India's 2025 Space Odyssey: From ISS Milestones to NISAR Launch & Beyond

The space missions in 2025 were spearheaded by both government-led ISRO and private companies, which together bolstered the space economy at approximately $13 billion. The sector aims to capture 8-10 per cent of the global commercial space market by the next decade.

2025 began with the successful docking of the SPADEX (Space Docking Experiment) satellites -- SDX01, the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target -- weighing about 220 kg each, in January. With this, India became the fourth nation to ace the space docking technology.

ISRO also marked its 100th launch from the Sriharikota spaceport. The mission, on January 29, successfully placed the NVS-02 navigation satellite into the planned Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, aboard the GSLV rocket.

The Union Cabinet also approved the establishment of the Third Launch Pad (TLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre of ISRO at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

Space startup Digantara launched Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) satellite aboard SpaceX's Transporter-12 mission to enhance space safety and track Resident Space Objects (RSOs).

Bengaluru-based Pixxel also launched its first three satellites of its Firefly constellation -- India's 1st private satellite constellation.

In February, ISRO released the first major batch of scientific data from its solar mission Aditya-L1, including unprecedented views of a solar flare "kernel".

Notably, the space sector was allotted Rs 13,416.2 crore in the Union Budget 2025-26. Customs duties on satellite and launch vehicle components to boost domestic manufacturing were also removed.

In March, ISRO delivered the first batches of two 32-bit microprocessors, VIKRAM3201 and KALPANA3201, to the Semiconductor Laboratory, Chandigarh, for use in launch vehicle systems.

ISRO's orbital platform completed 1,000 orbits, having successfully hosted 10 private payloads from various startups.

ISRO undertook the 101st launch endeavour with PSLV-C61 mission, in May, to deploy the 1,696 kg EOS-09 Earth Observation Satellite into a 505 km Sun-Synchronous Polar Orbit.

While the initial stages of the flight performed as expected, a technical anomaly in the rocket's third stage prevented the mission from reaching its intended orbit.

The space agency also achieved a major technological breakthrough with a series of successful hot tests -- in March, April, and May -- for its 2000 kN-class semi-cryogenic engine (SE2000) at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC).

In June, Shukla's historic 18-day mission to the ISS -- a first ever for an Indian and the second to travel to space, after 40 long years following Rakesh Sharma in 1984 -- became the most defining moment in the space sector in 2025.

Besides piloting the SpaceX Dragon capsule, from Earth to the space station and back, Shukla also completed a suite of seven microgravity experiments which explored muscle regeneration, algal growth, crop viability, microbial survivability, cognitive performance in space, and the behaviour of cyanobacteria, each aimed at enhancing understanding of human spaceflight and microgravity science.

ISRO achieved a major milestone with the successful launch of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission -- a first-of-its-kind joint satellite mission between the US and India -- onboard the GSLV-F16 rocket in July.

In August, private aerospace manufacturer Skyroot Aerospace completed the first static test of its KALAM 1200 solid motor at Sriharikota.

ISRO successfully launched the CMS-03, the heaviest communication satellite ever launched at 4,400 kg, in November. The mission also achieved the first-ever in-space restart of the C25 cryogenic engine.

In December, the LVM3-M6 mission successfully deployed the BlueBird Block-2 satellite, the largest commercial communication satellite in Low Earth Orbit.

Further, advancing the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme, ISRO successfully conducted two major interrelated ground-based 10-day simulation missions, Anugami (in July) and HOPE (in August), designed to prepare for future human spaceflight and interplanetary exploration.

The missions collectively generate vital Indian-subject data to address challenges for Gaganyaan, Bharatiya Antariksh Station, and the mission to the Moon and Mars.

Importantly, the year saw significant milestones being achieved for the Gaganyaan mission. The first human spaceflight mission is 90 per cent ready, and it is in its final phase of system-level qualification and safety testing, aiming for a historic crewed flight in 2027.

In August, ISRO accomplished the first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-01) for the Gaganyaan programme at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota.

This test successfully demonstrated the objective of end-to-end performance validation of the critical parachute-based deceleration system of the Crew Module for the Gaganyaan mission in one of the typical mission scenarios.

In December, ISRO also completed a series of deployment tests for the Drogue Parachutes at the TBRL facility in Chandigarh. Successful trials were conducted for the service module engines and thrusters to validate space maneuvering and braking capabilities.

The first uncrewed G1 mission is expected to be the most important space mission for 2026.

Further, all major launch vehicles, including LVM3, PSLV, GSLV Mk II, and SSLV, are being prepared for a series of 7 missions in 2026.

Other major launches include GalaxEye's Mission Drishti -- India's largest privately built satellite (160 kg), Agnikul's maiden commercial orbital mission.

- IANS