sivan said, "It will have a provision where people can live in this station for 15-20 days. However, the fine details related to the project will be announced only after the Gaganyaan project."

He said, "ISRO is also planning to join the international effort to send humans to the moon and Mars, and colonise the moon."

On the Gaganyaan mission, Sivan said, "We are running against time in order to meet the 2022 deadline given by our PM. As we are planning to launch the mission by December 2021, we will send our shortlisted astronauts for advanced training abroad as there is no time to set up the training centre here. However, basic training will happen in India." Jitendra Singh said, "Shortlisting of the Indian crew will be over in six weeks and training will be complete in a year or two."

Space Mission

  • Last week ISRO said it intends to build a space station by 2023
  • If successful, India will be the 4th country to set up a space station on its own after Russia, the US and China
  • Nearly $120 billion was spent on the ISS
  • ISS likely to be wound up in 2028, so China's space station is likely to be the only crewed space station left
  • ISRO says it is a natural extension of India's human space program and is needed to keep leadership in the space arena
  • The proposed space station will be 15-20 tonnes in weight, will be used for micro-gravity tests, can host people for 15-20 days

Agencies