ISRO chairman V Narayanan said that the Centre has recently accorded approval for the ambitious Chandrayaan-5 mission as part of building capability towards achieving the goal of an Indian landing on the Moon by 2040. He further detailed that the space agency has been tasked with realising the ambition of India’s Space Station by 2035.
At an event to felicitate him for taking over as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, the ISRO Chairman talked about future projects of the space agency. “Many projects are there. Chandrayaan-4 has to land and collect samples. Chandrayaan-5 got approval three days ago and will have a 350 kg rover. Japan and India have collaborated to work on the mission.”
ISRO has successfully executed three Chandrayaan missions, and the latest, Chandryaan-3, resulted in a safe and soft landing on the moon.
Union minister Jitendra Singh said last year that the Government approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission, which will demonstrate the capability of landing on the Moon and the safe return to earth, including technologies for sample collection.
The Chandrayaan-5/ LuPEX mission is being planned to demonstrate the higher capacity lander, which is an important element for future landing missions, including human landings on the lunar surface. Further, India has also announced that it will have its own Space Station, the “Bharatiya Antriksh Station,” by 2035.
The ISRO chairman said, “We have also planned to create a Space Station for us and the Government is asking for a plan for Indians to be sent to moon in an Indian-made rocket and should be returned back.”
Narayanan said, “I have never seen anyone who worked as hard as Sivan (former ISRO chief). I would like to express my gratitude to the Indian government and our Prime Minister Modi. PM has only one goal that is a developed country. I am not the reason for getting this position, I was born and educated in a normal family. I would like to thank all the friends who worked with me.”
He shared that when Chandrayaan-2 was not successful, “it was very troubling and it felt that all years of hard work seemed like a waste.”
“We have designed and launched 131 satellites. We have given them to SAARC countries.. we have achieved a feat that no other country has achieved in 34 days. There has been tremendous development in the last ten years. We have successfully sent 433 satellites from our Indian soil, achieving a record 90 percent success rate. When Chandrayaan 2 did not succeed at the last minute, it was very sad,” the ISRO chief said.
During the last ten years, starting from January 2015 to December 2024, a total of 393 foreign satellites and three Indian customer satellites have been launched on a commercial basis on board ISRO’s PSLV, LVM3 and SSLV Launch Vehicles. India has also launched satellites of 34 countries so far, including those of developed countries since 2014, such as the US, United Kingdom, Singapore, Canada, and Israel, among others.
At the Chennai event yesterday, ISRO chief Narayanan also spoke about the upcoming rocket launch pad in Kulasekarapattinam spaceport. “Kulasekarapattinam is the right choice and a good place….and the Prime Minister has mentioned many plans.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi remotely laid the foundation stone for India’s second spaceport at Kulasekharapattinam, a coastal village in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district on February 28, 2024. The construction of the SSLV Launch Complex (SLC) facilities at Kulasekarapattinam commenced on March 5 this year with the ‘Ground breaking ceremony’ for the realisation of three major facilities.
The launch complex at Kulasekarapattinam primarily aims to address the polar launches of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), which is envisaged to capture the global launch service market for small satellites up to 500kg. SSLV development has been completed, and in the operational phase, the Indian industry envisages the vehicle for production.
Meanwhile, speaking at the ceremony in Chennai yesterday, the ISRO chairman said, “Our Chandrayan 1 found water on the moon and made Indians proud. Chandrayan-2 didn’t soft land but rotated in Orbit, giving thousands of pictures. Chandrayan-3 landed on the South Pole, and we became the first country to land on the South Pole. Now, we need to study the Sun. We have launched a satellite for that also. We are the fourth country in world to launch a satellite to study Sun.”
“Tamil Nadu government arranged one event to felicitate us after successful of Chandrayan-3. It was very grand and never seen in my life. Don’t link me with politics. Just appreciating the good things. No political leaders were on that stage. I just thank them also in this time,” he said.
The felicitation ceremony held for V Narayanan, who is also the Secretary of the Department of Space, included participation from former Governor of Telangana Tamilisai Soundararajan, former MLA Vijayadharani, the former mayor of Chennai Saidai Duraisamy among several others.
(With inputs from ANI)
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