I
ndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again brought India’s space dreams into the limelight while addressing a huge number of Indians living abroad in Melbourne, Australia. Addressing the 'Melbourne Meets Modi' event during his three-day visit to Australia, PM Modi said that India is not resting on its laurels following the successful Chandrayaan mission and will go ahead with more ambitious space missions like the Gaganyaan manned mission and building its own space station.
The meeting, which took place on July 9, was attended by 30,000 people and is believed to be one of the biggest audiences addressed by a visiting foreign dignitary in Australia.
Speaking before the audience about India's greatest space milestone ever, PM Modi referred to the moon landing of Chandrayaan. PM Modi told his audience that India has successfully landed its Chandrayaan in the south pole of the moon, which no other country in the world could achieve. However, rather than rest there, he told that the philosophy of "Grow More, Achieve More" makes India push ahead in order to meet its next big target. This is why, according to PM Modi, India is gearing itself to launch its Gaganyaan mission into the space, and also working towards meeting its next big target of setting up its own space station.
It is not just a part of political rhetoric but also the fact that India is actually working towards achieving this.
The space station that PM Modi talks about has already been named as Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) or Indian Space Station.
It could be termed a version of the International Space Station (ISS) belonging to India. But, unlike the former, it is much smaller in size and completely built by Indians. Simply put, it will be India’s own “space home” that will zoom around the Earth at an unbelievable pace as scientists conduct research in orbit—once again a dream turning into reality.
Known details about the station:
- Size and Weight: It will be 27 meters long by 20 meters wide in size – to make it clear, the size will be approximately equal to four buses placed adjacent to each other – and its weight will be 52 tonnes, which means 35 cars together.
- Orbit: It will circle the Earth at a distance of 400-450 kilometers from it – same as ISS.
- Crew: Six crew members will make up the maximum crew capacity for short stays, while 3-4 astronauts will do the same for longer stays of 3-6 months.
- Modules: There will be five different modules in total for this station – Basic Module, Core Module, Scientific Module, Laboratory Module, and Common Module.
This station will not come into existence all at once but will rather be erected in stages. The first stage, known as BAS-1 or the Base Module, will be launched via ISRO's heavy-duty LVM-3 rocket by 2028.
The first module alone will have a weight of 52 tonnes and will serve as the testing ground for the technologies such as life-supporting equipment and crew quarters so that scientists could ensure that astronauts could survive in microgravity for an extended period of time. At first, this module will be unmanned, but its construction will be carried out in such a way that it would be suitable for manned space stations once some tests prove successful.
Then, ISRO will add other modules gradually. Four technology-demonstration missions from 2026 through 2028 will be conducted in order to test life support, docking, robotic, and long-duration habitation technologies prior to the construction of large units. The complete construction of the whole station consisting of five modules is expected by 2035.
The exact date is not clear yet; initially, the program was expected to be completed by 2030; however, due to certain technical difficulties concerning Gaganyaan, as well as the influence of the pandemic on the situation, it had to be postponed till 2035.
Discussing the Gaganyaan Program, Modi raised the issue of creating a space station within the scope of the program. In deed, there are many good reasons why he did it. If India wants to have its own space station, then it should show that it is capable of launching and retrieving its astronauts from outer space.
This is exactly what the Gaganyaan Program will help India to achieve. Having completed successfully the first crewed flight of Gaganyaan, the ISRO plans to perform another crewed flight of Gaganyaan with multiple astronauts and human-controlled docking in outer space.
One of the key aspects of the process is the docking system. Creating its own docking system named Bharatiya Docking System, India intends to create such a system that would meet all international docking standards.
The statement made by Modi was not limited to space rockets or stations alone; rather, it focused on India as an emerging scientific and technological superpower. As per its design, once constructed and activated, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station will not just function as an advanced research laboratory wherein scientists including those from partner countries will conduct experiments on microgravity and will help in conducting studies in biology and materials science, but also assist in observing activities taking place on the Earth as well as manufacture items in the future.
In addition to the station, the officials believe it is one step towards a much greater vision. For instance, as per the ISRO statement, India is planning to send its astronauts to the Moon and return them safely to the Earth by the year 2040.
Modi also took advantage of this opportunity to bring to light how the country’s aspirations in space are not confined only to the government.
He stated that over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs are currently active in Indian schools, fostering scientific and innovative thinking among students at an early age and that India has developed into the world’s third-largest startup environment over the past 12 years.
He added that currently there are more than two lakh (200,000) startups in India and more than 4,000 startups register themselves each month and some of them work in the sectors of defence and space.
It is worth noting that just last week, the Indian aerospace company named Skyroot Aerospace launched the Vikram-1 orbital rocket that will mark India’s first private orbital rocket launch and the launch window is scheduled between July 12 and August 4, 2026.
Along with the content of the speech, the context of the speech also matters. In particular, Modi praised the Indian diaspora during his speech, thanking it for helping to establish an excellent connection between India and Australia, and he noted that there was not another organization that had contributed to this goal more than the Indian community. In addition, Modi mentioned some economic targets of India, which included joining the world's three top economies and becoming one of them using the slogan "Grow More, Achieve More."
