ISRO Chief S Somanath
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has finalised the plan for building its own space station, Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) and will soon submit it to the government for approval, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said at a press briefing in New Delhi on June 26, 2024. The final plans for Chandrayaan-4, India’s next lunar mission, which includes a crucial docking station and the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) is also waiting approval. This NGLV will replace the LVM 3.
“We have completed defining the nature of India’s space station and the way our NGLV will look. We have worked out the configuration of Chandrayaan-4, on how to bring samples back to earth from the moon. We will test this with multiple launches because our current rocket is not enough to go and bring back the samples,” he said on the sidelines of the Indian Space Congress 2024.
“For that we need a docking capability both in Earth and Lunar Orbit respectively. We are now developing capability for that for our mission. Spadex (space docking station) will do a first trial launch this year and it will be implemented in the Chandrayaan-4 mission. A project report on the NGLV launch vehicle including its full details, study and internal review with the cost has been worked out and this will go for government approval soon.”
A detailed report on the NGLV launch vehicle including its full design, configuration, architecture, production plan and realisation plan and cost is ready for government scrutiny, Somanath added. On August 24, 2023, the ISRO led by Somanath successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 in the lunar south pole region. This achievement made India the fourth nation after the US, Russia, China to land on the lunar surface and first to land on the dark side of the moon.
Targeted for a 2028 launch, Chandrayaan-4 aims to bring back the lunar soil samples to earth. The mission will be launched in two phases and could be the key to the success of Gaganyaan Mission, which aims to put an Indian to the moon by 2040.
“We have worked out the configuration of the BAS. This can be launched using the LVM-III which is the only heaviest rocket available to us. We have mentioned that the first launch of the station will take place by 2028 and to make that happen, we have already engineered the first module of the BAS. A separate proposal is also ready on how we plan to build the BAS. A separate proposal is also ready on how we plan to build BAS, what technologies are required and its timeline along with its cost.
Considering that the current facilities are not enough ISRO has approached the Central Government to approve a new launch complex Somanath said. “For the NGLV the new launch complex will be a much heavier complex, weighing nearly 4000 tonnes. This will require huge capacity. On June 26, 2024, the commercial arm of ISRO, the New Space India Limited (NSIL) signed a partnership with the Australian government. According to the agreement Australia will invest 18 million USD in Indian Space Projects.
The first mission approved under this partnership is an 8.5 million USD satellite contract with an Australian firm, Space Machines. In 2026, Space Machines will launch its satellite observation payload aboard ISRO’s privatised rocket called Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). While this partnership indicates external demand, the internal demand remains low. On June 23, 2024, an Indian media reported that challenges in a funding procedure for space launches in India could stifle demand in the Indian private sector.
Demand will come from the communications segment, which is a big satellite builder. That is why IN-SPACE said we need to find orbital slots and frequencies which can be given to the industry to build satellites. This will be the first step. ISRO and INSPACE will also work with the government and strategic entities to build a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) earth observation satellite constellation which may further add to internal demand, Somanath added.
There is so much more possibility in the area of applications. If you create applications for satellites, this will create new possibilities. For example, areas such as space timings and fusion of the Earth and miscellaneous observations can create demand. There are some players in these fields including Galaxeye which will create the internal possibility of making satellites in India.
India’s space sector was privatised in 2020, spurring the development of many space startups and launch vehicles. A section of experts claimed that within five years, India may be having eighty small rockets including the SSLV and rockets from the private startups like Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos available for launch each year.
To address the supply, domestic demand will be the key Pawan Goenka chairman, INSPACE told Indian media that the Central government is already considering steps to build demand but the scale-up will also depend on the “commercial potential of satellites and satellite services in the coming years”.
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