2024 India election: How India has slowly but surely become a major player in space

If India appears to be a latecomer to spaceflight, that’s only because the country’s space agency has grown slowly and steadily for decades, catching up with the original giants. When the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft makes the first-ever soft landing near the moon’s south pole in 2023, it will be a victory for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), whose unique way of operating will allow it to achieve a remarkable feat. was shown to be obtained. thing.

The strategy that produced all this achievement was championed in the 1960s by Vikram Sarabhai, who is considered the father of the Indian space program. He rejected the idea that the country must strive every step of the way to learn how to fly in space, instead leveraging knowledge already gained by other countries and domestically developed expertise to “leapfrog.” ” insisted on doing so.

“What you are seeing now is the result of 40 years of serious investment in this program. This program was dismissed by many as inappropriate for developing countries, but it was made wisely from the beginning. It turned out to be a great decision,” he says. Itti Abraham at Arizona State University. “We have done a great job of absorbing technologies from different countries and stitching them together to create something uniquely Indian.”

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a case in point. ISRO said the mission had a budget of just 60 million pounds ($74 million), less than the cost of a commercial aircraft and surprisingly low cost for a spacecraft. This was made possible in part by a combination of more cost-effective off-the-shelf and custom parts, and by contracting with private companies for some of the spacecraft’s development and manufacturing.

The involvement of private companies is relatively new for ISRO, a change heralded by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014. It’s a government program,” Abraham says. “If you look at other government projects, there is private sector participation, but the scale is very small.” ISRO did not respond to requests for comment.

But more broadly, given the geopolitical prestige that comes with space success, India’s elections are unlikely to change ISRO’s direction. “The reason the space program has remained independent for so long is because it has been successful,” Abraham says. “In this case, it doesn’t matter who’s in charge; everyone is going to put money into it.”