Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday allocated nearly Rs 12,544 crore to the Department of Space as India plans to launch a manned space mission Gaganyaan next year, with plans to explore the moon and neighbouring planets. The allocation is about 8% lower than the estimated Rs 13,700 crore budget for 2022-23, cut to Rs 10,530.04 crore in the revised estimate.

The most significant portion of the total allocation of Rs 11,669.41 crore is for central sectoral programs or projects such as manned space centres and various sectoral agencies dealing with the launch vehicle and satellite projects, including development and operations programmes.

India’s National Centre for Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-Space), the government’s single window agency for dealing with the private sector, has received a grant of Rs 95 crore against a revised budget of Rs 21 crore. A significant portion of the allocation, Rs 53 crore, has been earmarked for capital expenditure of INSPACe.

The Physics Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, which conducts fundamental research in experimental and theoretical physics fields and builds instruments for scientific missions, has received a grant of Rs 408.69 crore, up from the revision in the previous financial year. It is estimated at Rs 411.11 crore.

ISRO plans to launch India’s third mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-3, in July using a launch vehicle Mark-3. India’s first manned space flight, Gaganyaan, initially scheduled for December 2021, has been postponed to the fourth quarter of 2024. But ISRO plans to conduct an unmanned flight of the project this year.

ISRO also arranges scientific missions to the Sun, Venus and Mars.