Gaganyaan 2026, Chandrayaan-4 2028 launching announces: ISRO Chief Somanath
Gaganyaan 2026, Chandrayaan-4 2028 launching announces: ISRO Chief Somanath
ISRO Chairman S Somnath while delivering Sardar Patel memorial lecture on All India Radio on Saturday also announced new dates for some important upcoming missions. Gaganyaan, a manned space mission, will probably be launched in 2026. Also, Chandrayaan-4, a mission to return samples from the Moon, will be launched in 2028. He also informed that a joint India-US NISAR mission is scheduled for next year. The ISRO chairman said that the moon landing mission will be jointly with the Chandrayaan-5 mission with Japan's space agency JAXA. It was originally called LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration). He did not mention the time frame for its launch. The LUPEX mission was earlier slated to launch before 2025, but is now reported to be Chandrayaan-5. It is likely to take up the project only after 2028.
Somnath said.. “This is a huge mission. In which Lander is provided by India. But Rover comes from Japan. The rover in Chandrayaan-3 weighs only 27 kg. But this mission will have a 350 kg rover. It's a science-intensive mission that will take us one step closer to landing humans on the moon. India has unveiled plans for a manned mission to the moon by 2040. Somnath said the opening up of the space sector to private companies, new policies and the enthusiasm shown by young entrepreneurs have created a vibrant space ecosystem in India. "Our contribution to the global space economy is still 2 percent," he said. Our aspiration is to increase this to around 10 percent in the next 10-12 years. But ISRO cannot achieve this alone. We need the involvement of other stakeholders. From start-ups to large companies, everyone has to come and participate in India's space sector. We are working hard to create enabling mechanisms that will make it easier for companies to work with ISRO.
The ISRO chairman said that India's dependence on imports of space technology has reduced significantly over the past decade, but more needs to be done. He said, “Many of the important materials used in the space sector are still imported. We need to develop the capacity to manufacture most of these in our country. Somnath said India has an ancient and rich tradition of studying stars and galaxies. It is generating new knowledge in the field of astronomy after a long time. He said that it is contributing to global efforts in space research.