ISRO sets sights beyond 'Earth system' after Chandrayaan-3 success, aims exploration of planetary systems

Indian Space Research Organisation chairman S Somanath virtually addressing the Indian Space Conclave in New Delhi on October 9

Riding on the success of Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking to expand India's space activities to other planetary systems, even beyond the "Earth system", the space agency's Chairman S Somanath said on October 9.

"At the Department of Space and ISRO, we are looking at space activities that can expand the domains of exploration with the advent of the successful mission of Chandrayaan-3," Somanath said while addressing virtually the audience on the first day of the Indian Space Conclave in New Delhi.

"We are looking at missions to understand the universe; to go and capture other planetary systems for our Indian space activities, to expand beyond the Earth system, is something that we need to consider very seriously," he said.

This comes at a time when Indian Space Policy laid down a shift in ISRO's primary focus from manufacturing operational space systems to research and development of new space technologies and applications.

The policy says that ISRO has to “undertake studies and missions on in-situ (in the original place) resource utilisation, celestial prospecting and other aspects of extra-terrestrial habitability”.

However, before ISRO ventures out for other planetary systems, it has many more targets that it aims to achieve in the next couple of years. One among them is the Gaganyaan mission, which would be India's first manned space mission.

In context to that, Somanath said, "We also have programs for human spaceflight, which in the next few years will really become a mature one. And we look at how, together with this human spaceflight, a longer vision of space activity in exploration, science, understanding the universe, creating business, even though such activities can also be looked at over a long periods of time."

Apart from that, the ISRO chairman also called for more private participation in the space sector, and in that context he reiterated that foreign direct investment norms in space sector will be released soon.

"We also are interested in bringing in more foreign investment in space. And for that the FDI governing rules we will soon be released," Somanath said.

Earlier, space regulator Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation (IN-SPACe) chairperson Pawan Kumar Goenka, while speaking to Moneycontrol had said that the policy was undergoing the "last leg of processes".