Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that his country is preparing to launch its own space station into orbit in 2035 and a manned mission to the Moon in 2040. The statements were made against the background of the preparation of the test flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft.
India is going to the Moon
India plans to create a manned space program in the next 15 years that will be able to compete with the American and Chinese. This was stated in the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which he gave on October 17.
He gave it to the engineers and scientists of the country’s space agency. The meeting was dedicated to the upcoming test of the Gaganyaan spacecraft. It is scheduled to take place this Saturday. This will be an unmanned mission designed to ensure the safety of all systems. If it turns out to be successful, then next year India will send three astronauts into orbit at once.
However, this is where the country’s space plans are just beginning. According to Modi’s statement, the Bharatiya Antariksha Station space station is planned to be launched into orbit as early as 2035. And by 2040, India’s first astronaut should get to the Moon.
Why Indians are confident in their space program
All this would sound a bit defiant if the Indian space program had not demonstrated impressive results in recent years. Back in 2014, this country was the first Asian state to put a spacecraft into Mars orbit. And in 2017, it launched as many as 104 satellites into Earth’s orbit.
This year, India has already distinguished itself twice as a space power. First, its specialists could land the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at the South Pole of the Moon, and then launch the Aditya-L1 probe to study the Sun.
Until now, these have been mostly low-budget missions.However, the first manned flight will cost USD 1.08 billion, which means that the country is ready for much larger-scale projects beyond Earth.
According to phys.org
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