ISRO’ S SPACE AMBITIONS
ISRO’S SPACE AMBITIONS
Nikunja Bihari Sahu
After shooting down a decommissioned weather satellite with its ASAT rocket under the programme Mission Shakti, ISRO successfully launched a military satellite EMISAT along with 28 foreign satellites in its own launch vehicle PSLV C45, a new variant of PSLV with four strap-on motors. While the former demonstrated its ability to shoot down any moving hostile object in space to safeguard its outer space limits and the space assets deployed there, the latter clearly showed its capability to launch multiple satellites from a single launch system. Two years ago, ISRO also successfully launched 104 satellites by a single rocket including 101 foreign satellites to create a new milestone in space history. ISRO also made its intention clear last year to undertake the greatest feat in space exploration which is to launch a human into space in its ambitious Gaganayaan mission by the year 2022. ISRO plans to launch a string of other satellites this year including Chandrayaan 2 to land on Moon with a lander and a rover. All these pieces of evidence point out at the growing emergence of ISRO as the world’s leading space power and its dominant role in deciding the fate of space exploration in the days to come.
By shooting down a space target, India became the fourth nation in the world to demonstrate the ASAT weapon system technology in space after USA, Russia and China which the Prime Minister has commented as an indigenous effort to make India stands tall as a space power. Mission Shakti, according to him, was a highly complex manoeuvre, conducted at extremely high speeds with remarkable precision that shows the remarkable dexterity of India's outstanding scientists and the success of its space programme.
By launching EMISAT along with a host of 28 satellites, India scripted history by making many firsts in space exploration. So far, India used aircraft to track down enemy sites. However, the defence satellite EMISAT will ease the process of locating enemy radars by intercepting radar signals from the measurement of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Mastering outer space has become an inevitable necessity for national security considering the militarization of space by various nations in recent times. As future wars will be predominantly fought from space-based platforms, India’s recent endeavours of space showcase its commitment to exploiting this very important domain of strategic frontier.
A notable development in this direction is the contribution of industries outside ISRO to the growth of the country’s space sector which is evident from the fact that industries have contributed nearly 95% of hardware to the PSLV C45 mission. Another significant development is the close association of ISRO with defence establishments like DRDO which means ISRO’s expertise will benefit our defence sector immensely in fields like spying and surveillance and anti-terrorist operations. The third thing worth mentioning is the growing faith of foreign nations in ISRO’s capability of launching their satellites as this has a huge potential of earning foreign revenues.
Although some agencies have raised concern due to the generation of space debris from the destruction of the satellite possessing threats to their space assets including the International Space Station, ISRO downplays the claim by asserting that the experiment has been carefully chosen in the low earth orbit where the fragments will eventually enter the atmosphere and burn up as harmless objects. Our Prime Minister also silenced the critics by terming the programmes as the peaceful and harmonious exploration of space. The peaceful use of space includes global communication, navigation, and weather forecasting, remote sensing, development of new materials in zero gravity conditions among many other applications which have a great scope of benefitting mankind. As ISRO is expected to test many technologies and devices in space as part of its ongoing space ambitions, many path-breaking discoveries would unfold that would spill out of its main research line and eventually permeate the whole of mankind contributing to progress and development.
Education Officer
Regional Science Centre
Bhopal
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