In yesterday 2021-22 Budget meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman touched on various topics from agriculture, defence, economics, infrastructure, healthcare, science and even space during her speech. COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the timelines set out for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and several missions were postponed. Some of Sitharaman's announcements left the science community hoping for progress in some of India's ambitious space missions, like Chandrayaan 3 and India's first human space flight mission Gaganyaan.

The Department of Space (DoS) has been allocated Rs 13,949 crores in the annual budget, Rs 8,228 crores of which is earmarked for capital expenditure. This is almost Rs 900 crores more than what was allocated in 2019-20 (Rs 13,017.61 crores) and Rs 4,449 crores more than what was allotted in fiscal 2020-21 (Rs 9,500 crores), PTI reported.

ISRO comes under the DoS and has outlined its plan for the next decade where it plans to work on developing a heavy-lift launch vehicle, semi-cryogenic stage, reusable launch vehicle, advance propulsion, next-generation avionics, advance materials, dynamic space applications and efficient integration of space-based services as well as advanced space science missions. It will also be focusing on three main missions - Gaganyaan, Mangalyaan-2, and Shukrayaan.

PSLV-CS51

The New Space India Limited (NSIL), a newly-formed public sector undertaking under DoS, is being given a budget of Rs 700 crore. It will execute the upcoming 53rd mission of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV-CS51) launch. The mission will carry Brazil's primary payload Amazônia-1 and the secondary payloads will be Indian satellites including Anand, SatishSat and UnitySat.

"The New Space India Limited, a PSU under the Department of Space, will execute the PSLV-CS51, carrying the Amazonia Satellite from Brazil, along with a few smaller Indian satellites," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech.

Also read: Budget 2021 highlights for healthcare sector: Funds for COVID-19 vaccines, new health initiatives

Gaganyaan mission

At the Budget meeting, Sitharaman gave an update about the Gaganyaan mission, saying four Indian astronauts have been sent to Russia to train as part of the joint partnership between ISRO and the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The candidate astronauts began training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) from February last year. She said that the first uncrewed mission will take place in December 2021.