India: Another lunar advance

India plants its flag on the moon in yet another testament to the remarkable space strides it has made in the last few years, Harsh V Pant writes for ISN Security Watch.

India has successfully planted its flag on the lunar surface, thus becoming the fourth nation in the world to accomplish this feat. India's two-year lunar mission is a historic milestone for the country's space program and is aimed at laying the groundwork for further space expeditions.

The Indian government has already approved the follow-on Chandrayaan-2 mission, a collaborative venture with Russia. The data relayed by Chandrayaan-1 about its descent to the moon and the nature of its surface will pave the way for the soft landing of the rover that Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled to take to the moon.

For India, the lunar probe is yet another testament to the remarkable strides that it has made in the last few years as an economic and technological power. The mission is a sign of India's growing strategic ambition and an indication of the importance it gives to space exploration for commercial purposes.

The superpowers had dominated space for the last several years and now emerging powers such as China and now India are hoping to join them. Space capability is expected to translate into greater technological standing and strategic clout as well as an index of the high-technology frontier that India has finally conquered. Space is an important element of power projection, and the lunar mission is also part of an effort to assert Indian prowess in space.

The founding father of the Indian space program, Vikram Sarabhai, foresaw enormous practical benefits that could be derived from space, and as a result, Indian space efforts, historically, have tended to focus on applications like communications and remote sensing.

India perceived space as a means to raise the standard of living in a relatively poor nation and its space program was largely geared towards meeting the country's developmental needs. India long resisted the idea of competing with economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets of manned spaceflight.

The sanctions regime put in place following India's nuclear tests in 1974 hit ISRO hard as it could not partake of global high technology. This resulted in the indigenization of Indian space policy. India today designs, builds and launches its earth observation, weather and communication satellites. Now, ISRO has set its sights on the challenges of deep space exploration and is examining the possibility of mission to Mars and even one to study the Sun. It even hopes to put an Indian astronaut into space by 2015.

From the early 1990s, one of the top priorities of the ISRO has been the commercialization of its space activities. With this in mind, it created its commercial wing Antrix Corporation Ltd in 1994. The moon mission is also expected to yield commercial benefits for India's space program and will help India cement its position in the commercial satellite launch sector. India has been trying to win a larger share of the global commercial launch industry.

India is one of the six countries in the world with capabilities for geo-stationary launch. The space launch market offers considerable challenge for entry and development due to restrictions placed by major markets like the US on export of their satellites for launch. Several countries are interested in India's ability to send up satellites for a relatively low price. Initial forays were made by Antrix by offering launch services in piggy back mode to Germany, Belgium, Argentina and South Korea. In 2007, a full-fledged commercial launch was performed by PSLV by carrying an Italian astronomical satellite, AGILE. This was followed by the launch of Tec-SAR, an Israeli spy satellite, earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the space race in Asia is in full swing.

China became the third nation after the US and the erstwhile USSR to fly a man into space in 2003, and followed it up last month with its first spacewalk. Chinese and Japanese crafts are already in orbit around the moon and India has now joined the race.

Though the lunar probe is India's first space expedition beyond Earth's orbit, Indian scientists believe they are better off in many areas including communication satellites and launch abilities. China has not succeeded in transforming its accomplishments in its space program into profitable private sector applications.

India, however, continues to lag behind China in the military use of outer space. India's space launch program has been a very important element in its ballistic missile program, providing it with the necessary research and facilities at various times. While the stated objective of India's space program was to achieve a satellite-launch facility for communication and education purposes, it was clear that should the circumstances demand, India would have the capability "to match the weight of nuclear warheads with those of scientific satellites," thereby positioning India for a credible missile capability.

India has only recently started taking the military dimension of its space program seriously, and as the space race among major powers gains momentum, it will become pivotal for Indian military planners.

With China viewing war in space as an integrated part of military operations, India is gradually coming to terms with the creeping weaponization of space. It was the Chinese test of its anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon last year that has forced India towards a reappraisal of its military space program. Most elements of Chinese space operations are under effective control of the People's Liberation Army and remain cloaked in secrecy, generating suspicions in the region and beyond.

The Indian government has long resisted the demand of its military to establish an Aerospace Command by arguing that it does not want to trigger an arms race in outer space. But gradually, India is realizing that whether it likes it or not the arms race in outer space has already started and there is little India can do to stop it.

The Indian Army Chief noted earlier this year that India should "optimize space applications for military purposes," given that "the Chinese space program is expanding at an exponentially rapid pace in both offensive and defensive content." India has now decided to establish an Integrated Space Cell for more effective utilization of the nation's space-based assets for military purposes.

In the coming years, the civilian aspects of the Indian space program can be expected to gather further momentum, whereas the military aspects will continue to lag behind. If, however, the major space faring nations are not able to control the weaponization of space, India will also speed up its military priorities in this domain.

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