Key Details
India’s Mega Science Vision 2035 spans several fields. Earlier publications set out priorities for nuclear physics and accelerator science, while a separate roadmap addressed climate observation and modelling. The September 2026 issue of Vigyan Dhara brings the existing high-energy physics and astronomy and astrophysics roadmaps together; their recommendations are not, by themselves, project approvals.
Particle experiments: Continue Indian participation in CMS at CERN and Belle II in Japan; begin research and development for experiments at possible future colliders.
Rare-event research: Pursue a larger underground science facility in India, potentially hosting a dark-matter search, and strengthen work on neutrinos and cosmic rays.
Indian telescopes: Develop the proposed 10-metre National Large Optical–Near-Infrared Telescope and prioritise the National Large Solar Telescope.
International astronomy: Sustain commitments to the Thirty Meter Telescope, Square Kilometre Array and LIGO-India.
Common capacity: Expand detector development, instrumentation training, high-performance computing and access to scientific data.
Particle Physics Builds on Indian Contributions to Global Experiments
High-energy physics investigates the particles that make up matter and the forces acting on them. Its outstanding questions include the nature of dark matter, why the universe contains more matter than antimatter, and what measurements of particles such as the Higgs boson might reveal beyond current theory.
Different questions require different experiments. Colliders produce short-lived particles in high-energy collisions; precision experiments look for minute effects that could reveal unknown particles; and cosmic-ray and neutrino experiments study particles arriving from space. All depend on sensitive detectors, electronics and substantial computing capacity.
India is already part of this work. Researchers contribute to CMS and ALICE at CERN and Belle II in Japan, including through detector components, software and electronics. The roadmap recommends maintaining these commitments and starting detector research for possible future colliders. This is preparation for future opportunities, not a decision to build or join a particular new collider.
An Underground Facility Could Anchor Experiments in India
The high-energy-physics roadmap also asks what major research India could host. Experiments searching for dark matter or exceptionally rare particle events need protection from the constant shower of cosmic rays at the surface. It therefore recommends continuing efforts towards a world-class underground facility that could serve high-energy physics, nuclear physics and astrophysics.
This would build on existing Indian experimental work, including the Jaduguda Underground Science Laboratoryand research on cosmic rays and gamma rays. The roadmap also recommends a national detector-development and training centre, with facilities that researchers across institutions could use to design, test and improve instruments. For participation in the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, it favours a substantial Indian detector contribution rather than participation without a clear technical role.
Astronomy Has Strong Facilities but an Optical-Telescope Gap
India’s astronomical base spans the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, optical observatories, and space missions including AstroSat and Aditya-L1. Its international partnerships offer access to much larger facilities. Yet the roadmap identifies a specific gap at home: India’s largest ground-based optical telescopes are in the 3–4-metre class.
The proposed 10-metre National Large Optical–Near-Infrared Telescope would give Indian researchers a much larger domestic instrument for studying faint and distant objects. The National Large Solar Telescope would strengthen observations of the Sun’s magnetic activity and eruptions. Vigyan Dhara notes that both facilities were announced in Budget 2026; it does not set out construction schedules in this issue.
The roadmap places these proposals alongside—not in place of—India’s commitments to the Thirty Meter Telescope, Square Kilometre Array and LIGO-India. It also calls for improvements to the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and for instruments observing other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Discoveries Depend on Combining Observations
A collision of neutron stars, for example, may be detected through gravitational waves and then studied through light observed by ground and space telescopes. This multi-messenger approach makes the roles of the Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Science and Technology and Department of Space complementary rather than interchangeable.
It also changes what counts as scientific infrastructure. Large observatories produce vast amounts of information, so computing facilities, durable data archives and researchers trained to use them are essential to making full use of telescopes and space missions. The astronomy roadmap calls for those capabilities to extend beyond a small number of specialist institutes into universities across India.
Policy Relevance
These roadmaps give funding agencies a more specific choice than whether to support “mega science” in general: which facilities should India host, and which scientific goals are better pursued through international partnerships? The answer depends partly on whether Indian teams can build distinctive instruments and sustain a broad community of users over a facility’s long operating life.
Two linked decisions matter:
Project selection: The proposed underground facility and national telescopes need scientific and technical appraisal, long-term funding plans and clear responsibilities across agencies. The high-energy-physics roadmap proposes a Mega Science Coordination Unit to make the route from community proposal to funding decision clearer.
Return on investment: Detectors, computing, instrument upgrades and researcher access determine how much science a facility produces after it is built. Funding construction without these continuing capabilities would limit the value of both domestic projects and international commitments.
Follow the Full Magazine Issue Here: Vigyan Dhara: Mega Science Vision 2035, Part 2