The Indian government has announced that the country plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2040 and build a space station there by the middle of the next decade.
The announcement came after a meeting chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the progress of India's Gaganyaan space mission .
" The Prime Minister suggested that India should now pursue new and ambitious goals, including the creation of the 'Bharatiya Antariksha Station' (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending the first Indian to the moon by 2040 ," the government said
India is already working on developing spaceflight and is preparing for a first crewed flight in 2025.
See also: Chandrayaan-3: India measures temperature at the moon's south pole for the first time
Meanwhile, NASA has announced that in December 2025 (if there are no problems) it will land a crewed spacecraft on the lunar south pole, as part of the Artemis.
China also announced its goal of sending two astronauts to the Moon before 2030.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is currently preparing for the unmanned Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1). It is a short-duration flight, which will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the morning of October 21, Indian time.
The mission will test the Crew Escape System, which will help separate the crew module from the test vehicle.
India's ambitious statement on sending humans to the moon comes after the successful Chandrayan-3 to the moon and the launch of the Aditya L1.
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“The Ministry of Space will develop a roadmap for lunar exploration. This will include a series of Chandrayaan, development of a Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), construction of a new launch pad, creation of human-centric laboratories and related technologies.“.
Exploration of the Moon continues to be a subject of scientific interest and ambition for the 21st century. The rapid development of technology and the ambitions of space agencies around the world have transformed the Moon into a “platform” for science and technology.
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Plans for the Future
It is now clear that the issue is not just about exploring the Moon, but about developing the capabilities for human activity on its surface. NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), CNSA (Chinese Space Agency), as well as private space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, have plans for exploring and exploiting the Moon.
Source: spacenews.com
