The India Space Programme – The Beginning Of An Ambitious Scheme

The India space programme which has been an ambitious scheme has had a chequered history beginning from 1962 when how to enter space dominated thoughts

A major achievement was mace  In 1969 when  the Indian space Research Organization (ISRO) was set up with headquarters in Bangalore (presently Bengaluru).

The brief of the agency was to ensure raped development of space technology and also explore how this should be applied.

1972 –  In 1972, space commission was established.

 1975 – India launched its first satellite, Aryabhata, thus entering  the space age.

India has this ambitious plan to have its own space station in the future and conduct separate missions to study the Sun and Venus.

The country had never hidden its desires to an enhanced status in space technology leadership.

Part of the resolve is to inspire the young minds to take an interest in scientific fields.

Earlier, the country had conducted a manned mission to space called Gaganyaan (which means “space vehicle” in Sanskrit).

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It has to be observed that the country’s  space agency is specialized in low-cost space launches since the early 1960s.

Then, it transported components of rockets by bicycles and assembled by hand. In 2014, it sent a spacecraft to Mars for $74 million, significantly lower than the $671 million the U.S. spent for a Mars mission the same year. In early 2017, the nation launched a flock of 104 satellites into space over the course of 18 minutes, setting a new global record.

India plans to have its own space station in the future and conduct separate missions to study the Sun and Venus, it said on Thursday, as the nation moves to bolster its status as a leader in space technologies and inspire the young minds to take an interest in scientific fields.

In his opinion article titled Reality check on India’s space dreams, “Livemint” had argued that

The India space mission without a human crew on board could be a futile exercise given that the country had not mastered the expertise required to ensure human viability on its missions.

a much more daunting objective—to attempt a soft landing on the moon.

Yet, he had argued further, “Policymakers argue that if India does not start now, it might miss the bus. The results of research conducted now would start trickling in after decades.

Any delay may give other countries an advantage, considering the existing ISS is set to retire by 2028. China is all set to get ready its space station in 2022, two decades after it put its first astronaut into space in 2003.

But why does India need to be part of this particular space race, and such a huge exercise? Russia, the first to build the world’s crewed space station, had failed in its first two attempts.

It took nearly 15 years for the country to fulfil its space ambition when it launched Salyut-1 in 1971, but even then it lost three of its crew member on re-entry.

The ISS itself took over 10 years to be built, as scientists and engineers from five space agencies representing 15 countries carried out 40 mission flights to assemble it”, he said.