ISRO working on multiple targets, Gaganyaan being immediate priority: S Somanath

The chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S Somanath, stated on Wednesday that while the organization is working on several projects, Gaganyaan—India’s first human space flight program—is its current top priority.

“Targets are numerous. There is more than one target. But for now, Gaganyaan is our main objective. Carry an Indian into space and return them without incident. This is our immediate top priority,” Somanath stated in Kolkata, India, on the fringes of the 2023 Global Energy Parliament.

The Gaganyaan mission’s objective is to launch people into space in 2025 and place them for three days in a low-Earth orbit 400 kilometers above the planet.
Somanath said the agency plans to set up the first module of India’s space station by 2028 and complete it by 2035.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed the space agency in October to set a target of establishing an Indian space station by 2035 and a manned lunar mission by 2040.
Administrator Bill Nelson of NASA announced on Tuesday that by the end of 2024, the US space agency will assist in the training of an Indian astronaut.

Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the sun, is reportedly on its way, according to Somanath. By January 7, we anticipate that it will reach the Lagrange point 1 (L1). We had to make some adjustments,” he remarked.

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Approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, or L1, is where the spacecraft will be positioned. A satellite stationed there will benefit from being able to view the sun continuously without eclipse
“Everyone can find inspiration in Chandrayaan-3.” We are the fourth nation overall and the first to set foot on the southern half of the moon. All of this shows how advanced India’s scientific and engineering capabilities are. We weren’t the ones responsible for building the craft or organizing the mission. Many individuals were consulted. Somanath declared that we owned the entire creation.
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, who was the first speaker of the Global Energy Parliament, presented Somanath with the Governor’s Excellence Award.