The encouragement to indegenous technology is the only certain path to build powerful India
Dr Ashwani Mahajan
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has made a big leap forward by successfully launching 104 big and small satellites in the space by its Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which is a record by itself. Before this, Russia had the record of launching 37 satellites in one go. It is notable that from the beginning till now ISRO has undertaken total 39 missions with PSLV, out of which 38 missions have remained successful. In its 39th mission ISRO took a big leap forward in launching and
separating 104 satellites in the space, with a total weight of 1378 kg. Out of this only 3 were Indian, while 101 were foreign satellites. Out of 101 foreign satellites, 96 were from USA, and one each from Netherland, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and UAE. PSLV completed this journey from earth to space in just 28 minutes.
It is always worthwhile to provide funds for space programmes from the government budget, to facilitate
development of space technology in the country. However, it is heartening to note that space programme in India has turned out to be a major revenue earner for ISRO. After many successful missions, including this mission of launching 104 satellites in one go, ISRO has become a major player in US$ 300 billion global space market. Other global companies providing such services, namely Arianespace and SpaceX, provide
launching services at a charge manifold of the charge made by Antrix (commercial arm of ISRO); so much so that ISRO charges merely 3 to 5 per cent of the charges taken by other global players. For instance, between 2013 and 2015, ISRO charged merely an average amount of US$ 0.3 million per satellite, whereas SpaceX and Arianespace charged $ 60 million and US$ 100 million for the same task respectively. Today, when the
competence of ISRO is well established globally, the same is getting reflected in increasing revenues of Antrix from merely 6.9 million Euro to 55.5 million Euro between 2013 and 2015 (nearly 8 times). This year pace of launches by ISRO has accelerated hugely, which is going to be translated into much bigger revenues in the year 2017. Profits of Antrix increased 205 per cent in 2015. It is very likely, that in 2016 and 2017 profits would multiply manifold.
Research with Economy
Though ISRO has launched 226 satellites (including 180 foreign) in the space, so far; ISRO is not known globally only for this reason. Earlier on November 5, 2013, ISRO’s scientists surprised the world by sending ‘Mangalyaan’ to the Mars, a space craft which has been sending
pictures and other information from Mars since September 24, 2014. Most important thing, which has been surprising the world is that cost of this mission was only Rs 450 crore, whereas similar missions, in other countries had been much costlier.
World’s Largest Communication System
India has made a number of achievements in the past in the field of space. Today India possesses state of the art PSLV, which has successfully launched, not only Indian communication, meteorological and remote sensing satellites, but has even assisted space missions of many
developing and even developed countries. Today a big number of satellites in the space are those launched by Indian PSLV. Through its presence in the space India has been providing useful services in the form of communication, meteorological and even geological information to the world. Today, India has the pride of having the largest satellite based communication system of the world and providing
communication services to a number of countries. Sometime back, our satellites tracked a cyclone heading for Odisha, giving the government time to evacuate nearly a million people. In the Union Budget 2017-18 Finance Minister has declared that efficiency of MNREGA is being enhance by making use of satellites (for monitoring MNREGA projects).
We are actually providing satellite services to a host of nations on commercial basis. We are not only able to have a self reliant communication network, our satellites have been providing invaluable meteorological and remote sensing data for developmental programmes for our country and also for many other countries. Therefore from economic point of view also Indian space programme is invaluable.
India Gaining Respect
With India gaining new grounds in the field of space and nuclear technology, its
prestige has got a big boost globally. It is an irony that on the one hand India stands apart, by making technological strides; on the other hand one fourth of world’s population suffering from hunger still lives in India. However, solution for the problem of hunger also lies in technological advancement, to a great extent. Our
scientists have made India proud by
making us stand in the first row of space technology; and have also silenced the critics about India’s incapabilities.
Long Road Ahead
After this successful launch in February 2017, hopes have risen that India will achieve new heights in space
programmes. More important is the fact that all that India has achieved is almost solely based on indigenous efforts of Indian scientists; as, in a way, true
example of ‘Make in India’. India has always been a victim of technological apartheid practiced by the West. The ‘West’ never wants that ‘rest’ may excel in high tech in any field. However, India could emerge as more powerful, as it has encouraged development of indigenous technology. Our space programme not only strengthens India’s capabilities to provide cheap communication, meteorological and remote sensing information system for our own developmental needs, but it also provides all these facilities to host of poor countries.
(The writer is Associate Professor, PGDAV College, University of Delhi)
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