Be Mains Ready

Approach

• Introduce by giving India's achievements through decades of progress in space technology.
• Examine the economic benefits that these achievements have accrued to India.
• Show how, despite initial hesitation, India has now veered towards its geostrategic and military potential.

Introduction

From innovating with limited resources in the 1960s to launching a record 104 satellites in a single mission and reaching Mars in its first mission, ISRO and India have come a long way in this space journey.

After more than fifty years of ISRO's inception, India has just launched its second lunar mission-Chandrayaan-2 and is planning to launch its first-ever manned space mission, Gaganyaan and set its own space station by 2030. These are emblematic signs of India's will to step up its space policy.

Body

Apart from research and development in space, the space program has many economic benefits for the country. For example:

• Remote- sensing services: It finds applications in weather forecasting, disaster management, surveillance.
• Satellite communications: It provides services like DTH, Broadband, Telecommunications.
• Navigation services: With the launch of NAVIC two levels of positioning service will be operationalised i.e. the "standard positioning service", which will be open for civilian use, and a "restricted service" (an encrypted one) for military use.
  
  • The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) with an operational name of NAVIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation, which is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services.
• Indirect benefits: Technology developed for space finds application in day to day life. For example:
  
  • Heatshield: Used in heat isolation systems.
  • Cryogenic fuel Finds application in the medical field.
  • Electronic system fabrication
• The commercial launch of other countries’ satellite: With India slowly establishing itself in the global space launch market through its commercial arm Antrix Corporation, it will be the source of forex earnings and goodwill for India.

Space is a dual-use technology and largely India's space program has remained civilian. But today India is gradually reorienting its space program towards national security.

• India has traditionally been opposed to using space for security-related functions. In fact, from early on, India played an active role in pushing to keep outer space beyond interstate conflicts.
• However, the real change in India’s space policy orientation came after January 2007, when China conducted its first anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test.
• In this direction India also initiated some military space endeavour:
  
  • India launched its first dedicated defence satellite, GSAT-7 for the Indian Navy.
  • India has set up an “Integrated Space Cell (ISC)” within its Ministry of Defence
  • The CARTOSAT-2A, a dedicated satellite of the Indian Armed Forces, will also fall under the jurisdiction of ISC.
  • Recently India conducted Mission Shakti which is an anti-satellite weapon(ASAT)
    
    • It targeted a live satellite (Microsat-R) in a low earth orbit.
  • India’s defence capability has got a further boost with the successful launch of the Electro Magnetic Intelligence Satellite (EMISAT)
• India's military pursuit in space is driving India to forge partnerships with countries such as Japan, and revise and strengthen old links with partners like the US and France.
• Further India's space program is boosting India's soft power. For example, launching of SAARC satellite.

Conclusion

All these steps have clearly placed India in an elite group of countries of global space powers. However, the development of new capabilities that help address India’s national security concerns should not replace the existing civilian capabilities.