Indian astronauts going to the Int'l Space Station in 2024? Here are the possibilities

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden state visit to the USA is underway in full swing, there are multiple reports about India and the US furthering cooperation in the space domain. Reports quoting White House sources claimed that Indian Space Agency ISRO and American Space Agency NASA have agreed to a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024. However, there is no official word on such agreements.

So far, it is only that India and the US will be launching a jointly-built sophisticated earth-imaging satellite known as 'NISAR' NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar.

Speaking to WION, NISAR Project Scientist Dr. Paul Rosen from NASA-JPL had said that the launch is likely to take place in early-2024.

Watch:ISRO to launch joint Indo-US space mission in early 2024

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For more than 10 years, scientists from both nations have been working on the NISAR project and the satellite has even arrived in India's UR Rao Satellite Centre, in preparation for an early-2024 launch. However, the reports on the NASA-ISRO joint mission to the Space station, if true, open up interesting possibilities and bring to the fore a lot of questions.

At the time of writing this report, neither the Indian government nor the American government has issued official statements regarding the NASA-ISRO mission to the Space station or India's signing of the Artemis Accords(a set of guidelines for space sustainable, safe space exploration in the 21st century). ISRO and NASA have also not issued any statements regarding the same.

Notably, even the ISRO Chief Dr. S. Somanath and the Minister of State in India's Department of Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh are not part of the delegation that has accompanied PM Modi. However, it must be kept in mind that the Prime Minister is also in-charge of the Department of Space, thereby making him the seniormost decision-making authority in the space domain.

Questions,possibilities that arise

India's space agency ISRO has been working on the country's ambitious indigenous Human Spaceflight programme known as Gaganyaan. ISRO Chairman, Dr. S. Somanath recently told WION that the Indian Astronaut candidates (crew of Indian Air Force Pilots) have completed the first round of training abroad, completed simulator training in India and are now undergoing theoretical training. He added that the maiden unmanned mission of Gaganyaan would be carried out in early-2024 and the astronaut mission would be attempted in late-2024 or early-2025. India's efforts towards Gaganyaan are being supported by Russia, US, Japan, France, European Union etc.

Watch:ISRO Chief speaks to WION on Astronaut Mission

Gaganyaan is expected to be a three-day mission where a crew of Indian astronauts housed within a capsule (crew module) will be carried to space on an Indian rocket and brought back to earth. Once in earth orbit, the crew are expected to perform in-orbit experiments during their stay in space and then the crew module would de-orbit and splash down, off the Indian coast.

As India's astronauts gear up for the indigenous Gaganyaan mission, could the ISRO-NASA joint mission to the International Space Station(ISS) in 2024 be a precursor? One such mission to space can help in preparing the Indian crew for their own national mission and give them a feel of travelling to space, living in Low Earth orbit and working there.

While the ISS is originally a co-operative programme between US, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, astronauts from Israel, Saudi Arabia and UAE have flown to the ISS and worked there, as part of private missions. Such a possibility exists for Indian astronauts as well and they could join astronauts from other nations on the ride to the ISS, nestled within the Crew Dragon Capsule that sits atop a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket.

However, a $55 million or Rs.440 crore price tag awaits each passenger who wishes to travel to space on a private mission like the Saudi Astronauts did. This $55mn cost is said to cover the two-way transportation, 10-day orbital stay and a 15-week astronaut training programme.

ISRO officials have said on various occasions that India's Gaganyaan is not a one-off mission and will have several follow-on missions. As a nation with end-to-end space capability (ability to design, develop, build and launch rockets and satellites indigenously), India aspires to have a sustained human presence in space, possibly an Indian Space Station. Till the time that plan becomes a reality, ISRO-NASA missions to the ISS and similar efforts could provide a great wealth of learnings and experience for India's space science community and aid in developing India's own plans and resources towards sustained human presence in Low Earth Orbit.

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