India is preparing for an important space mission as ISRO gets ready to launch the CMS 03 satellite for the Indian Navy on November 2. The 2650 kg satellite, funded by the Ministry of Defence, will be launched on the LVM3 heavy lift vehicle and placed in geostationary orbit. With a mission life of seven years, CMS 03 will strengthen secure maritime communication and support the Navy’s network centric operations. The satellite is also known as GSAT 7R.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan shared the update while addressing a press conference ahead of the Emerging Science Technology and Innovation Conclave 2025. He said “By the beginning of next month, we are going to have the LVM3 M5 lift off to place the CMS 03 satellite.” ISRO has scheduled two LVM3 launches before the end of the year, one for CMS 03 and one for BlueBird 6, a heavy commercial communications satellite from the United States. BlueBird 6 arrived in India on October 19.
Narayanan also provided a detailed progress report on the Gaganyaan mission. He said that nearly 90 percent of the work is complete. The mission aims to send three Indian astronauts to low earth orbit for three days in 2027. He said “In another three to four years timeframe, the number of satellites is going to be increased to something around three times and by 2027, we are going to accomplish the Gaganyaan programme.”
Giving updates on other projects, he confirmed that the NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite launched on July 30 is currently in the calibration stage and is expected to become fully operational within 10 to 15 days. He also said that Chandrayaan 4 is in the design phase. The mission will focus on a soft landing, collecting lunar samples, docking in lunar orbit and bringing samples back to Earth.
Discussing NavIC, India’s indigenous navigation system, Narayanan said that four satellites are currently operational and three more are under development. He stated that the full constellation will be completed within 18 months.
He also reaffirmed India’s long term space vision, noting that the country currently has 56 satellites in orbit. ISRO is working on its own space station called the Bharatiya Antariksh Station. The first module has received approval and is expected to be placed in orbit by 2028, with the full station targeted for completion by 2035.
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