The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved building the first unit of the Bharatiya Anatriksh Station by extending the scope of Gaganyaan programme with a net additional funding of ₹11,170 crore. The total funding for the Gaganyaan programme with the revised scope has been enhanced to ₹20,193 crore.
The Cabinet gave its approval for the development of first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1) and undertake missions to demonstrate and validate various technologies for building and operating BAS.
The revision in the Gaganyaan programme will 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 government says.
Now the human spaceflight programme of technology development and demonstration is through eight missions to be completed by December 2028 by launching first unit of BAS-1, it adds.
The Gaganyaan Programme approved in December 2018 envisages undertaking the human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit and to lay the foundation of technologies needed for an Indian human space exploration programme in the long run.
It envisages including other things, creation of an operational Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and Indian Crewed Lunar Mission by 2040. All leading space faring nations are making considerable efforts and investments to develop and operationalise capabilities that are required for long duration human space missions and further exploration to Moon and beyond, the Cabinet note says.
The Gaganyaan programme will be a national effort led by ISRO in collaboration with industry, academia and other national agencies as stakeholders. 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. To achieve this goal, ISRO will undertake four missions under ongoing Gaganyaan Programme by 2026 and development of first module of BAS and four missions for demonstration and validation of various technologies for BAS by December 2028.
“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,” the government says.
“This programme will provide a unique opportunity, especially for the youth of the country to take up careers in the field of science and technology as well as pursue opportunities in microgravity based scientific research & technology development activities. The resulting innovations and technological spin-offs will be benefitting the society at large,” it says.