On 31 October 2026, a team of senior scientists and experts from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) inspected the proposed site for a Space Gallery and Space Innovation Centre at the Darbhanga Planetarium in Bihar. The proposed facilities are intended to support science and technical education in the Mithila region.
Planned facilities and funding
The project is planned across about two acres, with exhibition areas, innovation laboratories and technology-based learning facilities. Its estimated cost is Rs 61 crore, of which Rs 36 crore had been approved by 31 October 2026.
The gallery is expected to present India’s space missions, including Chandrayaan, Mangalyaan, Aditya-L1 and Gaganyaan, through 3D models, virtual reality and space-walk simulations. The centre is planned to provide practical training in rocketry, robotics, mini-satellites and coding, alongside student workshops and other educational activities.
ISRO support and review
ISRO had earlier given an in-principle assurance of technical support. A letter dated 11 August 2026 from Space Commission Chairman V. Narayanan conveyed this assurance to Darbhanga MP Gopal Ji Thakur. Thakur chaired a high-level review meeting on the project’s technical framework and infrastructure.
Important Facts for Exams
- Administrative oversight: ISRO is the Department of Space’s principal research-and-development arm; its chairman also serves as the department’s chief executive.
- Pragyan’s elemental analysis: Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover used LIBS and APXS instruments to determine the elemental composition of lunar soil in situ.
- Mangalyaan’s exosphere instrument: Mangalyaan’s MENCA instrument was a mass spectrometer designed to measure the neutral composition of Mars’s upper atmosphere, or exosphere.
- Aditya-L1’s coronagraph: Aditya-L1’s VELC coronagraph uses an occulting system to image the solar corona close to the Sun’s disc, reducing glare from the photosphere.
