New Delhi:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated nearly Rs 12,544 crore to the Department of Space on Wednesday as India plans a manned spaceflight – Gaganyaan – next year and sets out to explore the moon and neighboring planets.
The allocation is about 8 percent lower than the budget estimate of Rs 13,700 crore for 2022-23, which was reduced to Rs 10,530.04 crore in the revised estimate.
Most of the allocation – amounting to Rs 11,669.41 crore – has gone to central sector schemes or projects such as Manned Spaceflight Center and various institutions of the department dealing with launch vehicle and satellite projects, including developmental and operational projects. initiatives.
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-Space), the government’s single window to deal with the private sector, received Rs 95 crore allocation against Rs 21 crore in the revised estimate.
A large part of the allocation, Rs 53 crore, has been earmarked for capital expenditure for INSPACe.
The Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory, which conducts basic research in various fields of experimental and theoretical physics and also builds instruments for scientific missions, has received an allocation of Rs 408.69 crore in the latest financial year against the revised estimate of Rs 411 .11 crore.
ISRO plans to launch Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, in July using the Launch Vehicle Mark-3.
Originally scheduled to launch in December 2021, India’s first crewed spaceflight – Gaganyaan – has now been delayed to Q4 2024. However, ISRO plans to conduct uncrewed flights for the project this year.
ISRO has also lined up science missions to the Sun, Venus and Mars.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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