ISRO chairman V Narayanan has said that the cooperation in the space sector between India and the US has matured into an equal partnership. Missions such as Chandrayaan, NISAR (the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, and the recent successful launch of the BlueBird commercial satellite from the US have further reiterated that cooperation.
He said that the space cooperation between the two nations can be traced back to the 1960s and has now grown into a well-respected ecosystem. He was speaking at the inauguration of the US-India space business forum in Bengaluru.
“Today, when we look at 64 years of space activities to our credit, we have placed 433 satellites of 34 countries in orbit. They have all lifted off from Indian soil, including the heaviest satellite lifted off from Indian soil (BlueBird). Space activities in India commenced in 1962, and the country’s first rocket launch was enabled through support from the United States, with NASA supplying the sounding rocket,” said Narayanan.
He said that India is building a satellite for climate and weather studies for G20 countries and is also building a communication satellite for South Asian countries and placed it in orbit. He said that the contribution of private industries to India’s space programme has been immense. “Indian industries are building a lot of hardware, software, rocket parts, satellite parts, and electronics parts for us. Today, we have 330 startup companies and ISRO is hand-holding and supporting them to carry out research and development work,” added Narayanan.
He further remarked that the Indian space programme was never intended to compete with anyone and its purpose was to bring space technology to serve the common man. Thanking the entire Axiom and NASA team for the outstanding contribution in taking astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS), Narayanan said that today India’s space activities not only serve India but also contribute meaningfully to the global community. It is an application-oriented and people-focused programme.
Welcoming US delegates and industry representatives, Narayanan said the forum reflected the growing convergence between India and the United States in space exploration and commercial engagement. He also added that India plans to establish its own space station by 2035 and undertake a crewed lunar mission by 2040. He said ISRO is targeting the launch of the first module of the Indian space station by 2028, followed by a fully operational multi-module facility by 2035. The plan includes the launch of Chandrayaan-4 and Chandrayaan-5, missions to Mars and Venus, expansion of Earth observation and navigation satellite constellations, and the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.
Narayanan also mentioned that India’s long-term human space exploration goals would require the development of a new generation of heavy-lift launch vehicles. He mentioned that in the 1980s, we could carry only about 35 kgs, but recently, with the launch of the heaviest commercial satellite weighing over 6000 kgs, ISRO had demonstrated its heavy launch capabilities.