India eyes record year for space with 10 planned launches

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HELSINKI — India’s space agency is planning 10 orbital launches in 2025 along with a debut commercial launch, potentially taking the country’s launch activity to double figures for the first time.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S. Somanath told Indian media that 10 orbital launches are planned across the year, including four Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) launches, an LVM-3 and a human-rated LVM-3 launch for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program, as well as three Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) missions and a launch of the SSLV solid rocket.

Among the highlights are the G1 mission for the Gaganyaan program, which is expected to launch no earlier than March. ISRO plans two further test missions, G2 and G3, before a first crewed flight, H1, no earlier than 2026. 

India is aiming to become only the fourth country to develop independent human spaceflight capabilities. Beyond this, the country aims to construct the Bharatiya Antariksha Station (Indian Space Station) by 2035, and conduct a crewed moon landing by 2040. Notably, however, the G2 and G3 flights do not appear scheduled for this year. Meanwhile, the LVM-3 flight will carry BlueBird 6 for AST SpaceMobile.

A joint Earth science mission between NASA and ISRO, named NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), is expected to launch around March on a GSLV rocket. The mission, which will map land and ice globally with L- and S-band radars, is delayed from 2024 due to a radar antenna issue. 

The three other planned launches of the GSLV will respectively carry the NVS-02 navigation satellite, GISAT-02 remote sensing satellite and the IDRSS-01 communications satellite. The NVS-02 mission will be India’s first launch of the year, expected from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre around mid-January.

The activity represents an uptick in launch rate for the GSLV which will put a strain on capabilities. “Our ability to build a GSLV and launch is going to be challenging,” S. Somanath told WION news Jan. 1.

A pair of PSLV launches will send the Anvesha satellite for the defense sector and ISRO’s OceanSat-3 remote sensing satellite.

In addition, NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, will for the first time conduct its first PSLV launch. That mission is expected to carry the TDS-01 technology demonstration satellite.

Somanath noted that the targets require improvements in India. “As far as I am concerned, we need to ramp up further, primarily because of the industrial capability in India,” S. Somanath said, adding that there are limitations in terms of manufacturing, testing of engines and making these in numbers.

 “So we are looking at how we can ramp up by a little more investment, and also look at how the commercial models can be generated,” S. Somanath said, including public-private partnerships.

In addition to ambitious government missions, the private sector is also stepping up, with Skyroot Aerospace planning its first Vikram-1 rocket launch. The rocket is a three-stage, solid-fueled rocket designed to lift 290 kg to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit. India launched five times in 2024.

The most recent, Dec. 30, sent the SpaDeX docking demonstration spacecraft into orbit as part of its lunar sampling, space station and human spaceflight efforts. The pair are planned to execute docking early next week.

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