Unveils space roadmap, invites global partners
New Delhi, Sept 10: India plans to establish an indigenous space station by 2035 and send an Indian astronaut to the Moon by 2040, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while outlining the country’s long-term space roadmap at the International Space Summit in Paris.
Addressing the summit via video conference, Modi said India’s space programme was guided by the principle that the benefits of its advances should reach all humanity. He invited France and other countries to partner India in its upcoming space exploration missions.
“In all these efforts, our guiding principle has been clear: their benefits must reach all humanity,” Modi said.
Modi said India supported a safe, secure, peaceful and sustainable space domain, anchored in international law, dialogue and multilateral cooperation. With orbits becoming more crowded, technologies more powerful and the number of space actors increasing, he called for global cooperation focused on long-term sustainability.
“Our choices must be clear: cooperation over confrontation, sustainability over short-term gain, and inclusion over exclusion,” he said.
Highlighting India’s progress in space, Modi said satellite technology was already delivering practical benefits in areas including weather forecasting, disaster management and navigation, directly serving communities such as farmers and fishermen.
He credited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and generations of scientists, engineers and technicians for building the country’s capabilities and earning global recognition for the agency’s excellence and cost-effective missions.
India has also expanded its international launch-services footprint, with more than 430 payloads from 34 countries successfully deployed aboard Indian rockets, he said.
Recalling recent milestones, Modi said Aditya-L1 was studying the Sun and noted that an Indian astronaut had visited the International Space Station last year. He also highlighted the success of Chandrayaan-3, which made India the first country to land near the lunar south pole.
Modi said India’s private space sector was growing rapidly alongside established institutions, with startups adding entrepreneurial energy to the country’s space capabilities.
“The energy of enterprise is joining the excellence of ISRO,” he said.
The Prime Minister also highlighted India’s longstanding space partnership with France, recalling that cooperation dated back to the early years of India’s space programme at Thumba in the 1960s.
He said current cooperation covered areas including Earth observation and advanced technologies, combining scientific research with societal applications.
Inviting international stakeholders to participate in India’s future missions, Modi said, “We invite France and the world to be co-travellers in India’s next space frontier.”
Reflecting on humanity’s longstanding fascination with space, Modi said the sector was increasingly shaping life on Earth, from climate and agriculture to oceans and communities.
He stressed that scientific information should be shared responsibly and openly for the common good, saying India’s space journey reflected its philosophy of universal welfare.
“Scientific data must serve the common good, with openness and integrity,” he said.
Modi thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for initiating the summit and inviting him to participate in what he described as the first International Space Summit.
Concluding his address, he called for collective efforts to explore, innovate and protect the space environment for present and future generations.
