ISRO Hosts National Space Meet 2.0 as India Celebrates National Space Day 2025
News Desk: India today marked the second National Space Day, commemorating the historic success of Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander soft landing and Pragyan Rover deployment on August 23, 2023. The achievement made India the fourth nation to land on the Moon and the first to reach its southern polar region. The landing site was named ‘Shiv Shakti Point’.
This year’s theme — “Aryabhata to Gaganyaan: Ancient Wisdom to Infinite Possibilities” — reflects India’s journey from its early space missions to future human spaceflight. As part of the celebrations, ISRO hosted the National Space Meet 2.0 in New Delhi on Thursday, bringing together ministries, private industry, academia, startups, and experts to chart India’s space applications roadmap for the next decade. Over the past four months, experts identified hundreds of use cases across agriculture, healthcare, disaster management, and climate resilience.
At the concluding session, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P.K. Mishra highlighted India’s growing space ecosystem, noting that reforms and policies have expanded the sector from just two startups in 2014 to over 350 today. “Space is not about conquering the stars; it is about improving life on Earth,” he said.
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan recalled India’s journey from the Thumba rocket launches in 1963 to its current global recognition, stressing that private sector participation and capacity augmentation will significantly contribute to the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
To mark National Space Day, the Department of Space has planned events across the country throughout the month to inspire youth towards space science. The Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) is also hosting celebrations at its campuses in Ahmedabad, Udaipur, and Mt. Abu.
