TOGETHER WE RISE

With an aim to be a major space power, India has successfully launched Chandrayaan-3, its third moon mission, and embarked on a lunar soft landing, marking the country’s rapid progress in space exploration. The mission is slated to establish India as the fourth country in the world to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon’s surface.

No feat can be accomplished in silos. This milestone achievement is the result of a public-private partnership. It is a marvel in itself the way the country’s national space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created a new spacecraft in conjunction with several Indian companies.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), Paras Space and Defence Technologies, Godrej Aerospace, New Space India Ltd, Walchandnagar Industries Ltd, Centrum Electronics, MTAR Technologies, Himson Industrial Ceramic, Ananth Technologies Ltd, and a few more have worked closely with ISRO to make this mission a success. The key components supplied to ISRO by these Indian companies clearly prove India’s capabilities and potential in the global space market.

The collaborations between Government agencies and private organizations for manufacturing critical parts for satellites and their launchers have accelerated the space mission and paved the way to attract investments and boost India’s private space sector.

The Government has earmarked US$ 137 billion for the Department of Space in the Union budget of 2022-23. Presently, India contributes 2-3 percent to the global space economy, which is expected to rise to 10 percent by 2030.

Having said that, the successful launch will witness many developed and developing countries approach ISRO for building cost-effective satellites and offering affordable satellite launching services to other countries.

On that note, we wait with bated breath to see India accomplish the first mission ever to successfully soft-land in the vicinity of the lunar south pole.

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