India planning to have own space station says, ISRO chief K Sivan

New Delhi, June 13: India is planning to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan said on Thursday.

The ambitious project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission.

"We have to sustain the Gaganyaan programme after the launch of (the) human space mission. In this context, India is planning to have its own space station," Sivan told reporters here.

While the space agency did not divulge further details on the project, Dr Sivan said it would be conceptualised over the next 5-7 years. The cost of the project has not been estimated yet.

"At present, our focus is to carry out Chandrayaan-2 in July and Gaganyaan in 2022, which will be India's first human mission to space," he said.

Details of the space station project will emerge after the maiden manned mission, Gaganyaan, is complete. The government has already cleared a budget of Rs. 10,000 crore for the Gaganyaan mission. There would be two flights from Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota without the crew before the maiden flight with crew.

Currently, ISRO's focus is on India's second mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, that will take off on July 15, and will attempt to land near the South Pole of the Moon, an uncharted territory so far. Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched about 10 years ago.