National Space Day: India Aims At New Heights In 2023, India created a history in space technology by becoming the first country to land on lunar's southern polar region and the fourth country in the world to achieve a lunar landing
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Marking the first anniversary of India's successful landing of Chandrayaan 3 on Moon's southern polar region, the country is celebrating the National Space Day with "Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India's Space Saga" theme.
In 2023, India created a history in space technology by becoming the first country to land on lunar's southern polar region and the fourth country in the world to achieve a lunar landing.
"The very first National Space Day celebrates the inspirational journey that we had in Chandrayaan 3, and also to envision the future course of action that we need to take in the space sector, especially the journey in the Amritkal," said Dr. S Somnath, Chairman, ISRO at an event celebrating India's maiden landing, in New Delhi's Bharat Mandapam.
In a panel discussion on New horizons – Indian Academia in Space, Professor Indranil Manna said that we have very competent engineers who can derive the benefits of exploring the space.
"Space engineering is a subject domain which is evolving. So, it is a duty of the academic institutions and the regulatory bodies to create such a platform so that in the future, we do have very competent engineers who actually can derive the benefits of exploring the space," said Manna.
While replying to a question on UGC's initiatives to provide financial support to space related programmes to enhance participation, UGC chairman, M. Jagadesh Kumar said, "We have close to 1200 junior research fellowships across the country and students can clear UGC-NET and can study in the space sector. Also, we have a six per cent stake in the Southern African Large Telescope that means we can use six per cent time to study space. Now we are investing extra money there to provide extra time so our researchers can make use of this and carry out very fundamental research in space."
Aryabhata to Chandrayaan-3
India established the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962 which later became Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the Father of Indian space programme, in 1969.
Since then, India has continued to touch the new heights in the space sector, starting with its first satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975. India continued to launch series of satellites for a better telecommunications, broadcasting, and meteorological services, including the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) satellite series and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launches.
The country then embarked on space exploration missions, beginning with the Moon Mission: Chandrayaan-1 (2008), the Mars Mission: Mangalyaan (2013), and the successful insertion of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) into Martian orbit in 2014. The country continued its lunar exploration with Chandrayaan-2 (2019) and Chandrayaan-3 (2023). Along with these, India began 2024 with the launch of Aditya-L1, among other missions.
Indian Space Economy
In May 2020, the Indian government commercialized the space sector, allowing private players to expand their involvement in launches, research, and the global market. This marked a major shift in Indian space policy.
"Just three or four years back, we were able to liberate the space sector, unlock the gates of Sriharikota to the private players. And the results have been amazing. In just about seven to eight months beginning from April to December 2023, we had an investment of more than INR 1000 crore from the private sector," said Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of Science and Technology.
Further he added, "Now, as far as the space economy is concerned, I think in the last three or four years, there's been a quantum jump. And I have the confidence to say that in years to come, the space economy would be an important component of India's overall economic growth. Today, we are a USD eight billion economy. And as the current budget mentions, we hope to rise five times in the next 10 years and be about USD 44 billion economy. And that's because in the last two, three years after the new space policy was adopted, a very scientifically conducted approach was adopted."
Speaking on the occasion, Akash Yalagach, CTO and Co-Founder, KaleidEO said that government's Indian Space Policy 2023, the National Geospatial Policy 2022, and amendments to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy highlight the support ISRO and In-SPACe have taken for the private space sector.
"Recently, the announcement of allocation of a INR 1000 crore venture capital fund during the Union Budget 2024 and the announcement of a Public-Private Partnership to develop a comprehensive Earth Observation System, are very positive indicators of the belief of the Government to substantially enhance the sector's progress," said Yalagach.
What's Ahead?
ISRO's next major project is the Gaganyaan programme, which will be India's first human spaceflight mission. It will launch a crew of three astronauts to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission, after which they will safely return to Earth.
On February 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the selected members, including Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captains Prashanth Nair, Ajit Krishnan, and Angad Pratap. It is expected that Shukla will lead the mission.
