India's Remarkable Leap in Space Exploration

India is witnessing a significant scientific and technological renaissance, with its promising space program serving as a cornerstone. Through a series of qualitative leaps, India has quickly positioned itself alongside the few nations that have ventured into space. It now owns one of the largest space programs in the world, responsible for designing, building, launching, operating, and tracking a comprehensive suite of satellites, rockets, lunar explorers, and planetary probes.

These accomplishments were crowned on August 23 with a historic achievement when the Indian space mission "Chandrayaan 3" touched down on the moon's surface. The mission included an unmanned lander called "Vikram" and a rover named "Pragyan" inside it. This success came shortly after Russia's failed attempt to regain its space glory following the crash of its "Luna 25" spacecraft, the first Russian vehicle sent to the moon since 1976.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia's lack of successful missions beyond low Earth orbit, India has emerged as possessing the third most advanced deep-space exploration program in the world.

As the country emerged last year as the fifth-largest economy globally, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government seeks to showcase India's rising status as a technological and space power, affirming its place among the global elite.

Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon's image just prior to touchdown.

— ISRO (@isro) August 24, 2023

India's Space Program

India's space research activities began in the early 1960s when satellite applications were still in experimental phases, even in the United States. With the first live broadcast of the Tokyo Olympic Games across the Pacific via the American satellite "Syncom 3" in 1964, demonstrating the real power of communication satellites, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of the Indian space program, realized the benefits space technology could bring to India.

Convinced of the capability of space resources to address real-life human and societal issues, Dr. Sarabhai, as the director of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, rallied a cadre of distinguished scientists, anthropologists, communication experts, and sociologists from across the country to lead the Indian space program.

This led to establishing the Indian National Committee for Space Research in 1962 under the Department of Atomic Energy. Later, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was set up in August 1969, replacing the national committee.

Satellite Projects

ISRO developed a series of satellite launch platforms, including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). These satellites are used for crop mapping and surveying, monitoring the damage caused by natural disasters and soil erosion, providing medical and educational services remotely, and ensuring communication to remote rural areas.

India launched its first satellite, "Aryabhata," in 1975 using a Soviet launch platform. It succeeded in orbiting its first indigenous satellite, named "Rohini," in 1980.

India now boasts a vast system of multi-purpose satellites, such as the INSAT system, a geostationary satellite orbiting Earth over India, used for communications, broadcasting, meteorology, and climate. There is also the string of IRS satellites dedicated to remote sensing.

Lunar Exploration

In October 2008, India launched "Chandrayaan 1" (meaning "Mooncraft" in Sanskrit), its first mission beyond Earth's confines, aiming to explore the moon. It successfully reached the moon's orbit the following month, orbiting to study the presence of water molecules on its surface. Although it failed to land, it provided evidence in 2009 of water ice inside craters at the moon's southern pole using a NASA scientific instrument, sparking a renewed interest in lunar exploration, given the potential future use of the water ice to provide hydrogen fuel, air, and drinking water for astronauts.

The second mission, "Chandrayaan 2," was launched in July 2019 to the moon's orbit, but the ambitious plan to land near the south pole suffered a setback after the unmanned spacecraft lost contact two months following its launch.

The successful landing in the latest mission, "Chandrayaan 3," marks India's emergence as a space force. The government looks to stimulate investment in private launch operations and satellite-related businesses.

With this safe landing, India became the fourth country to successfully descend on the moon's surface after the former Soviet Union in 1959, the United States in 1969, and China in 2018. It is also the first country to land successfully near the south pole, accomplishing a global precedent in international space programs to reach this largely unknown and underexplored spot, potentially rich in vital reserves of frozen water and valuable elements, and that can be a source for supplying future lunar bases with water and oxygen.

In a surprising announcement a few days ago, ISRO announced another unique accomplishment – transferring the Propulsion Module (PM) from Chandrayaan 3 from lunar orbit to Earth orbit. This crucial test of core capabilities is paramount for gathering additional information for future lunar missions, including returning lunar samples to Earth.

Mission to Mars

In November 2013, India successfully launched the "Mangalyaan" mission as its first interplanetary mission orbiting Mars. With this achievement, India became the first Asian country to reach Mars orbit and the first in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.

The mission carries five scientific payloads to study the surface and mineralogy of Mars and search for methane in the planet's atmosphere.

"Mangalyaan" reached Mars after nearly 11 months from its launch, positioning India as the fourth entity to accomplish this task after America, Russia, and the European Union. India achieved this significant feat with an incredibly low cost compared to known space missions, totaling only $74 million.

Mission to the Sun

Earlier this month, and just one week after the successful landing of "Chandrayaan 3" at the lunar south pole, India launched a probe to study the sun.

The "Aditya L1" vehicle is set to travel 1.5 million kilometers over four months before reaching the "Lagrange points," where it remains in an automatic steady position due to the balance of gravitational forces, significantly reducing fuel consumption.

The mission aims to study the sun's outer layers and solar winds, which can cause disturbances on Earth affecting terrestrial communications and satellite operations, and help understand the sun's impact on Earth's climate patterns and the origin of solar winds.

Manned Space Flight

India is working on realizing its ambitious program called "Gaganyaan," aiming to send Indian astronauts into space.

The Gaganyaan project is designed to demonstrate India's ability to send human spaceflights by launching a three-person crew into a 400-kilometer orbit in a three-day mission and bringing them safely back to Earth, landing in the Indian Ocean.

The project will be accomplished through a strategic approach, leveraging domestic expertise, the Indian industry's experience, the intellectual capacities of academia, and Indian research institutions, along with advanced technologies available with international agencies. The project's core requirements involve developing several vital technologies, including an appropriate launch vehicle to safely transport the crew into space, a life support system to provide an earth-like environment for the crew in space, ensuring safe crew evacuation in emergencies, and developing training aspects for the crew of the promising mission.