India Is Planning Its Own Space Station: ISRO Chief

India is planning to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan said Thursday.

The ambitious project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission.

“We have to sustain the Gaganyaan programme after the launch of (the) human space mission. In this context, India is planning to have its own space station,” Sivan told reporters here.

On Wednesday ISRO announced India’s second sojourn to the moon, Chandrayaan-2 , will be launched on July 15, the most complex mission ever undertaken by the space agency.

Under the nearly Rs 1,000 crore mission, the landing on the moon near the South Pole would be on September 6 or 7 on an uncharted territory, ISRO chairman K Sivan said on Wednesday.

Pointing out Chandrayaan 2 is going to South Pole, a place where nobody else has gone, Sivan said the entire scientific community of the nation and the globe were eagerly waiting for the mission.

If all goes well, India would be the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to perform a soft landing on the moon and put a rover on it.

Chandrayaan 2 will also have the credit of being India’s first interplanetary mission to be steered by two women- with M Vanitha as Project Director and Ritu Karidhal as Mission Director.

The mission cost of Chandrayaan-2 with regard to the satellite was Rs 603 crore, Sivan noted.

Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched about 10 years ago.