Bengaluru, Jan 9 (UNI) Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, and MoS in the Department of Space Dr Jitendra Singh, chaired a high-level review meeting here on Thursday focusing on ISRO's ambitious plans for 2025.
The meeting witnessed participation of outgoing ISRO Chairman Dr S Somnath, incoming Chairman Dr V Narayanan, and senior officials, including Mission Directors.
Highlighting ISRO's roadmap, Dr Singh reviewed key space missions scheduled for the first half of 2025, which include two GSLV missions, a commercial mission of LVM3 for an international customer and the maiden uncrewed orbital mission under the Gaganyaan programme.
The GSLV-F15 mission, scheduled for the last week of January 2025, aims to launch the second navigation satellite, NVS-02. Key features of this satellite include an indigenously developed atomic clock and signals in the L1 band.
Integration work for the launch vehicle is progressing at Sriharikota.
Dr Singh discussed the GSLV-F16 mission, set to launch NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), an advanced Earth observation satellite. Designed for global mapping every 12 days, NISAR will provide crucial data for agriculture, earthquake, and landslide monitoring. Final integration of GSLV systems and satellite testing are currently underway.
ISRO's commercial arm, NSIL, in partnership with AST SpaceMobile Inc., USA, will launch BlueBird Block-2 satellites via the LVM3-M5 mission in March 2025. Vehicle integration for this dedicated commercial mission has already commenced.
The first uncrewed orbital mission under Gaganyaan is a pivotal step in India's human spaceflight programme. Using the human-rated LVM3, the mission will test end-to-end systems, including re-entry and recovery of the Crew Module. Preparations for vehicle integration and the Orbital Module are progressing at Sriharikota.
The review underscored ISRO's readiness to advance its scientific and commercial space agenda. Dr Singh lauded ISRO’s commitment to pushing boundaries, ensuring that India's space missions continue to inspire and impact global scientific progress.
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