(MENAFN- Live Mint) ISRO is preparing to enter one of its busiest phases yet, with seven more launches planned before the end of the current financial year, while India's first human spaceflight remains on track for 2027, its chairman V Narayanan said.

In an interview with PTI, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman said this drive is part of a larger strategy to rapidly scale up India's scientific, technological and industrial capacity in the space sector.

The upcoming launches include a commercial communication satellite, along with multiple PSLV and GSLV missions. Notably, the ambitious plan features a significant milestone - the launch of the first PSLV manufactured entirely by the Indian industry.

ISRO is simultaneously working to triple its annual spacecraft production over the next three years to keep pace with expanding mission demand, PTI reported.

Key upcoming missions and milestones

The ISRO chief said the government has approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission, which will be India's most complex lunar endeavour to date. It is designed as a lunar sample-return mission in which the spacecraft will attempt to bring back samples from the moon.

The capability of bringing back samples from the moon is currently demonstrated by only the US, Russia and China.

“We are targeting 2028 for Chandrayaan -4,” V Narayanan told PTI.

Another key mission is LUPEX, the joint lunar polar exploration programme with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), which aims to study water ice at the lunar south pole.

Narayanan said ISRO has begun work on an Indian space station, targeted for completion by 2035.“The first of the five modules will be placed in orbit by 2028,” he said.

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This project would position India as the third major nation to operate a space station, as the US-led International Space Station (ISS) nears its end and China's Tiangong moves into full operation.

On India's maiden human-spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, Narayanan clarified that only the timeframe for uncrewed missions has shifted.“Let me make it clear: the uncrewed mission was targeted for 2025. The crewed mission was always planned for 2027, and we are holding on to that date,” he said.

He also noted that Prime Minister Narendra Mod has directed ISRO to work towards sending Indian astronauts to the lunar surface and bringing them back safely by 2040.

India's growth in global space economy

India's share in the global space economy currently stands at 2%, and ISRO is working towards increasing it to 8% by 2030, Narayanan said.

India's space economy is currently valued at around $8.2 billion and is projected to grow to $44 billion by 2033. Whereas the global space economy, he said, is valued at about $630 billion currently and could reach $1.8 trillion by 2035.

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Following space-sector reforms in 2020, there has been a dramatic rise in private sector participation.

Narayanan said more than 450 industries and 330 startups are now active in India's space ecosystem, which is a massive rise from just three startups a few years ago.

India's private space industry has accelerated post regulatory reforms in 2020, allowing private rocket development, satellite manufacture and commercial launch services, PTI reported.

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