Mission next: Isro sets sights on building rocket as high as 40-storey, among tallest in world

Time of India

2 days ago

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Hyderabad: The Indian Space Research Organisation (
ISRO
) is gearing up to develop one of the tallest rockets ever built by man -- a nextgen launch vehicle as high as a 40-storey building (over 120 meters) to put a 75,000 kg (75-tonne) payload in low Earth orbit (LEO), ISRO chairman V Narayanan said here on Tuesday.
"Do you know what the capacity of a rocket (launcher) is? The first launcher, which was built by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Ji, had a 17-tonne lift-off mass and was capable of placing 35 kg in LEO," Narayanan said at the 84th convocation ceremony of Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad.
"Fifty years ago, we were in the phase of launching the first satellite. Now, we are shoulder to shoulder with every developed nation," Narayanan said.
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Elon Musk
's SpaceX currently holds the distinction of building the world's tallest rocket – Starship – which stands nearly 122 meters tall.
On India's ambitions to put man on the moon, the ISRO chief said that, as suggested by PM Modi during his meeting with Shubhanshu Shukla, ISRO is in the process of developing a pool of 40 to 50 astronauts for India's future space missions.
This even as ISRO is already in advanced stages of its Gaganyaan human space flight mission, where Indians astronauts will travel to space on an Indian rocket for the first time.
"The first unmanned mission is planned very shortly... PM recently rolled out the broad envelope of where our space programme has to reach in the coming years. The Chandrayaan-4 programme is already approved and this mission shall be planned as a sample-return mission," Narayanan added.
"An Indian has to land on the moon and return safely by a fully indigenous moon mission by 2040," he added.
By 2035, a 52-tonne mass space station - Bhartiya Anthariksha Station (BAS) - is going to be built by the ISRO, reiterated Narayanan, adding that the initial modules in space for the same shall start as early as 2027.
He also revealed key events that unfolded prior to Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's successful journey to the International Space Station (ISS) and back, which was the first step in the ambitious
Gaganyaan mission
, and said that had the rocket taken off as per the initial schedule it would have been a "catastrophic failure".
While the original launch of SpaceX Falcon rocket was planned for June 11, he said a day prior to the launch, a team led by him, that was camping at the Kennedy Space Centre, detected a leak in the rocket, pushing the launch date to June 25.
"When there was a discussion, 14 questions were asked but none of them were answered satisfactorily, including where the leak was. Finally, we put up a demand on behalf of the Indian govt and the leakage was fixed. Based on the insistence of Indians, the Indian education system, and ISRO training, the fault was corrected. Today we have accomplished a safe mission, not only for Shubhanshu Shukla but also for three other international astronauts," he explained.
These key missions apart, ISRO is also working on the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) (Shukrayaan) in which a spacecraft will be sent to study Venus.
ISRO also plans to launch the Technology Demonstration Satellite (TDS) and GSAT-7R, an Indian military communication satellite specifically designed for the Indian Navy to replace the existing GSAT-7 (Rukmini) satellite, this year among other initiatives.
He said India's premier space agency is also working on executing a significant mission in the next three months — of placing a 6,500 kg communication satellite built by the US, into orbit using an Indian rocket.
Other projects in the pipeline include the Navigation with India Constellation system (NAVIC) satellite and the N1 rocket.
The ISRO Chief also said that the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, which was launched on July 30 this year to monitor the changes in Earth's ecosystems, is working "fantastically well".
"In fact, this morning, we saw that the first product has come from the satellite, which is going to be useful for the entire global community," he added.
The agency is also developing a G20 satellite for the G20 countries, which aims to help the countries of the global south.
Pointing out that India has 55 satellites in orbit right now, Narayanan said the number will increase threefold in another three to four years.
On the occasion, a degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc) was also conferred upon the ISRO director making him the 50th recipient of this honorary doctorate from OU.
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