Ashraf Engineer
May 17, 2025
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Hello and welcome to All Indians Matter. I am Ashraf Engineer.
In January, India became only the fourth nation to achieve space docking. It was a technological milestone that underscored its ambitions to become a space power and get its share of the fast-growing $400 billion global space market.
Two Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, satellites, Target and Chaser — each the size of a large refrigerator — latched on to each other and then unlatched. This ability, needed for satellite servicing, space station operations and interplanetary missions, ushered India into a select club of countries.
This was not the only feather in India’s cap when it comes to space exploration. In July 2023, ISRO launched a rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, carrying India’s third lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-3. The lander touched down on the moon a month later, making India again only the fourth country to carry out a soft lunar landing.
Chandrayaan-3’s lander deployed a rover for an analysis of the lunar surface. The mission was important because the lunar south pole remains underexplored, and thus has the potential for scientific discoveries. For example, it is believed that this region might have deposits of ice water. The extraction of water there could support lengthy lunar missions and serve as a stepping stone to Mars.
I have mentioned only two of the major recent space missions India has successfully undertaken. There are many more in the pipeline.
So, why does India want to become a major space power?
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Space exploration and commercialisation is a major component of India’s quest to become a global superpower. ISRO is focusing on deep-space exploration and enabling private companies to commercialise the sector. The projects include solar studies, orbital astronaut missions and defence. There is a significant economic driver – the global commercial space market is likely to reach $1 trillion by 2030 but India’s current share is just 2%, or $8 billion. The government hopes to widen this to $44 billion by 2040.
So, India has focused on the diversification of space activities. This is not to say that communications, remote sensing and satellite launch vehicles are now on the backburner. The two initiatives proceed simultaneously. So, as far as communications satellites go, India is working on the GSAT series while continuing to build and operate the INSAT system. In remote sensing and earth observation, along with the IRS satellite programme, India operates a wide range of remote sensing satellite series. As far as launch vehicles go, India builds and operates the PLSV and the GSLV. There is also the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, which first successfully took off in February 2023. There is alongside much progress in satellite-based navigation services.
The civilian space programme now includes space exploration and scientific missions, private firms, and the use of space technology as a foreign policy tool. So, there is a shift from the use of space solely for socioeconomic benefits.
India’s space programme, established in the early 1960s and one of the oldest in the world, prioritised applications such as communications and meteorology, tailored to the needs of a developing country. It was Dr Vikram Sarabhai who strongly supported the use of space technology to leapfrog some stages of development.
So, when Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008, it was a major shift because it was a space exploration mission and removed from the developmental rationale. India went further down this path with the Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, in 2013 and is focusing on Gaganyaan – its first human spaceflight mission.
Mangalyaan was put into orbit around Mars in September 2014, making India the first country to reach Mars in its first attempt. It achieved this at a very low cost – it was cheaper than making the movie ‘Gravity’.
So, what explains this shift?
While science is a critical driver, there are equally important political and strategic considerations.
Space is now very much part of international relations that encompass military, civilian and commercial needs. For India, China’s emergence as a space power, especially its use in diplomacy, is a driver too. It’s all part of the jostling for leadership and influence in Asia, especially, but also across the world.
The projects I spoke about are symbols of power and progress. Scientific achievement is a marker of statehood and prestige – a way of getting a seat at the table when it comes to global and space affairs.
Domestically, the space programme is a source of national pride and invoked often by leaders. It helps also to attract young talent to space sciences and boosts the private space sector.
As far as the economic opportunity goes, I mentioned earlier that the market could grow to $1 trillion by 2030 and it’s the private sector that would drive innovation and investments.
Recognising this, the government announced the Indian Space Policy in 2023. It enabled private entities to engage end-to-end in all space domains, thus opening up investments in space startups. For example, Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google, invested $36 million in a Bengaluru satellite imaging startup called Pixxel. Others such as Dhruva Space, SatSure and Skyroot are also making a mark.
Today, private players can undertake end-to-end activities in the sector through space objects, ground-based assets and related services. They can own, buy or lease satellites for communications, remote sensing, navigation and more, within and outside Indian airspace. Data from the satellites can be disseminated in India or abroad. They can also design and operate launch vehicles and launch infrastructure.
Private firms can also be contracted by security agencies to create, buy and operate customised technology. In other words, the private sector now has virtually all of the space economy as its playground.
Coming back to the socioeconomic agenda with which the space programme was launched in the 1960s, it has already come up with solutions in sectors such as telecom, healthcare, agriculture and defence.
For example, the ISRO Telemedicine pilot project launched in 2001 integrated two Apollo hospitals, one in Chennai and the other in the village of Aragonda in Andhra Pradesh. This enabled the rural hospital’s technical support and monitoring facilities to optimise their cardiology, radiology and pathology departments.
EDUSAT was launched to deliver interactive education via web-based instruction, one-way TV broadcasts and video conferencing to enhance curriculum-based learning and teacher training. Since its pilot in 2004, EDUSAT has had more than 300 terminals across India.
India is also part of an international coalition for search and rescue assistance, distress alerts, and location data through its Low Earth Orbit Search And Rescue satellite system. The National Remote Sensing Centre, meanwhile, monitors natural disasters and offers support to victims.
For all the socioeconomic and other objectives, partnerships are the key. So, recently, the US and India established a space cooperation partnership. The two countries are creating INDUS Innovation, which will promote work in space, energy and other emerging technologies. It will be modelled on the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem, or INDUS-X, established in 2023. INDUS-X supports cooperation between the countries’ defence industries.
To that end, the US’ Air Force Research Laboratory announced in October 2023 cooperative research and development agreements with two Indian startups on technology for space domain awareness and Earth observation.
It’s clear that India’s space sector is at an inflection point. India’s history of innovation means its booming private sector could be poised for significant progress.
By harnessing the collective potential of ISRO and the startup ecosystem, India could become a major player in the global space economy. It’s the final frontier and it beckons.
Thank you all for listening. Please visit allindiansmatter.in for more columns and audio podcasts. You can follow me on Twitter at @AshrafEngineer and @AllIndiansCount. Search for the All Indians Matter page on Facebook. On Instagram, the handle is @AllIndiansMatter. Email me at editor@allindiansmatter.in. Catch you again soon.
