Detailing the plans for establishing an Indian space station, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath said that the target is to launch the first module for the space station by 2028 and that ISRO is developing a launch vehicle to carry heavier loads to have the space station ready by 2035.
Somanath was speaking at the 6th Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan, jointly organised by the Gujarat government and RSS-affiliated Vijnana Bharati, at Science City in Ahmedabad.
“By 2028, we will launch the first module, that is the target. In another seven years, that is by 2035, we will build further modules and make the space station fully operational.
This is because, for 2028 launch (of the first module) we do not have a powerful rocket, we have a rocket called LVM-3, which can only take 10 tonne, so the first module will be an eight-tonne mass module, which we will launch by 2028.”
“Future modules will be bigger, 20 to 25 tonnes… they cannot be launched in the current rocket, so we are developing a new rocket. We will seek approval for it and it will take about seven years to develop it.
By that time, we can launch the heavier modules and make it operational so that human beings can go (to the space station).
The 2028 launch will be a robotic module, a satellite, where we can dock, conduct experiments and come back.
A human being going (to the space station) can happen only after 2035. This is the plan as of today,” he added.
