What the success of Gaganyaan could mean for Indian science

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Space sector

Context:

India earlier this month revealed the names of the four Air Force officers selected for the Gaganyaan Mission, the country’s maiden attempt at sending humans into Space.

More on news:

Scheduled for launch next year, it would have the first Indian astronauts in 40 years and the first ones to go on an Indian spacecraft.
Just three countries – the United States, Russia and China – have executed human spaceflight missions till now.

Why India wants to have a stake in Space technologies

Becoming an active participant in this new-age Space exploration would ensure access to rights, resources and new technologies.
India could then build expertise and opportunities for these technologies’ early adoption.
Space programmes in the past have also resulted in hundreds of important spin-off technologies, including some breakthrough interventions in the health and medicine sector like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), heart implants, and advanced water filtration.

The need to avoid technology denial

India has suffered in the past because of the technology denial policies of other countries, with access to technology often used as a blackmail measure.
For example, in the 1990s, the US denied India cryogenic technology that is critical for powering rockets.
It slowed down India’s Space programme by almost two decades.
After India conducted its nuclear tests in 1998, even basic parts, like certain kinds of transistors and semiconductors, were denied due to economic sanctions.
The covid-19 pandemic came as another shock when it was realized that even basic items like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and medicines needed to be procured from abroad.

New science and technology projects announced by India:

The government has announced separate missions on green hydrogen, quantum computing, and the latest one last week on artificial intelligence.
India has joined some of the biggest international scientific projects like the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Square Kilometer Array, which would involve building several facilities within the country.

About Gaganyaan:

Gaganyaan is an ISRO mission aiming to send Indian astronauts to low-Earth orbit using an Indian launch vehicle.
It is a demonstration mission to test technologies essential for human spaceflight, showcasing India’s capability in producing, qualifying, and utilizing these technologies.
Future goals for ISRO include establishing an indigenous space station by 2035 and landing an Indian on the moon by 2040.
ISRO plans to integrate these ambitious projects with future lunar explorations, starting with a joint mission with Japan for lunar rover landing and a mission to return lunar soil samples to Earth.
The Indian government has expanded spaceflight and services responsibilities beyond ISRO to New Space India Ltd. (NSIL) for commercialization and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) for authorizing space activities.
Additionally, ISRO has established the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) to coordinate the Gaganyaan mission.

It also promised to launch a new scheme for promoting deep-tech capabilities in the defense sector.