News Brief
India Working On Launch And Orbital Systems For 2040 Astronaut Moon Landing
When astronauts go to the Moon in the future, they will eventually live and work there longer (representative image) (Credits: NASA)
India aims to land an astronaut on the Moon by 2040, with work already underway on the mission’s launch vehicle configuration and orbital module systems.
The information was provided by the government in the Lok Sabha in response to a question on the status of the Gaganyaan programme and long-term human spaceflight goals.
"As per the vision envisaged by Government of India to land an Indian on moon by 2040, the mission aspects, configuration of launch vehicle and orbital module systems have been taken up," Union Minister of State for Space Jitendra Singh said.
Current Gaganyaan developments — including the human-rated HLVM3 rocket, crew module and service module propulsion systems, and crew escape system — are expected to serve as the technological base for the lunar mission.
The long-term vision also includes establishing the Bharatiya Antariksha Station in low-Earth orbit by 2035, with the first module already approved for development.
Experience from Gaganyaan and the space station is expected to contribute to readiness for the 2040 lunar landing.
According to the statement, the key milestones achieved in the Gaganyaan programme include:
Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3) — development and ground testing completed.
Crew Escape System (CES) — five types of motors developed and static tested.
Infrastructure — facilities established for orbital module preparation, mission control, crew training, and modifications to the second launch pad.
Precursor Missions — a test vehicle for validating the CES has flown in the TV-D1 mission, with work ongoing on TV-D2 and IADT-01.
Flight Operations & Communication — ground network configuration finalised; IDRSS-1 feeder stations and terrestrial links established.
Crew Recovery — assets finalised and recovery plans prepared.
For the first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission (G1), key hardware such as the C32-G stage, CES motors, HS200 motors, and structures for the crew and service modules have been realised, with phase-1 checks on the crew module completed.
