By Martand Jha Of late, news from the arena of outer space has caught the attention of many space enthusiasts. India’s first dedicated space think-tank ‘Spaceport Sarabhai’ was launched by a bunch of entrepreneurs and lawyers who want to create a space for themselves in a system that is still largely governed by ISRO. Across […]
By Martand Jha
Of late, news from the arena of outer space has caught the attention of many space enthusiasts. India’s first dedicated space think-tank ‘Spaceport Sarabhai’ was launched by a bunch of entrepreneurs and lawyers who want to create a space for themselves in a system that is still largely governed by ISRO. Across the world, private players like SpaceX and Tesla have made a mark for themselves in the outer space business, which is very expensive in nature and character.
For a country like India, a think-tank on outer space affairs is a paradigm shift which showcases the interest of people in this sector. While launching it, Dr Susmita Mohanty, Director-General Spaceport SARABHAI (S2), remarked, “S2 embraces the multi-dimensional nature of human space endeavours. The S2 lens includes, among others, the geopolitical, scientific, economic, legal, safety, security, sustainability issues related to outer space activities.” She also informed that S2 would be engaging with the Indian Space Association (ISpA) and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), and will undertake research to size the Indian Space economy. The name Spaceport Sarabhai chosen for this think-tank is a fitting tribute to Vikram Sarabhai, founder and first chairman of the Indian space programmes.
Turning Point
Given the kind of years 2020 and 2021 have been for private players showing deep intent in outer space-related activities, it is a no brainer that this decade might turn out to be a turning point in India’s space history. August 15, 2019, marked 50 years of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which was institutionalised as the nodal body for India’s space activities by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who along with Dr Vikram Sarabhai, thought the space programme needs to be a separate entity from the Department of Atomic Energy, which was running the space programme in its early years when sounding rockets were regularly fired from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, Trivandrum, from November 21, 1963.
One needs to look back at the historical context in which the evolution of the Indian Space programme started taking shape and why India as a newly independent third world nation wanted to invest in space programmes in the 1960s though the country was facing a barrage of problems in various fields. The origins and evolution of the Indian space programme constitute one of the most inspiring stories of India since its independence. The reason behind this is the context in which the country’s space programme developed. India was featuring very low in almost all the socio-economic indicators when the launch of Sputnik 1 took the world by storm.
On its Own
The first two decades after independence were devoted to nation-building. India was struggling with problems. To think of having a space programme of its own was very ‘idealistic’. Many believed that India was not in a position to spend on something which ‘elite nations’ would do. The reference was towards the cold war space race in which both the United States and the Soviet union were spending heavily on their space programme.
Five decades later, India is not only sending a manned mission to Outer Space, called Mission Gaganyaan, but is taking active steps to diversify its space-related infrastructure. A focused speech on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12, 2020, led to discussions about what it really means for the economy, especially for our space programme. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman clarified that the private sector will be allowed to use ISRO’s facilities and other relevant assets to improve their capacities. Future projects for planetary exploration, outer space travel, etc, will be opened up for the private sector. The private sector will be a co-traveller in India’s space journey.
While launching the ISpA in October 2021, Modi said: “Indian space has been dominated by a single umbrella of Indian government and government institutions. Scientists of India have made huge achievements in these decades, but the need of the hour is that there should be no restrictions on Indian talent, whether it is in the public sector or in the private sector. In a way, the country has given a new gift to the talent of India’s entrepreneurs by opening up India’s space sector in its 75th year of independence.” This statement re-emphasised the point made by the government of India last year that it wants private players to not only enter the space sector but invest in a big way. Spaceport Sarabhai thus seems to be a logical progression in a series of events unfolding in the Indian space sector.
In Control
One good thing would be that the fear of space weaponisation and space militarisation can be controlled to safer limits, provided nation-states don’t behave like rogue-states and outsource their space conquering ambitions to private entities, much like how the British government outsourced its powers to the East India company to loot and plunder.
Frankly put, any good idea can be twisted around to get the desired result by the ones who are doing it. Here is where civil society, media, academia and global institutions like the UN come in. They will have to put in necessary checks and balances so that outer space is not used as a tool to hurt humanity. Space is a ‘global commons’ entity and, therefore, if this new space race in its new character does anything harmful in outer space, it would create a global risk. The idea of any such race should be for the advancement of human life.
When this pandemic gets over and things start moving at full throttle only then the full nature, character and shape of this new space race would be unveiled. This decade can prove to be one of the most significant decades in shaping up the interest of humanity at large in outer space.
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