New Delhi, June 27: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has finalized the plan for building its own space station, Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS), and will soon submit it to the government for approval, Isro chairman S. Somanath said at a press briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday.

According to the Indian Media, The final plans for Chandrayaan-4, India’s next lunar mission, which includes a crucial space docking station, and the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), is also awaiting approval. The NGLV will replace the current heavy space launcher, Launch Vehicle Mark III (LVM3).

“We’ve completed defining the nature of India’s space station, and the way our NGLV will look. We have worked out the configuration of Chandrayaan-4, on how to bring samples back from the moon to earth. We will test this with multiple launches, because our current rocket is not enough to go and bring back the samples," he said on the sidelines of Indian Space Congress 2024.

“For that, we need docking capability both in Earth orbit and lunar orbit. We’re now developing capability for that—for which our mission, Spadex (space docking experiment), will do a first trial launch this year. It will be implemented in Chandrayaan-4. A project report for it, including full details, study and internal review, with cost has been worked out. This will go for government approval soon.”

A detailed report on the NGLV launch vehicle, including “its full design, configuration, architecture, production plan, realisation plan and cost” is ready for government scrutiny and approval, Somanath added.

On August 24, Isro, under the leadership of S Somanath, successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 in the lunar south pole region. This achievement made India the fourth nation, after the US, the Soviet Union, and China, to land on the lunar surface, and the first to land on the Moon's dark side.