India to have its own space station by 2035, says ISRO chairman
ISRO Chairman Dr V. Narayanan reiterated that India's own space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), is targeted to be fully operational by 2035.
He said the station's first module has already been approved and is expected to be launched in the coming years as part of the expanded Gaganyaan Programme.
The remarks were made during public appearances around the third National Space Day (23 August) and IIT-BHU's 14th convocation, where Narayanan is Guest of Honour, highlighting India's expanding space applications across more than 50 sectors including Earth observation, telecommunication, disaster management, and navigation.
He also referred to continuing work on the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, of which the space station project is now formally a part.
Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) — India's indigenous space station
BAS is India's planned modular space station, to be assembled in low-earth orbit using the indigenous LVM3 launch vehicle. It was first announced by the Union Cabinet in 2019 as a long-term goal and formally folded into the expanded Gaganyaan Programme approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in September 2024.
Key Details
- Design: five modules, each weighing roughly 20–25 tonnes (total station mass approx. 52 tonnes range across configurations cited by ISRO), assembled via multiple LVM3 launches between 2028 and 2035.
- The first element, the BAS-01 Base Module, is targeted for launch in 2028.
- The revised Gaganyaan Programme (approved September 2024) has a total outlay of approximately ₹20,193 crore and covers eight missions, including uncrewed and crewed Gaganyaan flights plus BAS precursor and technology-demonstration missions.
- BAS will support long-duration human presence, microgravity research, and serve as a stepping stone toward India's stated goal of an Indian crewed lunar landing by 2040.
The chairman's statement that the "first module has been approved" refers to the BAS-01 Base Module now formally sanctioned within the expanded Gaganyaan Programme, distinguishing it from the earlier, less-funded standalone 2019 announcement.
Gaganyaan Programme — India's human spaceflight effort
Gaganyaan is India's first human spaceflight mission, intended to send a crew to low-earth orbit (roughly 400 km) aboard an indigenously developed crew module launched on the human-rated LVM3, with the near-term uncrewed and crewed demonstration flights serving as precursors to sustained orbital operations culminating in BAS.
Key Details
- Originally approved by the Cabinet in December 2018; the programme was significantly expanded and revised in September 2024 to fold in BAS development.
- Uses the Human Rated LVM3 (HLVM3) launch vehicle and a purpose-built crew and service module with a crew escape system.
- Precursor uncrewed missions and astronaut training (including at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre and India's own astronaut training facility in Bengaluru) precede the first crewed flight.
- India previously sent an astronaut to the International Space Station via a commercial Axiom Mission (2025) as a separate but complementary capability-building step, distinct from the indigenous Gaganyaan effort.
Narayanan's remarks tie BAS directly to Gaganyaan's technology and crew-transport heritage — the same human-rating, life-support, docking, and re-entry technologies being validated for Gaganyaan crewed flights will be reused for ferrying crews to and operating the space station.
- BAS full operational target: 2035.
- BAS-01 Base Module launch target: 2028.
- BAS design: five modules, assembled via LVM3 launches (2028–2035).
- Revised Gaganyaan Programme outlay (approved September 2024): approximately ₹20,193 crore, covering eight missions.
- Original Gaganyaan Cabinet approval: December 2018.
- Third National Space Day was observed on 23 August 2026, commemorating Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander touchdown on 23 August 2023.