Why in news?
National Space Day in India is celebrated annually on August 23 to commemorate the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission on the Moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023.
 
Theme: "Aryabhatta to Gaganyaan: Ancient Wisdom to Infinite Possibilities"
 
Significance:

• Celebrates ISRO's scientific achievements, including past milestones like the Aryabhata satellite, Mars Orbiter Mission, and the NAVIC navigation system.
• Inspires young minds to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
• Highlights space technology’s applications in agriculture, disaster management, weather forecasting, communication, and navigation.
• Reinforces national pride in India’s growing stature as a global space power.

Key Indian Space Missions and Initiatives in 2025:
 
Gaganyaan Program: India's flagship human spaceflight program aims to send Indian astronauts (Gagannauts) into Low Earth Orbit. The uncrewed test flight, Gaganyaan-1, is targeted for late 2025 (around December) featuring the humanoid robot Vyommitra. This mission is critical to validating crew safety systems for future crewed missions planned in 2026-27.
 
NISAR (NASA-ISRO SAR): A joint Earth observation satellite mission with NASA, planned for launch in 2025 aboard GSLV-F16. It will use advanced radar imaging to monitor Earth's ecosystems, natural disasters, climate change, and land ice dynamics, providing valuable all-weather, day-night data.
 
Chandrayaan-4: Planned lunar mission aiming for a sophisticated sample-return mission around 2027. This follows the success of Chandrayaan-3's historic soft landing on the Moon's south pole in 2023, making India a pioneer in polar lunar exploration.
 
Next-Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLV): ISRO is developing reusable launch vehicles that incorporate recovery and reuse technology, aimed at increasing payload capacity drastically (up to 30,000 kg to LEO) and reducing launch costs, marking a major step beyond expendable launchers.
 
Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS): A planned Indian space station targeted for operational status by 2035, enabling long-duration human space missions and scientific experiments in orbit.
 
Mars and Venus Missions: Plans include a Venus Orbiter Mission around 2028 and a Mars Lander Mission with rover and helicopter planned around 2031, enhancing India's interplanetary exploration capabilities.
 
Satellite Development: India continues to advance numerous satellite programs for communication, navigation (NavIC augmentation), disaster management, resource monitoring, and scientific research.

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