5 ISRO space missions by 2025! Know launch timelines and how much they cost

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had to halt its space missions in the past two years due to the pandemic. But now, it is gearing up to explore space and learn more about celestial bodies and space phenomenons. After gaining recognition from the global astronomical communities with its Chandrayaan and Mars missions, now ISRO will be launching five space missions by the year 2025. The next three years are set to be exciting for Indian astronomy enthusiasts as ISRO creates new milestones in the space frontier. Read on to know the details of these missions, launch timelines and the cost it will take to build each project.

According to a report by WION, minister Dr. Jitendra Singh revealed in the lower house of the Parliament that India will be performing five separate space missions, all of which would have been launched by 2025. It should be noted that ISRO missions are categorized in three categories: Indian strategic missions where the space agency helps the nation build communication, radar and defense infrastructure, commercial missions where it lets private players and other countries use its launch vehicles to deploy satellites and scientific research missions where ISRO aims to gain more knowledge of space and the universe around us. The five proposed missions are all part of the third category.

ISRO plans five space missions by 2025

Aditya-L1 will be an Indian satellite mission that will study the Corona (the outer layers) of the Sun and the various phenomena surrounding it. It will take around Rs. 378.53 crores to build the project and is expected to take off during the first quarter of 2023. Chandrayaan-3 will be ISRO’s third lunar mission and it will be aiming to make the second landing on the Moon. The project is expected to cost Rs. 250 crores and is expected to launch in the same quarter as Aditya-L1.

XPoSAT will be studying X-ray polarization in space and how it affects the upper atmosphere and satellites. The project will take off in the second quarter of 2023 and is expected to cost ISRO Rs. 60 crores. The Space Docking experiment is an interesting project where ISRO will attempt to launch two different satellites and try to dock them together while in space and make them function as a single unit. The project will reportedly cost ISRO Rs. 124.47 crores and it will be launched in the third quarter of 2024.

Gaganyaan will be the most ambitious project of ISRO which is expected to launch by the end of 2022. The mission is aimed at sending Indian astronauts to space from an Indian spaceport and on an Indian rocket. This will test the capabilities of ISRO in becoming self-sufficient. According to ISRO, the Crew Escape system tests will take place in 2022 followed by an unmanned mission in 2023. They would be followed up by two more escape system tests and one more unmanned mission before finally launching the manned mission in 2024.