India to Set Up its Own Space Station

India is planning to launch its own space station by 2030, joining the league of US, Russia, and China to an elite space club.

  • A space station is a habitable spacecraft capable of supporting human crewmembers and designed to remain in space.
  • As of now, the International Space Station (ISS) is the only fully functioning space station and largest human-made body in low Earth orbit.

Indian Space Station

  • The Indian space station will be much smaller (mass of 20 tonnes) than the International Space Station and will be used for carrying out microgravity experiments (not for space tourism).
  • Preliminary plan for the space station is to accommodate astronauts for up to 20 days in space, and the project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission.
  • It will orbit Earth at an altitude of around 400km.
  • ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is working on space docking experiment (Spadex), a technology that is crucial for making the space station functional.
    • space docking is a technology that allows transferring humans from one spacecraft to another.

Significance

  • Space station is essential for collecting meaningful scientific data, especially for biological experiments.
  • Provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles. ( as Gaganyaan will take humans and experiments in microgravity for few days only).
  • Each crew member stays aboard the station for weeks or months, but rarely more than a year.
  • Space stations are used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.