The Bharatiya Antariksh station, a space station capable of conducting experiments using robots, will be launched in 2028, the agency head said.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch Chandrayaan-4 to bring back samples from the Moon in four years, its chairman S Somanath said while elaborating on the agency’s Vision 2047 universe.
The first module of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station – India’s planned space station – capable of conducting experiments using robots, will be launched in 2028.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier asked the space agency to establish a space station by 2035 and send humans to the Moon by 2040.
Although these missions may seem far-fetched, a key experiment to sustain human spaceflight will be “launched within three years,” Somanath said at a conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. for the next four months”.
The SPADEX experiment will demonstrate autonomous docking capability. Docking is a process where two spacecrafts are aligned in a precise orbit and joined together.
Explaining the mission, Somanath said: “Two satellites that are connected to each other will be launched, they will separate out, travel for a few kilometres, and then come back and connect.”
While India successfully developed the lander and rover on-board Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 missions after Russia backed out, Somanath said that for a sample-return mission “we need much more technology than what we have developed for the landing.”
He said work was on to develop technologies such as robotic arm to collect samples, mechanisms for docking in the Moon orbit and Earth orbit, transfer of samples, re-entry into the atmosphere without burning up — this will also be demonstrated by the Gaganyaan mission that will send astronauts to low Earth orbit and bring them back to Earth.
And while the ISRO recently demonstrated a trajectory to bring back a spacecraft from the Moon to Earth orbit using left-over fuel in the propulsion module, for a sample return mission the ascender module will have to collect the samples, come back to an orbit around the moon, and dock with another craft and transfer the sample, before it starts its journey back to Earth.
In Earth orbit, the spacecraft will have to dock with another module that will bring it to Earth. Just like the Gaganyaan mission, the spacecraft containing samples from the Moon will fall into the ocean using a parachute.
Somanath said for a sustainable Indian presence in space, ISRO is also working on developing an inflatable habitat module where astronauts can roam and conduct experiments.
ISRO is also working on technologies like satellites that can refuel other satellites in space and ISRO service modules that can use robotic arms to maintain the module and even replace the module when needed.
Although the first module could be launched in 2028 on existing rockets, building the entire space station would require a heavier launch vehicle, he said. Somanath said ISRO is working on the design of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGVL) which will be capable of carrying 16-25 T into low Earth orbit. More importantly, ISRO is in discussions with NASA and the European Space Agency to build a common interface between India’s space station and those of these countries. This interface will make joint work possible, Somanath said, and shows the possibility of cooperation with these countries to build the space station.
He said the current International Space Station was built in collaboration with several countries and will be decommissioned by 2030. The common interface will also allow India’s module to dock with the ISS.
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