Asking for the Moon

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This article first appeared in The World at www.theworldonline.ae

In 2003 when Sachin Bahmba started his new business he never thought he would soon be reaching the stars. Literally. Bahmba is the founder of an organisation called SPACE (Science popularisation association of communicators and educators), which educates kids in India about, well, space.

The US$2 million (Rs 100 million) company organises programmes and activities associated with the outer world... Bahmba is hoping that in the next three years he can make SPACE into a US$20 million (Rs 1,000 million) enterprise. According to him: "If the last 20 years were of computer, the next twenty years are of space. I thought it is a field worth investing in and I'm right."

In a country that has given scores of scientists to US space agency NASA and elected a rocket scientist as president, SPACE is in a good marketplace. It's been involved in teaching space science to about 75,000 students starting from Grade 6. Their activities include practical demonstrations of space-based phenomena. They also arrange nearly 2,000 space observations every year.

Bahmba is not the only one boasting big figures. Today Indian space industry is worth US$200 million (Rs 10 billion). India's recent launch of its US$74 million maiden moon mission, has even America worried - one reason being it's ten times cheaper than NASA's own. US President elect Barack Obama said, "With India's launch of its first unmanned lunar spacecraft, we are reminded just how urgently the United States must revitalise its space programme."

India's unmanned moon mission was launched on October 22 from Sriharikota, South Asia's equivalent of Cape Canaveral. On November 8 it reached lunar obit and when on November 14 Chandrayaan's moon impact probe landed on lunar surface India became only the fifth country in the world to touch down on extra-terrestrial soil. chandra1.jpg

Over the next two years Chandrayaan will be orbiting the moon. It's carrying 11 instruments that will help prepare comprehensive maps of the moon. Three of the instruments are from the European Space Agency, two from US and one from Bulgaria.

Chandrayaan is India's maiden moon mission but for India's space agency ISRO this was not a maiden achievement. Early last year ISRO created a world record by successfully launching 10 satellites in one go. India has 11 national communications satellites in orbit at present and it took only 35 years for ISRO to achieve this kind of top class rocket and satellite technology, most of it developed indigenously.

According to ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair, in the area of applied space technology India is considered as a leader. "Our societal applications such as tele-medicine, tele-education and the concept of Village Resource Centers are unique, which has attracted the attention of the world."

And that means business. So far India has launched 16 satellites for countries including Germany, Belgium, Italy, Israel, Korea and Indonesia. Daily data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites is received at about 20 ground stations across the globe including the USA, Europe and China.

Latin American and African countries are keen to use India's space programmes in improving education and healthcare for their own masses. Asia-Pacific nations are seeking Indian expertise in disaster management, flood control, exploration of minerals and identification of ground water resources - all using remote sensing satellites.

India's cost of launching a satellite varies from US$15,000 to US$25000 per kg, depending on orbit and special requirements. According to Antrix Corporation, ISRO's arm responsible for marketing commercial space on its rockets, this is at least 25 per cent cheaper than any other space organisation. Antrix has registered a major growth in the last few years. According to Managing Director KR Sridharmurthy, "Antrix has registered a 41 per cent growth in its revenue and touched US$1.9 billion (INR94 billion) during 2007-08. The profit showed 50 per cent increase."

India will also be hitching a ride on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic's first shot at earth orbit. Businessman Santosh George Kulangara will become India's first space tourist. Kulangara has shelled out US$200,000 for this trip.

The achievements do not stop here. As the country is still basking in Chandrayaan-1's success, ISRO is already working hard on Chandrayaan-2. Likely to be launched in 2011 or 2012, it will carry a lander and a rover programmed to collect lunar samples, analyse the data and transmit back to earth.

That is not all: India has plans to undertake human space flight by 2015. The plan is to put up to three astronauts into low earth orbit for a duration of about a week and bring them back safely.

The journey, as they say, has just begun...