India Can Travel To Moon, Mars & Venus But We Need More Investment: ISRO Chief

After Chandrayaan-3's lander successfully accomplished a soft landing near the lunar south pole on August 23, S Somanath, the chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation, stated on Sunday that India has the capability to travel to the Moon, Mars, and Venus but that the sector needs more investment.

"India has the capability to travel to the Moon, Mars and Venus but we need to increase our confidence. We need more investment and the space sector must develop and by this, the whole nation should develop, that is our mission. We're ready to fulfill the vision that was given to us by PM Modi," ISRO Chief S Somanath told ANI.

After Chandrayaan-3's achievement, Somanath said that ISRO will launch the satellite Aditya-1 for research on the sun in the first week of September.

"After the launch, it will take 125 days from the earth to reach Lagrange point 1 (L1). We have to wait till then," Somnath said.

The PM spoke with scientists on Saturday at the Isro command headquarters in Bengaluru to convey his sincere congratulations on the accomplishment of the Chandrayaan mission. The PM also designated the landing site of the Vikram module as Shiv Shakti during his speech, while Chandrayaan-2's 2019 crash landing site would be identified as Tiranga Point. In addition, PM Modi declared August 23 to be National Space Day to commemorate Chandrayaan-3's Moon landing.

Development on Isro's missions to Mars and Venus has already begun. Its Venus mission, Shukrayaan-1, is anticipated to take off sometime around 2025. Meanwhile, Isro officials predicted that the Mars Orbiter Mission-2, India's second Mars mission, will launch in 2024 or 2025.