The Indian space programme has come a long way from its modest beginnings on November 21, 1963, when it launched its first rocket. That was a Nike Apache, imported from the United States. The two-stage rocket climbed to an altitude of 208 km. Today, 45 years on, India is launching its first moon mission —Chandrayaan-1. This time, with fully indigenous work, Indian scientists plan to cover a distance of some 3,84,467 km. The mission involves placing a 525-kg spacecraft in lunar orbit; and it carries sensors from European countries and the US.

This clearly shows the confidence these major space-faring entities have in ISRO’s capabilities. For more than four decades the Indian space programme has faced many challenges. Most recently, ISRO was the worst-hit among major Indian institutions by India’s nuclear ambitions; it paid a heavy price because of the sanctions regime put in place following India’s first nuclear test in 1974. The sanctions may have barred ISRO from importing high technology, but, in hindsight, it could be argued that, in a way, that helped the process of indigenisation.

With the Chandrayaan-1 mission India is taking a big leap into previously unexplored areas of space. This marks the first Indian venture into planetary space science. Over the years the space programme has essentially revolved around designing and developing launchers and satellites for remote sensing and communication, as well as for meteorological purposes. This dates to the original vision: the vision that was clearly articulated by Vikram Sarabhai in presence of the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, when she dedicated the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station to the United Nations. He stated then that India’s programme is civilian, focussing on space technology as an additional tool for the socio-economic development of the country. It was supposed to be a programme capable of using space technologies in areas judged vital for development — such as communications, meteorology, and natural resource management. During the ‘70s Sarabhai argued that India should not fantasise about competing with economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned spaceflight.

... contd.