India’s Own Space Station for Scientific research to be established with the launch of its first module in 2028

The union cabinet chaired by the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the building of the first unit of the Bharatiya Anatriksh Station (BAS) by extending the scope of Gaganyaan program.

What is it?

• ISRO is working to set up Bharatiya Antariksh Station, India’s own space station. The station will be assembled in a phased manner and ISRO aims to establish it by 2035.
• The Indian space station is currently in the ‘conceptualisation phase’, under which the overall architecture, number, and types of modules that are needed for the station have been studied and identified.
• Approval by the cabinet is given for development of the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1) and undertake missions to demonstrate and validate various technologies for building and operating BAS.

Extension with Gaganyaan Programme

• Revision in Gaganyaan Programme to include the scope of development and precursor missions for BAS, and factoring one additional uncrewed mission and additional hardware requirement for the developments of ongoing Gaganyaan Programme.
• The human spaceflight program of technology development and demonstration is through eight missions to be completed by December 2028 by launching the first unit of BAS-1.

About Gaganyaan

• The Gaganyaan Programme approved in December 2018 envisages undertaking the human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and to lay the foundation of technologies needed for an Indian human space exploration programme in the long run.
• Gaganyaan Programme will be a national effort led by ISRO in collaboration with Industry, Academia and other National agencies as stake holders.
• The programme will be implemented through the established project management mechanism within ISRO.
• The target is to develop and demonstrate critical technologies for long duration human space missions.

How to achieve this goal?

• ISRO will undertake four missions under ongoing Gaganyaan Programme by 2026
• Development of first module of BAS
• Four missions for demonstration & validation of various technologies for BAS by December, 2028.
• This will be in addition to the two uncrewed and one crewed mission that has already been approved for the first human spaceflight under the Gaganyaan mission.

Significance of BAS

• The nation will acquire essential technological capabilities for human space missions to Low Earth Orbit.
• A national space-based facility such as the Bharatiya Antariksh Station will boost microgravity based scientific research & technology development activities.
• This will lead to technological spin-offs and encourage innovations in key areas of research and development.
• Enhanced industrial participation and economic activity in human space programme will result in increased employment generation, especially in niche high technology areas in space and allied sectors.

Funding

The Union Cabinet also approved the continuation of the Gaganyaan mission and the setting up of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) at the cost of Rs 20,193 crore.

Deadline

The space agency has set a deadline of December 2029 for the completion of all launches and operations of the first module of BAS. 

Space Station Setup By Other Countries

United States of America, Russia and China has independent space stations.