India Strengthens National Space Infrastructure In 2025

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) reported key advances in national launch and space infrastructure in 2025. The SPADEX mission demonstrated autonomous docking and undocking with power transfer and completed circumnavigation, making India the fourth nation to demonstrate docking in space. The PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM-04) carried multiple payloads from ISRO, startups and academia, completed over 1,000 orbits and demonstrated a robotic arm and seed germination.

GSLV-F15/NVS-02 was the 100th mission to lift off from Sriharikota and injected its satellite precisely to the intended orbit. GSLV-F16 carried NISAR, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite with a twelve metre unfurlable antenna, marking the first joint ISRO-NASA mission; NISAR, the first dual frequency SAR satellite, is now fully operational. LVM3 missions achieved heaviest payload milestones and validated S200 actuation improvements.

The Department of Space obtained financial approval for a third launch pad at Sriharikota and is establishing a dedicated launch site for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) at Kulasekarapattinam, Tamil Nadu, with construction under way. A 10 tonne (t) vertical mixer and an additional process line at the Ammonium Perchlorate Plant were commissioned, while cryogenic turbopump testing and an integrated titanium alloy tank production facility were brought into operation.

ISRO completed and qualified a high thrust electric propulsion system rated at 300 mN and demonstrated re-ignition of a cryogenic thrust chamber in flight and bootstrap starting of a gas-generator cycle cryogenic engine during ground tests, advancing reusable transportation efforts. Indigenous processor development advanced with the VIKRAM3201 32-bit processor and the KALPANA32 SPARC-based processor realised jointly with Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL).

Industry received SSLV technology and transfers of batteries, integrated modular avionics and sensors, while firms and start-ups realised micro earth observation satellites. Three industries will produce about 0.1 million (mn) two way mobile satellite service (MSS) terminals and NewSpace India Limited signed 100 technology transfer agreements. ISRO noted ten cooperative international documents in 2025 and reported more than 2,260 disaster management datasets; the minister provided the information in a written reply.

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