An Indian space station

The approvals by India's union cabinet Wednesday chart the next phase of the country's space program. Once the Gaganyaan spacecraft starts flying with astronauts, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will focus on completing a space station in low-Earth orbit by 2035.

The union cabinet authorized more than $1.3 billion in new funding for the Gaganyaan program this week, bringing the program's total budget to $2.4 billion. The overall budget covers not only the development of the Gaganyaan crew capsule and human-rating India's LVM3 rocket for astronauts, but also now covers the development of the first module for India's space station.

The fresh funding also pays for one additional uncrewed test flight for the Gaganyaan program, and eight demonstration missions through 2028, when the first module of India's Bharatiya Anatriksh Station is also slated for launch. By 2035, India plans to have five modules in orbit to comprise the fully assembled 52-metric ton space station, and Modi has outlined a vision for an Indian crew landing on the Moon by 2040, although the government approvals this week don't go that far.

"The target is to develop and demonstrate critical technologies for long-duration human space missions," India's press information bureau said in a statement.

"A national space-based facility such as the Bharatiya Antariksh Station will boost microgravity-based scientific research and technology development activities," the press bureau said. "This will lead to technological spinoffs and encourage innovations in key areas of research and development."

India's space agency will partner with industry, academic institutions, and international space agencies on the Gaganyaan program and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, the press bureau said.

Next year, an Indian astronaut selected to train for Gaganyaan missions will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. NASA helped arrange the deal through Axiom Space, which brokers short-duration flights of two to three weeks to the ISS for commercial astronauts.

India is also a signatory to the Artemis Accords, a non-binding set of principles among like-minded nations guiding a vision for peaceful and transparent exploration of space. India's decision to sign the accords was a sign it is forging closer ties with NASA, which targets a landing of US astronauts on the Moon within a few years. Officials have not revealed any detailed plans for Indian contributions to the NASA-led Artemis program or NASA participation in Gaganyaan.

Nevertheless, there's a noteworthy alignment between US and Indian interests in the future of human spaceflight, especially as China moves toward a potential astronaut landing on the Moon by 2030. There's a fair chance that China will operate the only space station in low-Earth orbit if NASA and its partners decide to decommission the ISS at the end of the decade.

NASA is funding several industrial teams to develop commercial space stations to replace the ISS, but it's far from certain they will be flying by 2030. An Indian space station might provide NASA with another option to host the agency's experiments or astronauts in low-Earth orbit.

A recoverable next-gen rocket

India's union cabinet also approved $1 billion for the development of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), a heavy-lift rocket with a reusable first stage booster that ISRO wants operational by around 2033.

The NGLV, also known as the Soorya launcher, is a three-stage design capable of delivering payloads up to 30 metric tons (66,000 pounds) into a 500-kilometer (310-mile) orbit. The rocket's payload capacity will be somewhat less when the first stage reserves propellant for recovery. It will come in two configurations, one with a core liquid-fueled launch vehicle, and another version augmented by two strap-on solid rocket boosters. The next-generation rocket will outclass the LVM3, India's heaviest rocket flying today.

"NGLV will have three times the present payload capability with 1.5 times the cost compared to LVM3, and will also have reusability resulting in low-cost access to space and modular green propulsion systems," the Indian press information press bureau said.

The rocket's first stage will be powered by nine engines, each generating a quarter-million pounds of thrust at full power. These engines will consume methane and liquid oxygen as propellants and will be capable of throttling up and down, allowing the booster stage to return to Earth after propelling payloads toward space. The Soorya rocket's first stage will have landing legs to allow it to return for vertical landings on an offshore barge, or back at the launch site, similar to the way SpaceX recovers its Falcon 9 boosters.

“We are working on vertical landing, throttleable propulsive assisted landing concepts like SpaceX and Blue Origin," said S. Somanath, chairman of ISRO, in a question-and-answer session hosted on Instagram last month. "One of the deficiencies of our capability was an engine, a liquid engine, which can be throttled to a very low level."

ISRO is already testing hardware for the new methalox engine, called the LME-1100, Narayanan said last month.

"That engine is designed with the throttling capability to go as (low) as 40 percent of its full thrust, and with that we should be in a position to make a vertical landing soon," Somanath continued. "All of the technology elements for such a landing capability do exist in ISRO. It’s a question of development time and maturing it to make it a possibility. If you wait for it, it will definitely happen."

The second stage will of Soorya will have a single methane-fueled engine, and a restartable hydrogen-fueled cryogenic engine will power the third stage. The entire rocket will stand more than 92 meters (301 feet) tall, according to ISRO.

ISRO has completed the design of the new methalox engine, called the LME-1100, and is already testing hardware components, Narayanan said last month.

Importantly, India's government wants to develop the next-generation rocket in a public-private partnership with Indian industry. "The NGLV development project will be implemented with maximal participation from the Indian industry, who is also expected to invest in the manufacturing capacity at the outset itself, thereby allowing a seamless transition to the operational phase subsequent to the development," the press bureau said.

India's space program is still driven by the government, but ISRO is turning over responsibility for manufacturing and launching the country's workhorse medium-class Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to the private sector. ISRO is taking early steps to do the same with the smaller SSLV and heavier LVM3 rockets. The strategy for developing the next-generation Soorya rocket appears to take a more commercial approach from the start.

At India's National Space Day last month, the country's science minister said there are nearly 300 Indian space startups, primarily pursuing projects in the launch, Earth observation, and commercial sectors. The government aims to grow India's space economy from $8 billion to $44 billion over the next 10 years.

There will be three NGLV test flights, and India's government seeks to complete development of the new rocket within eight years. Once operational, the rocket will support national and commercial missions, including crew launches to the Indian space station, India's government said.

Eventually, ISRO will scale up the Soorya rocket to carry as much as 70 metric tons of payload mass into low-Earth orbit, Somanath said. "This is the rocket which will take human beings to the Moon, but in the meantime, we are building it in building blocks."

Exploring other worlds

India's robotic exploration program also received support from India's cabinet, which approved roughly $251 million for the Chandrayaan 4 lunar sample return mission and approximately $155 million for ISRO's Venus Orbiter Mission.

Chandrayaan 4 could launch as soon as 2027 and test "foundational technologies" eventually needed for an Indian astronaut landing on the Moon, the press bureau said. A complex sample return mission is the "natural successor" to the successful Chandrayaan 3 landing in August 2023. "All the critical technologies are envisaged to be indigenously developed."

Elements for India's lunar sample return mission will launch on two LVM3 rockets, then link up together in space. The Chandrayaan 4 landing craft will collect lunar soil and launch it back into lunar orbit to dock with an Earth return vehicle.

The Venus Orbiter Mission, scheduled for launch in March 2028, could be the next government-led mission to explore the hellishly inhospitable second planet from the Sun. NASA and the European Space Agency plan to launch probes to Venus in the early 2030s, and Rocket Lab is developing a privately funded probe to fly to Venus, although it doesn't have a firm launch date.

ISRO is also studying a robotic mission to land on Mars called Mangalyaan 2, but it wasn't listed among the projects approved by the Indian government this week. India's first successful foray into Solar System exploration was a Mars orbiter mission that arrived on the red planet in 2014.