Editorial: Onward, upward for India in space

It is undoubtedly a moment of pride for India as one of its astronauts embarks on a space mission.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has become the second Indian to undertake a space voyage, and on top of it, he will be piloting the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission. He will also be the first Indian to visit the US space agency NASA’s International Space Station. Interestingly, the first Indian went to space aboard a Russian spacecraft, Soyuz. This time around, the Indian astronaut is travelling on SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, and the journey was made possible by a collaboration between NASA and ISRO and a commitment highlighted by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Another highlight is the public-private partnership between ISRO, NASA and its international partners and privately funded American commercial aerospace companies (in this case, it is the Houston-based company, Axiom Space.

ISRO will be building its knowledge and experimental prowess through a series of scientific investigations that are a part of the Axiom 4 mission. The Ax-4 research includes around 60 scientific studies and activities that underscore “the mission's global significance and collaborative nature to advance microgravity research in low-Earth orbit (LEO)”. Through these studies, India will gain crucial knowledge relating to the effects of space on microgravity and biology (like growing microalgae, which could be used as food). Microgravity research is critical for advancements in diverse fields ranging from medicine to material sciences to fundamental physics.

Beyond the hype of “Indian’s return to space” carrying hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians, the real significance of the mission is the gaining of first-hand experience of living and working in space which will give a fillip to ISRO's Gaganyaan Mission, a manned mission to the Low Earth Orbit (LEO). To succeed in the mission, ISRO needs to develop and deploy critical technologies relating to carrying the crew to space, to provide an earth-like environment for the crew in space and the management of any emergency.

The Ax-4 mission will open new avenues for Indian space companies to collaborate with foreign players. For instance, Axiom Space signed an MoU with Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace regarding widening access to LEO. Over the years, ISRO has spawned many non-government entities (NGEs) to be a part of its supply chain. Also, subsequently, a number of private aerospace companies emerged to make the most of the growing global space sector business. The Indian government took a historic decision to allow the burgeoning private players to participate in the entire gamut of space activities. Accordingly, the government formed the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) as a single-window, independent, nodal agency to promote private companies to build launch vehicles and satellites and provide space-based services.

The NDA government should be credited with initiating space reforms in 2020 and the formulation of India Space Policy 2023, which was built on the strong foundation and edifice created by successive Congress and UPA governments since the formation of ISRO in 1969. The NDA government’s major achievements include the space sector reforms and the 2023 space policy, which resulted in international collaborations with 61 countries and five multilateral bodies in areas such as satellite remote sensing, satellite navigation, satellite communication, space science and planetary exploration and capacity building. Looks like it is going to be onward and upward for the Indian space sector.