During the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture at Akashvani (All India Radio) on Saturday, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath revealed updated timelines for several significant space missions, as reported by The Indian Express. The eagerly awaited Gaganyaan manned space mission is expected to launch in 2026, while the Chandrayaan-4 sample return mission is scheduled for 2028. Additionally, the India-US joint NISAR project is set for launch in 2025.
Somanath also announced plans for Chandrayaan-5, a collaborative moon-landing mission with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Formerly known as LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration), specific dates for this mission were not provided, but it is expected to occur after 2028. He highlighted that the mission will include an Indian lander and a Japanese rover, underscoring its scientific significance and its contribution to future human landings on the moon.
The ISRO Chairman expressed ambitions for a manned lunar mission by 2040 and emphasized the necessity of expanding India’s space sector to increase its global contribution from the current 2 percent to at least 10 percent within this decade. He stressed the importance of private sector involvement and new policies to promote entrepreneurship in the space industry.
Somanath noted that many industries, both large and small, have expressed interest in investing in the space sector, and ISRO is actively facilitating their participation. He pointed out that numerous activities that were once the sole domain of ISRO are now being carried out by private companies, marking a significant transformation in India’s space exploration landscape.
