The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the building of first unit of the Bharatiya Anatriksh Station by extending the scope of Gaganyaan program. The cabinet approval is given for the development of the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1) and undertaking missions to demonstrate and validate various technologies for building and operating BAS.
In a series of tweets, PM Modi said India will have its own space station named 'Bharatiya Anthariksh Station' (BAS) and its first module will be established in 2028. Taking to X, PM Modi termed the development 'great news' for the space sector and said, "Great news for the space sector! The Union Cabinet has approved the first step towards the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), expanding the Gaganyaan programme! This landmark decision brings us closer to a self-sustained space station by 2035 and a crewed lunar mission by 2040."
It should be noted that the Gaganyaan Programme has been revised to include the development of precursor missions for the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) and accommodate one additional uncrewed mission, along with extra hardware requirements.
What is space station?
A space station in general is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time. It is an artificial satellite featuring habitation facilities and the whole purpose of maintaining a space station varies depending on the program.
List of active space stations
Right now, there are only two fully operational space stations – one is International Space Station (ISS) and China's Tiangong Space Station (TSS), which have been occupied since October 2000 with Expedition 1 and since June 2022 with Shenzhou 14.
List of future space stations
Orbital Reef Space Station
Orbital Reef Space Station is a private space station built for commerce, research, and tourism and is expected to be operational in the second half of the 2020s. This space station will be able to support a crew of 10 people.
Lunar Gateway
The Lunar Gateway is the new Scientific Space Station and is part of the Artemis mission that aims to bring back humans to the moon to have an active presence on the surface. Artemis is being run by NASA in the majority but several other space agencies will work on it, like the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Lunar Gateway is planned to be launched in November 2024 and will be able to support a crew of 4 astronauts.
Starlab Space Station
The Starlab Space Station will be a future space station which will be run fully by private companies. Starlab will be operated by Nanoracks, Voyager Space, and Lockheed Martin. reports suggest that Starlab will deploy from one single launch in 2027 and be able to host a crew of 4 people at the same time.
