25 July,2025 05:48 PM IST | Hyderabad | mid-day online correspondent
The ISRO Chairman also said that 12 launch vehicle missions have been planned by the space agency this year. Representational Image
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V Narayanan said that the country has to nearly triple its number of satellites in space, from the current 55, within the next three years.
He made the statement during 'The GP Birla Memorial Lecture on Indian Space Programme - Accomplishments, Challenges and Future Perspectives' on Friday in Hyderabad. Narayanan, who is also the Secretary of the Department of Space, received the prestigious GP Birla Memorial Award.
During his address, he said in the next 15 years, India would be on par with any other country in terms of space technology, application area, and infrastructure, PTI reported.
The ISRO Chairman also said that 12 launch vehicle missions have been planned by the space agency this year. The upcoming mission, NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is scheduled to be launched by India's GSLV F16 on July 30.
"Now we are working on building our own space station. We are going to have our own Chandrayaan landing. Right now, 55 satellites are in orbit serving the common man in this country. And in another three years, this number has to become almost three times. The requirement is huge. The demand is so much that we have to build satellites. We are working towards that," he said.
Later, talking to reporters, he said that in 2035 India will build a full space station, and the first module will be placed in orbit in the next three years.
As far as space sector reforms are concerned, a lot of work is going on, he said, adding that ISRO's model of work used to be service-oriented, but now it wants to grab business opportunities, too.
Following the success of Chandrayaan-3, Japan wanted to collaborate with India, and as a result, ISRO and JAXA, the Japanese space agency, decided to work towards the Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX mission, Narayanan said.
"We are building the satellite together, and the launch will be done by Japan. Chandrayaan-3's lander mass was 1,600 kg and this will be 6,600 kg. We are working on that and you will hear great news in another two years," he stated, adding that the Indian space agency is in the process of launching a 6,500 kg communication satellite of the USA into orbit using indigenous rockets in the next three months.
Narayanan further informed that the Centre has given its approval for setting up a third launch pad at Sriharikota with a budget of about Rs 4,000 crore.
According to him, the ISRO expects the Gaganyaan mission to launch Indian astronauts into space only in the first quarter of 2027. ISRO has placed 433 satellites belonging to 34 countries which do not have space technology into orbit using Indian rockets.
In the past 10 years, ISRO has launched 518 satellites, he added.
(With PTI inputs)
