Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, chaired a high-level meeting on October 17, 2023, to assess the progress of the Gaganyaan mission and to outline the future of the country's space exploration endeavours. The meeting evaluated the mission’s readiness, affirming its launch in 2025. Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely to earth by landing in Indian sea waters.
According to the press statement from the Prime Minister's office, the Department of Space presented a comprehensive overview of the mission, including various technologies developed so far such as human-rated launch vehicles and system qualification. Over 20 major tests have been planned, including three uncrewed missions of the Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3). The first demonstration flight of the Crew Escape System Test Vehicle is scheduled for October 21. The TV-D1 test flight is scheduled to take place between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. from SDDC-SHAR (Satish Dhawan Space Centre), Sriharikota.
Building on the success of the Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayan-3 and Aditya L1 Missions, PM Modi stressed that the country should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending first Indian to the Moon by 2040. The Department of Space will develop a roadmap for Moon exploration. It will encompass a series of Chandrayaan missions, the development of a Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), the construction of a new launch pad, and setting up human-centric Laboratories and associated technologies.
PM Modi also called upon Indian scientists to work towards interplanetary missions that would include a Venus Orbiter Mission and a Mars Lander. He expressed confidence in the country's capabilities and affirmed the commitment to scaling new heights in space exploration.
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