India has set long-term goals for itself, under which the country can establish its own base on the moon by 2050. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief S. Somanath, in his speech at a symposium organized by the Indian Geomatics Society and the Indian Remote Sensing Society on November 28, laid out the preliminary integrated roadmap for lunar exploration. This plan will be based on India’s achievements in the last month and progress on its human spaceflight goals.

India became the fifth country to successfully land a robot on the moon this year with the help of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Following this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in October that India should pursue “new and ambitious targets”, including sending astronauts to the moon by 2040.

S. Somanath’s roadmap builds on this new goal and charts the next phase of technology development, focusing on the Gaganyaan human spaceflight plan, the development of new launch vehicles, and increasing robotic landing capabilities.

The mentioned missions include the joint India-Japan LUPEX rover and the Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return attempt. Such work envisions crews docking at the NASA-led Gateway Space Station in lunar orbit, landing on the Moon, and eventually a lunar base and a sustainable lunar economy based on minerals and tourism. The Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) will be developed to facilitate some of these missions. This new rocket will be partially reusable.

The plans are preliminary but reveal ISRO’s thinking and indicate its long-term goals. More specifically, the agency is currently preparing test missions on the Gaganyaan spacecraft as a step towards a manned orbital mission.