Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – India plans to send its first astronaut to the Moon in 2040. This plan was revealed after the Bollywood country successfully landed on the Moon last August.

However, before sending astronauts, India will build a space station first. Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the local space department to establish the Bhartiya Antariksha Station by 2035, quoted from Tech CrunchWednesday (18/10/2023).

Plans to have its own space station have actually been postponed. India plans to have it in 2022 with operations in the hands of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

However, the plan was delayed due to technical problems. This impacted human spaceflight ‘Gaganyaan’ and the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the same occasion, Modi also instructed the department to assess the progress of the Gaganyaan project. The project was revealed to be able to carry three people in an orbit of around 400 kilometers for three days in 2025.

Meanwhile, an uncrewed demonstration flight for the Crew Escape Test Vehicle is scheduled for this week. The program will carry out a total of 20 major tests, including three uncrewed Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3) missions.

India is known to have high ambitions for space exploration. This has been seen since the country opened the space sector to private companies in June 2020, namely by establishing the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe).

This method turns out to be able to develop India’s domestic space industry. Tech Crunch noted that the number of space technology startups reached more than 150 companies and even succeeded in attracting foreign investment.

India has also established policies guiding collaboration between public and private entities related to space. Modi, in particular, asked his country’s scientists to carry out interplanetary missions, such as to Venus or Mars.

India and NASA have also collaborated on various aspects. For example, NASA will provide advanced training to Indian astronauts at the Johnson Space Center and send them to the International Space Station in 2024.

In the same year, ISRO and NASA will launch a low Earth orbit observatory. The two space agencies will map the entire planet in 12 days and provide consistent data analysis on the condition of the Earth.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(npb/npb)