A new era in space exploration

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has landed two NASA astronauts at the International Space Station

Concept:

• It was the first time that astronauts used a spaceship built and launched by a private company, and the event is being widely seen as the beginning of a new era in space exploration.
• For NASA, it was the first flight of its astronauts on an American spaceship, launched on American soil, after nine years.
• SpaceX flight therefore is a culmination of more than decade-long efforts to free to enable private players build and operate what essentially is a commercial taxi-service to space, and allow NASA to concentrate on deep space exploration, and work more vigorously towards taking humans to moon, and Mars, and, possibly, on some asteroid, in between.
• The involvement of private industry in the space sector is nothing new. World over, more and more work of space agencies is being done in collaboration with private companies. There are literally hundreds of private entities building commercial satellites for their clients.

ISRO and private sector

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has collaborated with private in building and fabricating the components that go into making rockets and satellites.
• There are several that have started making satellites for their own use, or for their clients.
• However, launch services, including the building of rockets or launch vehicles to take the satellites into space, is something that is still some distance away in India right now.
• While ISRO has been collaborating more and more with private industry, the capability to independently carry out even routine space missions, like the ones that SpaceX or Boeing or Virgin Galactic has been missing.