India unveils ambitious space roadmap: Chandrayaan-4, Venus mission, and a homegrown space station by 2035

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a sweeping new vision for India’s space program during a visit to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru on the National Space Day.

The roadmap includes launching Chandrayaan-4 for lunar exploration, sending Indian astronauts to space in 2026, and establishing an indigenous space station named Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035.

The announcement came as part of a detailed briefing by ISRO scientists on upcoming missions and long-term goals. Modi lauded India’s achievements in space exploration, particularly the success of Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing near the Moon’s south pole in 2023, and emphasized that India must now “move from milestones to megaprojects.”

ISRO Chairperson S Somanath presented the timeline for India’s next major space ventures. Chandrayaan-4 is planned as a sample-return mission, aimed at bringing lunar soil back to Earth — a first for India.

The mission will build on the technologies developed for Chandrayaan-3 and is expected to launch in the next few years, though an exact date has not yet been announced.

The Prime Minister also confirmed that India’s first crewed space mission, Gaganyaan, is on track for 2026. Under the plan, three Indian astronauts will be sent into low Earth orbit for three days aboard an indigenous crew module and rocket system.

This will make India the fourth country in the world to independently conduct human spaceflight, after Russia, the United States and China.

A major highlight of the new roadmap is the goal to build and operate an Indian space station by 2035. The proposed station, to be called Bharatiya Antariksha Station, will serve as a long-duration research platform in low Earth orbit, allowing Indian astronauts to live and work in space for extended periods.

The station will be fully developed and launched by ISRO without foreign collaboration, though international scientific partnerships may be invited later.

Modi said the space station would mark “India’s entry into a new era of space science, space medicine, and industrial use of space.” He called upon Indian universities, startups, and private companies to participate in developing technologies needed for these goals.

The government has also cleared the next phase of India’s human spaceflight program, including development of a next-generation launch vehicle, advanced docking systems, and space-suit technologies. ISRO will conduct a series of test flights and abort missions over the next two years before the final Gaganyaan crewed launch.