By Chathushka Perera
NEW DELHI (CWBN)_The Indian space programme was nothing more than an afterthought for the last few decades with much of its activity shadowed by other international space agencies or overlooked by global media, however, with recent developments India’s capabilities in both scientific and engineering sectors leading up to humanity’s return to space, can no longer be left unspoken.
In latest developments, India has been in conference with several countries, including Russian, France and the US, in order to secure necessary tech assets for its first-ever manned space-flight, Gaganyaan, scheduled to take off by December 2021. Four Indian Air Force Pilots have been selected for the three-man mission will be and are currently receiving training in Russia, according to the Indian Embassy.
Gaganyaan
Surpassing the achievements of Former Indian Air Force Pilot, Rakesh Sharma, the only Indian to have reached space via the Soviet Space Programme, the Gaganyaan crew will be expected to spend a period of five to seven days at an orbit of 300-400km (lower orbit), before making their descent. Sources report that the cost of the mission comes close to 1.5 billion USD.
Moreover, Chandrayaan-3, the third in a series of unmanned missions to the moon is scheduled to take-off early next year. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated that, in order to facilitate both launches in the limited timeframe, the Indian Government would be taking steps to construct a launch base in Toothukudi, Tamil Nadu, in addition to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Land acquisitions for the project are reported to have commenced.
Vikram Sarabhai and ISRO
The space programme has its origins under Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, based on recommendations put forward by Indian physicist and astronomer, Vikram Sarabhai, as the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) under the purview of the National Department of Atomic Energy, in the year 1962. The committee had the mandate of developing space science research and technology. The body was later replaced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in 1969.
Aryabhata
Since its inception, the ISRO took an accelerated approach to the Indian space programme, which led to India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, being launched with Soviet assistance in 1975, the first satellite launched by an Indian carrier rocket in 1980, and the development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Vehicle (GSLV) have seen been used to launch communications, observational, and navigational satellites into polar and geo-stationary orbit.
Chandrayaan-1
The most exciting development was, of course, the former Chandrayaan missions. The first in its series, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008 on a mission to the moon to investigate the presence of lunar ice. In the course of the mission, the craft successfully launched an orbiter and an impact probe, which provided evidence of water on the moon and placed India among the few countries to have ever met the challenge.
The subsequent Chandrayaan-2 lunar exploration mission in 2018, including a lunar orbiter, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, was only partially successful. Following orbiter separation, the lander attempted to deliver the rover to the surface, however, due to a hard landing caused by a software glitch, the lander and the rover were lost. The up-coming Chandaryaan-3 mission is expected to succeed where its predecessor did not, but will not be accompanied by an orbiter. Nonetheless, concerns remain that the Covid-19 pandemic may delay the launch to 2022.
