- By Aditya Jha
- Sun, 27 Oct 2024 08:22 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
S Somanath, ISRO Chairman, revealed the details for upcoming projects while delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture at Akashvani (All India Radio). He stated that India was aiming to increase its contribution to the global space economy to 10 per cent in the next decade; currently, India has a contribution of 2 per cent in the global space economy.
Somanath said that manned space mission Gaganyaani is likely to be launched in 2026; sample return mission Chandrayaan-4 in 2028; and the much-anticipated India-US joint NISAR venture in 2025, reported The Indian Express. Somanath emphasised the need for greater indigenisation of space technologies and announced that India will have a joint moon landing mission with Japan space agency JAXA. Somanath did not mention the time frame of the mission, as earlier it was scheduled to be launched within the 2025 time frame, but now the mission can be expected only after 2028, when Chandrayaan-4 is scheduled, as the mission with Japan is described as Chandrayan 5.
ALSO READ: When Will ISRO Start Catching Rockets Like Elon Musk's SpaceX? What S Somanath Said In IIT Delhi
“It would be a very heavy mission in which the lander would be provided by India, while the rover would come from Japan. The rover on Chandrayaan-3 was only about 27 kg in weight. But this mission would carry a 350-kg rover. It is a science-heavy mission that would take us one step closer to landing human beings on the moon,” Somanath said. India is also expected to have a manned mission to the Moon by 2040.
Besides, Union Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh announced on Saturday that India will have its own space station by 2035 and will be known as "Bharatiya Antriksh Station.".
“India will have its own space station by 2035, which will be known as Bharatiya Antriksh Station,” Jitendra Singh announced at the MoU signing ceremony of ISRO and the Department of Biotechnology.