Thiruvananthapuram: Gaganyaan, the country's planned mission to take humans to space, will open huge commercial opportunities in the space sector, said former ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair.

Nair while speaking at the space programme, supported by the Kerala government, here said once that capability is achieved by putting three astronauts into space using ISRO's GSLV Mk III in December 2021, the country can think in terms of entering the realm of space tourism.

"It is a big international business opportunity for India as there are only a few countries with that capability, and India has a definite advantage as its technology is one of the best and the costs are low," he said.

"Once human space travel is achieved, the country can think in terms of colonising the Moon and later Mars. Chandrayaan has detected the presence of huge quantities of Helium-3 on the Moon which is used for nuclear fission. One tonne of Helium-3 is enough to satisfy the energy needs of the entire country," said Nair.