India to Set Up Nuclear Power Plant on Moon with China and Russia? What We Know So Far

New Delhi: India has been experiencing great success in its space programmes and it started with the success of the Chandrayaan-3, which landed on the South Pole region of the moon. What could be another big achievement for the Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ), India is likely to come together with Russia and China to set up a nuclear power plant on the moon. 

India to Set Up Nuclear Power Plant on Moon?

While this news has not yet been confirmed, various media reports suggest that India may team up with its archrival China, to contribute to Russia's lunar nuclear power plant project. 

ISRO Likely to Team Up With Russia-China for Lunar Nuclear Power Plant Project

This piece of news has stemmed from the recent statement made by Alexey Likhachev, Russia's State Nuclear Energy Corporation Chief at the Eastern Economic Forum.

As per a state-owned news agency of Russia, Likhachev said, “… with the involvement of the international community, our Chinese and Indian partners are very interested in this.”

All About Nuclear Power Plant on Moon

Russia and China are working on a lunar base together called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and this Nuclear Power Plant on the moon will provide energy for it. The construction of this nuclear power plant will be carried out without any direct human involvement, in an autonomous manner.

India's Gaganyaan Mission

In another news, ISRO is preparing for setting up its own space station on the moon by 2035 and India's manned mission to the moon, Gaganyaan.

According to the official website of the Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ), the "Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3 days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters. The project is accomplished through an optimal strategy by considering inhouse expertise, experience of Indian industry, intellectual capabilities of Indian academia & research institutions along with cutting edge technologies available with international agencies.

The pre-requisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space, Life Support System to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew. Various precursor missions are planned for demonstrating the Technology Preparedness Levels before carrying out the actual Human Space Flight mission. These demonstrator missions include Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT) and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. Safety and reliability of all systems will be proven in unmanned missions preceding manned mission."