New Delhi, Sept 18:   The Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a series of ambitious space projects, including the Chandrayaan-4 mission, the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM), and the creation of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS). These projects represent major steps forward in India’s space exploration efforts.

The Chandrayaan-4 mission, with a budget of Rs. 2,104.06 crore (about $253 million), aims to advance lunar exploration by developing technologies for landing on the Moon, collecting samples, and returning them to Earth. Building on the success of Chandrayaan-3, which achieved a historic soft landing, Chandrayaan-4 will focus on critical technologies such as lunar orbit docking, safe return to Earth, and sample collection and analysis. This mission supports India’s broader goals, including establishing an Indian Space Station by 2035 and achieving a crewed lunar landing by 2040.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will oversee the development and launch of Chandrayaan-4, which is expected to be completed within 36 months. The project will engage Indian industry and academia, potentially creating job opportunities and driving technological progress. It will also set up facilities for analyzing lunar samples, contributing valuable scientific data.

The Cabinet has approved the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) with a budget of Rs. 1,236 crore (about $149 million), slated for launch in March 2028. This mission will explore Venus’s surface, subsurface, and atmospheric conditions to understand the planet’s transformation from a potentially habitable environment to its current extreme climate. The findings could provide insights into the evolutionary paths of Venus and Earth.

Additionally, the Cabinet also laid out its vision for the Indian space program, with plans for an Indian Space Station by 2035 and an Indian astronaut landing on the lunar surface by 2040. To facilitate this vision, the development of the first module of the BAS has also been approved.