National Space Day: Beyond Moon, India’s big space dream includes Mars, Venus and Sun too

India has been observing National Space Day on August 23 since the historic success of its Moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, which cost India just around ₹600 crore.

With this mission, India became the first country to reach the lunar south pole, and only the fourth country to achieve a soft-lunar landing (after the US, USSR/Russia, and China).

PM Modi had also announced that the touchdown spot of the Vikram lander on the lunar surface would be known as the 'Shiv Shakti' Point, while the Chandrayaan-2 Lunar landing point will be called the 'Tiranga' Point.

The 2023 landmark moment pushed India to achieve new heights in its space exploration, with NASA now formally inviting India to participate in its effort to build a permanent base near the moon's south pole.

"NASA invited ISRO to join its Moon Base program, building on the two countries’ partnership under the Artemis Accords," the US embassy said in a statement on August 11.

Meanwhile, NASA posted on X, “Building on our successful collaboration in science, NASA reaffirmed its interest in @ISRO joining Moon Base. We're going back to the moon to stay — and we're bringing our partners with us.”

Moon is not the only thing India is trying to explore in space.

Aditya L1

The next stop after the Moon was the Sun. Aditya L1 was India’s first dedicated solar mission to study the Sun from around 1.5 million km from Earth.

With more than 27 TB of solar data shared, the mission is helping scientists understand the Sun while expanding India’s capabilities in solar research.

Mangalyaan

In 2014, India reached Mars on its very first attempt. Mangalyaan entered the Red planet's orbit in 2014, making India the first nation to reach Mars on its first mission.

ISRO also became the fourth space agency to place a spacecraft in Mars orbit. It was the cheapest Mars mission ever.

"The mission cost ₹450 crore, showcasing how innovation and smart engineering can make ambitious space missions possible," the government said.

SpaDex

India unlocked another space milestone with another cost-effective technology demonstrator mission — SpaDeX.

The mission successfully demonstrated autonomous docking and undocking in space, making India the fourth country to achieve space docking technology.

The mission also demonstrated power transfer between spacecraft and tested a robotic arm in orbit.

In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives.

This technology is said to be essential for India's space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), etc.

Indian astronaut reaches ISS

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla travelled to the International Space Station in 2025 as part of NASA's Axiom 4 mission.

His journey marked India's triumphant return to space 41 years after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma's 1984 mission. Sharma had become the first Indian to fly to space aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.

He conducted seven ISRO-designed experiments studying the effects of microgravity on humans, plants and materials.

Launch of 104 satellites make world record

PSLV C37 launched 104 satellites in a single mission, setting a world record at the time. The mission included 101 international satellites.

NISAR

A joint NASA-ISRO mission, NISAR launched on July 30, 2025. It captures high-resolution images in all weather, day and night, supporting disaster management, climate monitoring and more.

Skyroot's Vikram-1 launch

Skyroot Aerospace Pvt became the first private-sector company from India to launch a rocket to Earth's lower orbit, a major step in the country’s ambition to become a space power.

“I am privileged to formally announce that the first-ever Indian private sector launch has been successfully completed,” said Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe — a government body that promotes private sector participation in space.

"The successful maiden launch of Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 rocket firmly established that Indian private companies are now capable of undertaking complex orbital launches," Lt General AK Bhat (Retd), Director General of the Indian Space Association (ISpA), said in an exclusive interview with ANI.

The success of Vikram-1 will likely spur India’s space ambitions by bolstering its satellite launch capacity, a critical requirement if billionaire Mukesh Ambani pursues his ambition to build a satellite constellation to rival Starlink in India, according to Bloomberg.

India's future space missions

The Centre has outlined India’s Space Vision 2047, the major milestones of which are: Launch of 1st module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS, Indian space station) by 2028, Establishment of full BAS by 2035 and Indian Moon landing by 2040.

It also includes the launch of Chandrayaan-4 to bring back lunar samples, Chandrayaan-5 “targeting the in-situ study of lunar polar volatiles," and the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) to study the Venusian atmosphere, ionosphere, surface, subsurface, and its interaction with the Sun.

India is currently working on its Gaganyaan mission — the country's first mission to send Indian astronauts into space. It aims to send a three-person crew to a 400-km low Earth orbit for up to seven days and bring them back safely.

The Bharatiya Antariksh Station is also planned as a five-module space station, with its first module targeted for launch by 2028. India aims to send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040, the government has said.

Besides, PM Modi has also called on scientists to work on missions to Venus and Mars. India's upcoming Venus mission, officially named the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) and popularly known as Shukrayaan, is planned for launch in March 2028.

“Gaganyaan follow-on missions and establishment of BAS 1st module by 2028, Development of Next Generation Satellite Launch Vehicle (NGLV) by 2032, Chandrayaan-4 by 2027, to develop and demonstrate the technologies to come back to Earth after successfully landing on the Moon and also collect moon samples; Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) by 2028, to study the Venusian surface and subsurface, atmospheric processes and influence of Sun on Venusian Atmosphere and establishment of Third Launch Pad (TLP) at Spaceport of India, Sriharikota," ISRO says.