Translated material
Indian space program
India is one of the few countries that has a full-fledged space program of its own, but how far have they advanced, what is the level of technology development and what achievements do they have?
In fact, India has enough achievements in this direction.
In 1980, India launched its own satellite for the first time, from its own spaceport, on its own rocket, and has done so quite regularly since then.
At the moment, India has developed a line of launch vehicles, the most powerful of which LVM-3 is capable of launching up to 8 tons of load into low orbit (something like our Soyuz). Its own telecommunications, navigation and research satellites are regularly launched into Earth orbit. In addition, India is also engaged in the delivery of foreign satellites.
Of the most interesting, it is worth noting missions to study the solar system. In 2008, the Chandrayaan-1 satellite was launched to the Moon, which was engaged in mapping the Moon and studying its mineral composition. Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 continued to study the Moon, it was planned to land a lunar rover on the surface, but the landing was unsuccessful, nevertheless, India became the 5th power whose vehicle reached the surface of our satellite. In 2023, a 3rd mission to the Moon and a new attempt to land on the surface are planned.
In 2014, the Indian satellite Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalayaan) arrived at Mars and operated in orbit for 6 years.
A new satellite to Mars is planned to be launched in 2024.
In the near future there is also the launch of a satellite to Venus - the Shukrayaan-1 mission.
Well, the most interesting thing is that India is already one step away from launching its own manned spacecraft Gaganyaan. The future ship is already being tested, and the flight itself is tentatively planned for 2024.
It will be a three-seat craft capable of spending up to seven days in orbit. We are only talking about spacecraft launches; the construction of the station is in the distant future.
It is noteworthy that the Indian space budget, compared to other players, is very modest, but at the same time they manage to do quite interesting projects.
In just a few years, India will be able to claim 4th place in the world space ranking.