ISRO plans to carry out the first tests of the proposed Bharatiya Space Station next year and talks are on with the industry to manufacture, test and launch its first module by 2028, the space agency's chief S Somanath said on Thursday.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of the India International Science Festival, he said India's first mission to Venus is also likely to be launched in 2028 and engineers are working on bringing down costs on certain high-value components.
Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set ISRO a target to launch the Bharatiya Space Station by 2035 and land an Indian astronaut on the moon by 2040.
"It will happen next year. On Tuesday, I had a review of the Bharatiya Space Station architecture. Our people are working on so many options. Which one to choose, I am really having mixed feelings now," Somanath responded to a question on whether any tests of the space station would be carried out in the near future.
He said the Prime Minister's announcement has really created an enthusiasm internally and ISRO was already talking to the industry to manufacture, test and launch the space station in 2028.
"It is a space station, not a person. The person will come whenever they are there. It will still work if there is nobody there," Somanath said, indicating that initially the space station will be unmanned.
He said the agency also planned to launch the mission to Venus in 2028 and engineers were working towards it.
"Venus mission has already been proposed once, we are looking at how to bring down the costs. There are some high value items we want to bring down the cost," Somanath said.
He said it was not possible to give a timeline for the Venus mission as the primary goal for ISRO was the tasks set by the prime minister.
He said ISRO was also working on developing a new rocket to launch heavier payloads.
The Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) was being developed as the country was now pursuing missions to send humans to the moon and build a space station.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Drunk Driver Runs Over Several On Pune Footpath, 2 Toddlers Among 3 Dead
ISRO Drafts Its First 'POEM' To Study How Life Works In Space Explained: Why NASA Delayed Sunita Williams' Return From Space Fruit Fly Experiment on Tiangong Space Station Explores Effects of Microgravity 3 Marriages, Rs 1.25 Crore: How 'Looting Bride' Targeted Rich Men Bashar Al-Assad's Wife Files For Divorce, Wants To Return To UK: Report "Congress Should Be Ready...": Mani Shankar Aiyar's Big INDIA Bloc Remark Constipation Awareness Month 2024: Diet Tips For Better Digestion Ukraine Collects Vast War Data Trove To Train AI Models Manual Labour Resumes Excavation Work Of Sambhal Stepwell After JCB Fails Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.