On the first National Space Day designed to commemorate the successful landing of the ‘Vikram’ Lander on the surface of the Moon on August 23, 2023, India says it will put an Indian on the surface of moon in 2040 and commission the Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) by 2035. On this historic red-letter day for India’s space programme last year, India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 landed on Moon’s South Pole, a feat that astonished the world and established India as a leader in space exploration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had then declared August 23 as the National Space Day.
Speaking at the main event of the National Space Day themed ‘Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga’ in the capital city of New Delhi presided by the President of India Droupadi Murmu, the union Minister of state for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh outlined counry’s Space Vision 2047, which includes the commissioning of the Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) by 2035 and Indian astronauts landing on the Moon by 2040. He expressed confidence that what begins with human spaceflight in Low Earth Orbit will expand to India’s own scientific activities onboard an indigenous space station, leading to further lunar exploration and beyond.
The minister also drew attention to the significant increase in Space startups, now numbering nearly 300, following the opening of the Space sector to private participation. He echoed the Finance Minister’s projection that India’s space economy will grow from $8 billion to $44 billion in the next decade. Experts say space technologies have profound social relevance as these drive innovations and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.
The President presented awards to winners of ‘Robotics Challenge’ and ‘Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon’ on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that ISRO has had a wonderful journey since its initial days. The President said that the progress of India’s space sector is extraordinary. Be it a successfully completed Mars mission with limited resources, or the successful launch of more than a hundred satellites at once, we have made many impressive achievements. “Space exploration has increased the capabilities of human beings and transformed our imagination into reality. But space exploration is a challenging task. Research conducted to solve the problems during space exploration accelerates the development of science and improves human life. Many sectors have benefited from developments in the space sector, including health and medicine, transportation, security, energy, environment, and information technology,” she added.
The President said that we have to be prepared for future challenges. Space debris can cause problems for space missions. She appreciated the ‘ISRO System for Safe & Sustainable Operations Management’ facility which is being operated to ensure continuous progress of space research activities. She was also happy to note that India is moving forward to make all its space missions debris-free by the year 2030.
Dr Jitendra Singh talked about significant progress made in the past decade, including the successful Mars Orbiter Mission, the launch of AstroSat, Chandrayaan-2, and Chandrayaan-3, the upcoming Aditya-L1 solar mission, and the XPoSat, an X-Ray astronomy mission. He credited the policy support and leadership provided by Prime Minister Modi since 2014 for accelerating scientific missions and unlocking the potential of India’s scientific community including “unshackling” the space sector and making it more accessible to the public.
India’s Science & Technology Minister highlighted India’s end-to-end capabilities in Space transportation, platforms, and ground stations as a key aspect of the country’s self-reliance in the space sector. He also underscored the impact of space applications on sectors such as fisheries, agriculture, natural resource management, disaster management, and satellite communication, which have all benefited from India’s space advancements.
As the nation celebrates its first National Space Day, Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed confidence that this annual event will inspire greater awareness and enthusiasm among citizens about India’s space journey and its future endeavors.
Messages:
“We recall with great pride our nation’s achievements in the space sector. It is also a day to laud the contributions of our space scientists. Our Government has taken a series of futuristic decisions relating to this sector and we will do even more in the times to come.”- PM Modi
“This day is a reminder of Bharat’s remarkable journey in the space sector propelled by the spirit of #Atmanirbharata. Our spectacular achievements are a reflection of what a determined nation driven by committed scientists can achieve.” –Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar
