The head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, said that India is exploring the possibility of constructing a space station in addition to its other plans.
"We are looking at all the possibilities after the success of the Moon mission… We are looking at how the space station can become beneficial for the Indian space economy,” Somanath said while speaking with Chinese broadcaster, CGTN.
"We have a plan to begin making a Space Station soon starting with robots," Somanath revealed, adding: “We aren't yet able to put people into space, but we're working on it.
"The Gaganyaan programme is focused on making that happen, and once it does, we can think about building a Space Station in the next 20 to 25 years, step by step.”
What Is A Space Station?
A space station is a spacecraft-like artificial structure capable of accommodating humans for a long time. It is usually stationed in the Lower Earth Orbit (LEO), providing a facility so that other spacecraft are able to dock before travelling further into space.
An independent space station is also able to act as an "eye in the sky", which can monitor friends and foes 24/7.
At present there are two fully operational space stations in LEO – the International Space Station (ISS), a collaboration of five countries, and China's Tiangong Space Station (TSS).
A space station is not just about technology - it's also extremely costly. The ISS cost $100 billion and was built by Russia's ROSCOSMOS, NASA, the European Space Agency, Japan’s JAXA, and the Canadian Space Agency. Annual maintenance of the ISS is about $3 billion to $4 billion.
Although Russia is part of the ISS collaboration, it is also planning to launch a sovereign space station.