First Unit of Indian Space Station: ISRO seems optimistic about constructing the first space station module in less than five years, only weeks after the PMO released India’s space roadmap to the public in October. Not only does ISRO have several planned lunar missions for 2047—100 years of Indian Independence—but it also intends to provide moon tourism in the future.
The space agency will benefit greatly from a space station and the technology that ISRO would have realised to make it a reality, as well as from a variety of new technologies that ISRO will receive from Gaganyaan, which is being applied gradually.
First Unit of Indian Space Station
“We have not set an overly ambitious target for the Prime Minister,” ISRO Chairman S Somanath told TOI. It is an excellent idea to create technologies to bring humans to the moon by 2040, which is 17 years away. We are moving quickly forward with the planned space station as well, and the first unit should be completed by 2028.
According to earlier, preliminary designs, ISRO wants to construct a space station that can temporarily house at least three astronauts at a height of 120 to 140 kilometres. These plans could be modified.
With a year or two’s buffer, India should be able to complete the station by the 2035 deadline set by the PMO, if the first unit is completed by 2028 as Somanath has predicted.
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NGLV Station Key
We have no doubt that the first unit will be completed by 2028 since we can use our present launch vehicle to accomplish that. Consequently, the NGLV (Next Generation launch vehicle), a larger launch vehicle, will be required. We anticipate that the NGLV will be completed in 2034–2035. To create the entire station, this is essential, Somanath stated.
A large ISRO team is already working on the projected NGLV, which has a completed architecture. The group has even produced a draft paper that goes into detail about how the rocket should be built, including what kind of manufacturing process should be used, where it should be built, and what technological input should be used.
Somanath has previously stated that ISRO wants it to be manufacturable using materials already available in India, employ new generation propulsion, have cryogenic propulsion in case ISRO needs to expand payload, and be at least partially reusable (the boosters).
Lunar Road Map 2047
Furthermore, multiple moon missions dominate ISRO’s 2047 roadmap, which is broken down into three main phases: “Technology build up phase (2023-28), lunar reach-out phase (2028-40), and lunar base phase (2040-47),” according to plans made public by Somanath. Numerous additional missions, such as the creation of more advanced rockets, its human rating, the construction of the space station, and others, would intersperse this voyage.
Although the sample return mission Chandrayaan-4 is currently in development, ISRO intends to launch Chandrayaan-5, 6 and 7 during the “lunar reach-out phase.” “Before we attempt the human mission to Moon, there will be several uncrewed lunar missions,” Somanath stated.
In Chandrayaan-5, a long-term mission, ISRO will use radioisotope heater units (RHUs), which are tiny devices that could produce heat through radioactive decay, and other technologies to lessen the extreme temperature changes on the Moon. The plans call for creating dwellings by Chandrayaan-6, and increasing the amount of infrastructure built on the moon by Chandrayaan-7.
As of right now, the government has neither approved nor concluded any of these missions. However, given how assertive Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been in utilising space, ISRO is anticipated to receive the necessary support, at least for the time being.
