Cabinet approves funds for four major space missions; Details inside

In a bid to give a major boost to private participation in India’s ambitious space missions, the Union Cabinet has approved funding of ₹22,750 crore ($2.7 billion) for missions by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The first of such missions is Chandrayaan-4, next in the series after Chandrayaan-3, which successfully landed on the lunar surface. The press release read, “The Government of India has outlined an expanded vision for the Indian space programme during the Amrit Kaal that envisages an Indian Space Station (Bharatiya Antariksh Station) by 2035 and an Indian landing on the Moon by 2040."
The Centre has allotted ₹2,104 crore ($251 million) to the Chandrayaan-4 mission, which is scheduled to become operational within 36 months.It hopes to bring back rock and soil samples from the lunar surface to Earth. This budget is significantly greater than the previous Chandrayaan missions. Chandrayaan-1 had a budget of ₹386 crore, while the subsequent missions were allocated ₹978 crore and ₹613 crore, respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his enthusiasm through a post on the social media platform X, where he wrote, “It would make everyone proud that Chandrayaan-4 has been cleared by the Cabinet! This would have multiple benefits, including making India even more self-reliant in space technologies, boosting innovation, and supporting academia.”
ISRO’s Gaganyaan aims to launch humans for a 3-day mission into an orbit of 400 km and bring them back safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters. The Cabinet has given ₹11,170 crore ($1.3 billion) for this mission. The revised programme schedules eight missions to be completed by December 2028. These eight missions include the launch of the BAS-1 unit (Bhartiya Antariksh Station). The total fund for the mission is ₹20,193 crore.
The second-highest fund—₹8,240 crore ($985 million)—has been awarded to the Next-Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV). This advanced rocket system aligns with the Government's vision of establishing the Bhartiya Antariksh Station and achieving a crewed lunar landing by 2040.
Further, ₹1,236 crore ($150 million) has been approved for the Venus Orbiter Mission, which is approximately $149 million. The mission’s aim is to study the surface of Venus, the planet closest to Earth.
The press release also said, “All the critical technologies are envisaged to be indigenously developed. The realization of the mission is through various industries, and it is envisaged that there would be high employment potential and technology spin-off to other sectors of the economy.”