Dr. Ashwani Mahajan
World was once again forced to concede the excellence of Indian space scientists in ISRO, after our spacecraft was sent to Mars on November 5, 2013. People around the globe have natural curiosity to know about space in general and other planets in particular. However starting exploration by itself, by sending spacecraft to other planets is no joke. By sending its exploratory spacecraft, India has made its place amongst the club of space super powers. It is notable that so far only USA, Russia and European Space Agency could only have successfully completed their Mars mission. India is first in Asia to have done so, as China and Japan also could not have done so.
USA was the first to send its space mission, as early as 1965; which reached nearly ten thousand kilometers of the Mars and sent atmospheric data along with 22 pictures. Later USA, once again sent a spacecraft mission to Mars in 1969. Russian mission to Mars was sent in 1971. A spacecraft could actually land on Mars only in 1975. Now with launching of Mars mission India has made its first significant step towards becoming a space superpower.
World’s Largest Communication System
India has made a number of achievements in the past in the field of space. Many times India has launched its satellites, first by using others’ satellite launch vehicles and later its own. 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 and 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 being the largest satellite based communication system of the world and providing communication services to a number of countries. Last month, our satellites tracked a cyclone heading for Odisha, giving the government time to evacuate a million people,
Misplaced Criticisms
Some people are trying to criticise this mission, by branding this mission as a kind of luxury without a use for the country in general and poor masses in particular. Critics claim that in a country, where a big chunk of population is still illiterate and hungry, nation cannot afford this ‘luxury’. Before exploring Mars, we must find solution for these problems. A newspaper from China has also used the same argument to undermine the Indian Mars mission. One cannot deny that with launch of the spacecraft to Mars, India stands ahead of China and Japan. Perhaps this fact is giving this impression that perhaps India is in race with china, and is making this wasteful expenditure. Critics have been arguing that India should first make efforts to eradicate poverty, hunger and illiteracy with the money spent on space mission.
But it seems the apprehensions of any kind of wastefulness are misplaced. It is notable that this mission involves a total cost of only rupees 450 crores, which is less than one sixth of proposed expenditure of rupees 3000 crores on latest construction plan of building flyovers on outer ring road in West Delhi by Government of NCT of Delhi. In fact total expenditure on Mars Mission is less than the price of a posh bungalow in Lutyan Delhi. If one looks at how much other countries are spending on their space programme, it can easily be said that we are much behind others in terms of expenditure on space programme. For instance USA spends nearly $18 billion, Japan $ 3.3 billion. In contrast India spends only $1.1 billion on its entire space programme. In comparison to the cost, benefits of the space programme are uncountable. Apart from enhancing national pride in the world, by joining the exclusive club of space superpowers, Indian space programme involves great benefits. It is not just ornamental, when we are called the largest satellite based communication system; 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 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 forth 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. Announcing the project, while delivering his Independence Speech, PM Manmohan Singh said “This misses the point that a nation’s state of development is finally a product of its technological prowess.” Not only that credit of saving lakhs of lives in the latest Odisha cyclone, goes to our space programme, our scientists have made us embark the membership of exclusive space club. If we have a look at how the world has reacted after ISRO Mars mission, The Wall Street Journal, US writes, “India launched a spacecraft toward Mars on Tuesday, setting the country on course to become the first in Asia to reach the red planet and lifting the national mood at a time of economic uncertainty.” The Telegraph reports, “India has launched its first mission to Mars on Tuesday in what its leaders hope will be a giant leap forward for super cheap space exploration. New Scientist, US writes, “Not only would a successful mission be a towering achievement, it will also provide vital technological know-how that should aid India’s next planned mission: a robotic voyage to the moon; which may be even more exciting, scientifically speaking, than Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).”
Bright Future Ahead
Grand success at such a little cost, actually indicates at the bright future of the Indian space programme. It is not only our belief; the whole world is looking upon India to emerge as a world superpower in the field of space. In fact there is a long way to go in this direction. More important is the fact that all what India has achieved is almost solely based on indigenous efforts of Indian scientists. India has always been a victim of technological apartheid practiced by the west. West never wants that ‘rest’ may excel in high tech in any field, let alone space programme. Under the influence of the USA, France refused to provide us the cryogenic engine, which was vital for our PSLV programme. We somehow managed with Russian cryogenic engines in our PSLV. Our scientists took this as a challenge to develop one of its own and had already tested the indigenous cryogenic engine. We have before us numerous examples of excellence exhibited by Indian scientists, latest in that series is prestigious Mars Mission. This mission will hopefully open new vista for providing useful data not only to satisfy the natural anxiety to know more and more about the red planet, but also strengthen India’s capabilities to provide cheap communication, meteorological and remote sensing information system for developmental needs of India and host of poor countries.
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