India is playing smart in the space mission project that even other major countries like China and the US couldn’t make their projects economical as compared to India. The Indian government on Tuesday had announced that it is expected to spend less than Rs. 100 billion (i.e. $1.43 billion) on its first-ever manned space mission project which is to be launched by 2022.
It added that the project is likely to be cheaper compared to the same projects by the United States and China. India is carving out a reputation for itself as the ‘low-cost space power’, following the 2014 launch of an ‘unmanned Mars mission’ estimated at $74 million.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Indian manned mission this month which is to be steered by the Indian Space Research Organisation. ISRO is looking forward to sending a three-member crew to space for a period of five to seven days in a spacecraft that will be placed in a ‘low earth orbit’ of 300-400 km, the Department of Space said in a statement.
“ISRO has developed some critical technologies like re-entry mission capability, crew escape system, crew module configuration, thermal protection system, deceleration and floatation system, sub-systems of life support system etc required for this programme,” the statement said.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan added that the agency had “perfected the engineering aspects of the mission”. The statement went on to add saying that the private agencies will also take part in the mission and ISRO might as well think about collaborating with space agencies from “friendly countries with advanced space programmes”.
(With inputs from Thomson Reuters)
