India holds 9 major world records in space missions, to add 10 more soon: ISRO Chairman

By R Anil Kumar 

Bengaluru. India has claimed nine major world records in space missions and aims to add 8 to 10 more in the near future, announced ISRO Chairman V Narayanan, during the International Conference on Space-2025, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), held during September 8 & 9, in Bengaluru.

These records span achievements from the Chandrayaan (lunar) missions, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), to advancements in cryogenic engine technology.

Since 2008, India’s significant milestones include the Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was the first to discover water molecules on the lunar surface, subsurface, and exosphere—a finding later confirmed by NASA’s Sofia Observatory.

• In 2014, with the Mars Orbiter Mission, India became the first country to successfully reach Mars on its maiden attempt.
• The PSLV-C37 rocket set a world record in 2017 by launching 104 satellites in a single mission.
• Chandrayaan-2, launched in 2019, carried the best camera (orbiter high-resolution camera) in lunar orbit, enabling exceptional imaging of the Moon.
• Chandrayaan-3, which landed on August 23, 2023, marked the first successful spacecraft landing near the lunar South Pole and conducted the first in situ measurements of the lunar surface and near-surface environment in that region.
• On propulsion technology, between December 2014 and June 2017, India set three world records in cryogenic engine development: notably, the maiden flight of the LVM3 with a cryogenic stage was achieved in an exceptionally short time span of 28 months, compared to 37 to 108 months by other countries.
• ISRO also conducted its hot stage test in just 34 days, whereas comparable tests elsewhere took from 64 days up to 10 months. This underscores ISRO’s cost-sensitivity and efficient program management to reduce launch costs.

ISRO has launched over 4,000 rockets from Indian soil and has placed 133 satellites in orbit. The organization is playing a transformative role in India’s economy and security by boosting technological edge, localization, technology transfer, and fostering space entrepreneurship.

Chairman Narayanan highlighted how ISRO’s journey from humble beginnings, with rockets and satellites transported by bicycles and bullock carts, to achieving these world records is remarkable.

Looking forward, ISRO plans to achieve an additional 8 to 10 world records. Notably, the agency aims to land an Indian astronaut on the Moon by 2040, symbolizing India’s trajectory towards becoming a developed nation and asserting its position as a global space leader.

These achievements reflect India’s commitment to cost-efficient, innovative space exploration and its increasing strategic and economic stature on the global stage.