After an eventful year in space odyssey in 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will be working on more than 25 missions in 2020, with the ambitious Gaganyan mission being the most prominent among them.
The New Year also heralds a new chapter for India's Moon mission as Isro is all set to start working on mission Chandrayaan-3, and with it, it will once again attempt to achieve soft landing on the lunar surface.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru to showcase the range of missions that Isro will be working on in the 2020 and beyond, Isro Chairperson K Sivan said all missions are going on smoothly.
What's in store for Isro in 2020:
Mission Chandrayaan 3 begins
On Wednesday, Isro officially announced that the launch of India's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3 may happen next year. Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Isro Chairman K Sivan said work related to Chandrayaan 3 is going on smoothly.
Chandrayaan 3 will have a lander, rover and a propulsion module like its predecessor, K Sivan said. He also said the launch of Chandrayaan 3 may shift to next year i.e. 2021.
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The announcement comes a day after Union Minister Jitendra Singh said India will launch Chandrayaan-3 in 2020.
Gagaganyan: Sending Indians into space
The year 2020 will be of immense importance for Isro with the launch of Gaganyaan-India's first manned space mission.
On Wednesday, Isro said four Indian Air Force pilots have already been selected for the ambitious Gaganyaan programme and their astronaut training would commence soon in Russia.
K Sivan said the work on Chandrayaan 3 and Gaganyaan is going on simultaneously.
"We had good progress in 2019 as regards Gaganyaan. And many of the designs were completed and astronauts' selection process is over. Now, four astronauts identified for training purpose.. that process is also completed," Sivan said.
Isro's new launch pad in Tamil Nadu
To expand Isro's infrastructure further, a new launch pad is set to come up soon in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking about it, K Sivan said, "Apart from the space port at Sathish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the land acquisition for a second one has been initiated in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu."
As regards the choice of location, he said, "It was mainly to get advantages of southward launch especially for SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle)."
Observing that the pad, once set up would be used for launching SSLVs initially, he said it may be expanded for big ones in future.
25 missions planned for 2020
The Isro chief said the space organisation has planned 25 missions for this year.
"The missions that were planned in 2019 and could not be completed would be finished by March this year," Sivan said.
The space agency has sought an allocation of Rs 14,000 crore from the Centre in the budget for 2020-21.
(With inputs from PTI)