New Delhi, April 24 : Astronaut and Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain, Shubhanshu Shukla, on Friday urged for the creation of space infrastructure for national security. Further, dwelling on the preparations for the much-hyped Gaganyaan mission, he underlined that human space missions are "more complex".

Speaking to IANS, Shukla agreed that indigenous communication through satellites has been the backbone behind India successfully striking adversaries during surgical strikes like 'Operation Sindoor'.

He said, "Yes it is the backbone which we have to make stronger. We need to create a space infrastructure for national security. Our backbone should be strong."

"There are many initiatives, like the SBS-3, which has just been released. It is working in the same direction. I think very soon, our sovereign infrastructure for these things will be very strong and self-sufficient from the perspective of national security," he added.

Meanwhile, Shukla will be a part of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first human space flight programme, Gaganyaan.

About the mission, he emphasised that there is much difference between a satellite mission and a human space mission.

"A human space mission is much more complex. Many technologies need to be developed for this because in this case a human life needs to be preserved when he or she is sent into the space. That is why it takes time," he said.

"Especially in the developmental programme there is a period of great uncertainty for any astronaut about when will the mission take place, what will be it's duration or definition."

He explained that initially a mission begins with some concept but later on it gets modified into something else. "This is a part of the process. I am happy that work is being done on these things on a fast track basis," the astronaut mentioned.

However, he refused to comment on any particular timeline for the mission.

"Only after the test mission will we get the confidence level to know when exactly we will be able to carry out this mission," he added.

Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, another astronaut selected for the Gaganyaan mission, told reporters that in India "we are always prepared".

Describing the preparations for the mission, he said, "Everything is going on well. Like recently we had a prototype training in Leh. We will also have psychological and medical training with the Aerospace Medicine Department."

Apart from this, Nair added, "At ISRO, we are doing design reviews of the Gaganyaan capsule."

/IANS