Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is stepping up its space effort and aims to send a man to the Moon and establish a space station by 2040.
India plans Moon mission: The declaration by the PM comes as the most populous nation in the world prepares for a crucial test flight scheduled for Saturday for its first crewed space trip.
Modi advised representatives of the space agency to “build on the success of Indian space initiatives”.
The nation “should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending first Indian to moon by 2040,” he said in a statement late Tuesday.
Modi requested the creation of plans for “a series of missions” to the Moon.
A low-budget space programme is run by India. In August, it made history by being the first to safely launch a spacecraft to study the Sun’s outermost layers and to land a vehicle close to the lunar south pole, which had previously been mainly unexplored.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country’s space agency, launched 104 satellites in a single operation in 2017 after becoming the first Asian country (and the first country in Asia) to orbit Mars with a satellite in 2014.
“India’s Ambitious Space Goals: From Gaganyaan to Lunar Missions”
The Gaganyaan or “Skycraft” mission, India’s first manned space flight, continues to be the country’s major priority right now.
Additionally, The three-day mission, scheduled for next year, will cost around $1.08 billion and will try to place a three-person crew in Earth’s orbit.
Within the next two years, the nation also intends to send an orbital mission to Venus, send a vessel to Mars, and launch a probe to the Moon with Japan.
Further, At a fraction of the expense, India has been steadily keeping up with established spacefaring powers’ accomplishments.
Experts suggest that India can keep costs down by cloning and adapting current technology and benefit from its surplus of highly trained engineers who earn less than their international counterparts.
According to India, its part of the $386 billion global space economy is barely 2%, but by 2030, it aspires to reach 9%.