India aims to bring moon soil by 2027, buoyed by success of Chandrayaan-3
₹1,000-crore space venture capital fund, which was announced on 23 July in the Union budget, is being worked upon at a ministerial level. “Going forward, multiple stakeholders will evaluate the sectors and entities that will benefit from the fund, and a professional fund manager will be appointed to handle it. We will also evaluate how the government, including Isro, can play its role in promoting the private sector," he said.
India’s space journey’s breakthrough came with Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s spaceflight aboard Soyuz-T11 in April 1984, which was part of the erstwhile Soviet space programme. Interestingly, India’s team of four astronauts also received initial training at Russia’s Roscosmos, before further training in India. Since the inception, India’s biggest achievements apart from the above-mentioned Chandrayaan series was Mangalyaan—which made India the first Asian nation to orbit Mars, and the only nation to achieve it in its first attempt.
Last month, Somanath said that Isro was in the process of improving its indigenous capabilities, too. “We recognize many areas of improvement—for instance, we need a new heavy launcher that will cater to Gaganyaan as well as our space station. To do this, a technical design and financing model for Isro’s Next-Gen Launch Vehicle (NGLV), has already been prepared," he said.
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