ISRO chairman Dr Vanniyaperumal Narayanan has outlined India’s ambitious space roadmap, which includes establishing a space station by 2035 and sending astronauts to the moon by 2040. Dr. Narayanan, who has over four decades of experience in rocket and spacecraft propulsion, took over ISRO in January of this year and has already overseen several major missions.
He traced ISRO’s history from the launch of its first sounding rocket in 1963 to the completion of over 100 missions, highlighting important successes such as the Chandrayaan missions, the Mars Orbiter Mission, and India’s first soft landing on the Moon’s south pole. He emphasised that India was the first to identify water molecules on the moon and now plays an important role in global space research.
Despite initial obstacles, including the denial of cryogenic technology, India successfully developed its own propulsion systems. The Gaganyaan program, which faced Covid-related delays, is moving forward, with the first uncrewed mission scheduled for December and a crewed mission planned for 2027.
Chandrayaan-5, a collaboration with Japan, will include a heavier lander and rover. Meanwhile, the Aditya-L1 mission has already returned 20 gigabytes of scientific data on the Sun. Dr. Narayanan credited PM Modi’s vision for boosting India’s space goals.
