ISRO Plans To Build India's Space Station

ISRO has a few big space missions to prepare for, one of which is the Gaganyaan, the first manned mission of the country, set for 2022. But there’s another mission that will take India’s space travel to an entirely new level.

According to K Sivan, ISRO Chief, after the successful Gaganyaan mission, the space station could build a space station of its own in Earth’s orbit, like the Tiangong-2 space station of China and the ISS.

In an interview with the Economic Times, K Sivan said that India’s first manned mission is set to launch before Independence Day in 2022. In addition, they will sustain that by launching more manned missions before having their own space station.

There are four pilots listed for the Gaganyaan mission, who will go to Russia this month to be trained to be astronauts. Furthermore, Russia is helping India develop a life-support system for the mission. The chief confirmed that the astronaut suits will be made in Russia.

The manned mission will be launched aboard the GSLV Mark III, which weighs 3.7 tonnes and can carry three astronauts. But in the upcoming mission, it will carry just one astronaut.

ISRO has also planned two other unmanned missions for 2020, one of which is sending a humanoid to space using the GSLV Mark III. This rocket is autonomous and tuned with adherence to an astronaut onboard.

As stated by K Sivan, the humanoid will house systems to simulate human functions, helping astronauts deal with impact from the space flight and avoid harm.

Six microgravity experiments will be carried out in the crew capsule during the unmanned missions. The space station also has plans to launch two communication satellites as part of the Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) so that astronauts can communicate with the ground team.

The country has spared more than Rs 10,000 crore for the manned mission and has spent two decades working on it.