Context: India’s space program has attained new heights in the last decade. This article looks at the evolution of the space sector in the last fifty years, with special focus on the last decade.
Seeding phase (1970-90s):
- This period starts with the launch of sounding rockets in the 1970s to the development of PSLV rocket in the early 1990s. Development of PSLV rocket was the only badge of honour during this phase.
- PSLV: PSLV has been labelled as the 'workhorse' of ISRO. PSLV is an indigenously developed rocket which can carry payloads up to 3.25 tonne to low earth orbit or 1.75 tonne to geostationary transfer orbit (36,000 km above the earth).
Flowering Phase (1990-2010s):
- GSLV: In 2001, India launched its first heavy rocket called the GSLV, with a Russian upper-stage cryogenic engine. After the initial hiccups, this rocket attained maturity.
- Chandrayaan-1: India's first moon mission developed by ISRO known as Chandrayaan-1 was a great success which reached the surface of moon and even discovered the presence of water on moon's surface.
- Mangalyaan: India became the first country to successfully launch a spacecraft to the Mars Orbit in the first attempt, a feat which no country could achieve.
Fruiting phase (2014-24)
- Chandrayaan-3's successful moon landing. This made India only the fourth country in the world to successfully land on moon after the US, Russia and China. (Note. Japan has also successfully landed on the moon's surface).
- Aditya L-1 mission placing a space observatory precisely at L-1 point between sun and the Earth. The Aditya L-1 mission is placed 1.5 million km from earth, from where it would constantly observe the sun. India was the fourth country in the world to do so after the US, Europe and China.
- Deployment of NaVIC: India has successfully developed and deployed its own regional navigation satellite system, which is a regional version of the USA's Global Positioning System (GPS). Only the USA (GPS), Europe (Galileo), Russia (Glonass) and China (Beidou) has their own global positioning systems, while Japan (Michibiki also known as Quasi Zenith Satellite System).
- New Launch Vehicles: ISRO has successfully developed other rockets - a heavier LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III) and a smaller capacity Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) for smaller payloads, which will cater to the large market for small satellite launch vehicles.
- Anti-Satellite Capability: In March 2019, India demonstrated its anti-satellite capability which displayed the capacity to chase and hit a defunct Indian satellite in the low-earth orbit. India was only the fourth country to demonstrate this capability after US, Russia and China.
- Defence capability: A positive rub-off effect of India's successful space technology has enabled India to develop a bunch of inter-continental ballistic missile that fly to space and come back. These satellites has used technologies which were earlier developed for India's space program.
- Pathbreaking policy of allowing private sector participation in space.
Challenges faced by ISRO
- Technology denial by developed countries such as Cryogenic engine technology under the technology denial regimes.
- Delays in continuing in missions and projects such as Gaganyaan and NISAR launch.
- Failure to develop new rockets such as semi-cryo engines, electric propulsion etc.
- Limited bandwidth to take up multiple missions under both commercial and scientific buckets.
Future of India's Space Program
Future of India's Space Program
- Gaganyaan Mission: Sending two or three Indians to space and bring them back.
- Sukrayaan Mission: Missions to explore Venus
- An Asteroid Mission but for this the timeline has not been replaced.
- Chandrayaan series: Plans to send a robotic and manned missions to the moon.
- Bharat Antariksh Station: Build and deploy an Indian space station.
Global Collaborations with advanced space faring nations
Increasingly, advanced industrial and space faring countries are willing to collaborate with India over space issues.
- NISAR Satellite: Collaboration of NASA & ISRO. NISAR stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar which aims to provide an unprecedented view of the earth.
- TRISHNA Satellite: Collaboration between ISRO and French Space Agency CNES. TRISHNA stands for Thermal InfraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment. TRISHAN will be deployed for use in climate monitoring and operational applications.
Private Participation in Space Sector
India opened its space sector to private participation. Initiatives taken in this regard are:
- Creation of IN-SPACe: IN-SPACe stands for Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre which aims to act as independent space regulator. IN-SPACe has re- ceived about 500 applications for authorisation and has signed over 50 technology transfer agreements.
- Unveiling of Indian Space Policy 2023: Earlier, scope of private participation in India's space sector was limited to making small components and equipment's to be used by ISRO. However, the policy and rules under it, expanded the scope of private participation in the space sector providing a broad framework for non-government entities participation in areas like space vehicles, satellites, dissemination of data and setting up ground stations.
- Space-startups: There are currently more than 400 private sector space startups in the country, which together have committed to invest $330 million in the space sector.
- New spaceport at Kulasekarapatnam: ISRO is building a new spaceport for small rockets launches at Kulasekarapatnam in Tamil Nadu. This spaceport will be principally used by private sector players with assistance from ISRO.