{"id":31101,"date":"2025-07-01T23:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T23:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/31101\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T23:30:13","slug":"shukla-in-space-benefits-far-outweigh-cost-says-isro-chief-india-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/31101\/","title":{"rendered":"Shukla In space: Benefits far outweigh cost, says Isro chief | India News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ShuklaCaption: Isro chairman V Narayanan interacts with Nasa astronaut Raja Chari outside the Orion spacecraft mockup at Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. | Credit: Nasa For Isro, benefits and learnings from the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will far outweigh the cost it has had to incur in sending Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla<\/a> (Shux).The Rs 548 crore spent on the mission is a fraction of what India would have otherwise needed to spend on replicating the same training, exposure and systems-level experience, Isro chairman V Narayanan told TOI, in his first exclusive interview about the multinational commercial mission.Speaking from Houston, Narayanan said that the learning outcomes \u2014 spanning astronaut training (for two astronauts), mission operations, and hardware-software-human interface \u2014 cannot be measured purely in monetary terms. \u201cFor a country of 140 crore people, what we\u2019ve spent is only marginal,,\u201d Narayanan said. For that, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ve gained access to infrastructure and experience that would otherwise require thousands of crores.\u201d If one looks at the per capita cost on the Indian population, it adds up to around Rs 4 per head.Look Beyond Rupee FigureNarayanan, dismissing observations that Ax-4 is \u201cjust a commercial mission\u201d, said discussions on such strategic missions must be rooted in long-term capability building rather than short-term financial arithmetic.\u201cFor a programme like Gaganyaan<\/a>, which spans Rs 20,000 crore including follow-on missions, these early investments are necessary. Training, confidence, exposure, systems understanding \u2014 these are foundational,\u201d he said.He added that maturity in public discourse is essential. \u201cPeople must recognise that not all benefits can be quantified. But they can certainly be measured in preparedness and capability,\u201d he said.Five TakeawaysNarayanan identified five key areas where Ax-4 will directly strengthen India\u2019s human spaceflight capabilities: Training exposure, confidence building, operational experience, systems-and-process understanding, and cross-disciplinary learning.\u201cOur astronauts trained in world-class facilities simulating space conditions, including microgravity and life-support systems. Each hour of training they\u2019ve undergone would cost crores if we were to replicate the infrastructure ourselves,\u201d he said.He added that interacting with seasoned astronauts \u2014 including those who have flown to space multiple times or performed several spacewalks \u2014 helped boost the confidence of Indian crew members and mission teams.Astronauts \u2014 Shux and his backup Group Captain Prashant Nair \u2014 learnt how to function in space as a team, handle real-time challenges, and carry out experiments. He said working on and observing the mission to ISS has given India insights into module design, layout, onboard systems, and processes that will feed into future Gaganyaan and space station designs.\u201cWe will, of course, have our own design and technology, but all this experience will help us develop those better,\u201d he said. Isro EngineersNarayanan, who is leading efforts to ensure astronaut safety, said he has himself gained from observing operations in Houston. \u201cFrom data handling to high-level system safety discussions, our understanding of the end-to-end process has grown. This cannot be acquired by simulation or literature review alone,\u201d he said.He added that the experience is equally valuable for backroom mission teams and decision-makers, who will now have real-world references to draw upon while preparing for Gaganyaan. TOI had reported last week about some specifics the Isro team is learning back in Houston, where mission control for Ax-4 is.Space StationIndia plans to build its own space station after the Gaganyaan crewed flights. Narayanan said direct exposure to the ISS environment will inform the design, configuration, and operational planning of the proposed Indian facility.\u201cWe had only studied the ISS on paper. Now we are seeing it in action. We may not adopt the same model, but this will help us make informed design choices,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caption: Isro chairman V Narayanan interacts with Nasa astronaut Raja Chari outside the Orion spacecraft mockup at Nasa’s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[26375,26372,104,26376,26374,4677,1567,4674,4675,26377,3057,26373,159,3052,783,26378,4676,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-31101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-astronaut-training","9":"tag-benefits-of-space-missions","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-cost-of-space-exploration","12":"tag-gaganyaan","13":"tag-google-news","14":"tag-india","15":"tag-india-news","16":"tag-india-news-today","17":"tag-india-space-station","18":"tag-international-space-station","19":"tag-isro-mission-axiom-4","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-shubhanshu-shukla","22":"tag-space","23":"tag-space-mission-experience","24":"tag-today-news","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114780584432669301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}