ISRO Plans Independent Space Station by 2035, Aiming to Be Second After China

The Indian Space Research Organisation plans to build its own independent orbital outpost, called the Bharatiya Antariksha Station, or BAS, with a target of full operation by 2035. If it succeeds, India would become only the second country, after China, to operate an independent national space station.

China's Tiangong is currently the only fully independent national space station in orbit. Neither the United States nor Russia currently operates one on its own; both instead rely on interdependent segments aboard the International Space Station, which is due for a joint deorbit around 2030. Historically, only the Soviet Union or Russia, the United States, and China have independently launched and operated a national space station.

The first core module of India's station has already received official clearance, with initial testing and module deployment under way as ISRO works toward full operation by 2035. The BAS is planned for low Earth orbit at roughly 400 kilometers altitude, with a weight of about 52 tonnes, and is designed to host astronauts for stays of three to six months. Its research will focus on microgravity science, space biology and biotechnology.

The plan reflects the operational maturity of ISRO, which is 57 years old and has launched 570 satellites into Earth orbit so far, including roughly 135 Indian spacecraft missions and more than 434 international customer satellites from 34 countries.

ISRO is also preparing to return to the launch pad for the first time since the failure of its PSLV-C62 mission, having received government approval to launch two satellites, GISAT-1A and NVS-03, which have been ready at the Sriharikota spaceport for several weeks.