Manned mission will put India on the world space map

Last week, news came out from ISRO that caught our attention. The news was that ISRO had conducted the first-ever crew escape test for its first proposed manned mission to space. The test was conducted at Sriharikota. Without going into the technicalities of this test, the more interesting aspect was the fact that there was the possibility of India sending its first astronaut into outer space.

One could argue that sending an astronaut into outer space is nothing new as the US and erstwhile Soviet Union have achieved this feat more than five decades back. What’s the big deal if India joins the elite club of nations who have already sent manned missions into space? The big deal is that it will open many new avenues for space research in India. The space sector, along with other sectors like aero dynamics and aero-space engineering, will get a big boost. It could prove to be a paradigm shift altogether for indigenous industries working in the field of developing space related instruments and materials. Till date, the Indian space program has been a largely civilian programme working for the people of the country. With a successful manned mission in its kitty, it will rise to the next level. 

Advancement in space technology is important as it has a knock on effect onto other sectors of science and technology as well. The history of the Cold War space race between the US and the then Soviet Union has been witness to this fact. The reason for this ‘spiral effect’ is that manned and even non-manned missions require new products, instruments and other materials which can work in outer space. 

So things necessary for the survival of astronauts in space would be entirely new things made for a specific purpose. In this scenario, new industries may come up to support the new demands at them. New entrepreneurs will emerge, and private funding in the space sector in India could see a quantum jump. 

Industry aside, the big deal of sending a manned mission into space is that it stamps India’s entry into the club of ‘Space Powers’. This has various knock-on effects. Apart from being an issue of national pride and prestige, it can raise standards of science and technology in India. A manned space mission would also be of great significance to ISRO as it would open up new avenues for research within the institution itself. The third aspect is the potential impact it could have on the psyche of the masses. Millions of children and teenagers studying in schools who were probably not interested in the science of space, could start gravitating towards it.

This is not a random prediction. If one looks back at each of India’s success stories in space, whether it was Rakesh Sharma’s voyage to the moon, Kalpana Chawla going to space in 1997 — followed up by her tragic death during her return journey from space in 2003 — or the success of Sunita Williams who has inspired Indians despite being American, each of them has kindled an interest in space.

On the security front, the space mission will enhance India’s space security and especially the standing of ISRO. ISRO has already shown from time to time, the caliber of our scientists and engineers working for the development of the Indian Space Programme. With successful missions like the Lunar Mission and the Mars Orbiter Mission already under its belt, the next big thing on which everyone’s eyes is set, has been a manned mission to outer space. Yes, the Indian space programme is nowhere near to the space programmes followed by more advanced countries, but one needs to keep in mind that what ISRO has managed to achieve with very little resources is a big feat.

The Indian Space Research Organisation impressed the entire space community by sending a probe to Mars, Mangalyaan on its first attempt. What also impressed the West was how staggeringly cheap the mission was, with the American Maven orbiter that arrived at the Red Planet costing almost 10 times as much. But despite the appreciation and the accolades the country needs to speed up. Already countries such as China and the UAE are talking of a manned Mars mission. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has announced his intention of starting a programme in 2019 to establish bases on the moon, from where the country will ‘develop techniques for manned Mars missions’. Putin’s utterances aside, media attention has focused recently on 17-year-old Alyssa Carson. Training with NASA, Carson is doing her best to become the first human being to travel to Mars. With such talk, India must take care to ensure that it does not lose out in the space race. 

The author is a junior research fellow at the School of International Studies, JNU. Views are personal