India has made history by becoming the first country to land a craft near the moon's south pole — a “game-changing” development that highlights the country’s emergence as a space power as it moves forward with more ambitious missions and opens its space programs to private investors.
The landing module of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-3 mission touched down on the moon’s surface Wednesday evening in a landmark event that was followed live by millions in the world’s most populous nation.
“Generally speaking, people have always considered India's space capabilities as junior to those of Russia, Israel and Japan,” said Peter Garretson, senior fellow in Defense Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council.
“But after recently succeeding in a technological endeavor in which others had failed, India has signaled to the world that there is a new pecking order of space-faring nations,” he said.
The achievement, which came only days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years after India’s previous attempt failed at the last minute, was hailed by leaders and scientists around the world.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was attending a summit in Johannesburg of the BRICS bloc — comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — described the milestone as an “unforgettable moment” and “a victory cry of a new India."
He said his country, which has now joined the United States, Russia and China as the only countries to have successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon, will “continue to explore, learn and share for the betterment of all humankind.”
He added that the success of this mission – launched on July 14 – “belongs to all of humanity."
The hunt for moon water
Over the course of one lunar day, equivalent to 14 days on Earth, a solar-powered rover is now expected to analyze the chemical makeup of the south pole.
Scientists believe polar regions – particularly those that do not receive sunlight for long periods of time – could hold key reserves of frozen water and other minerals that could potentially support human habitation on the moon.
“The rover has a scientific payload that will study the surface for elements like aluminum, iron ore, silicon, titanium, magnesium and water ice,” said Namrata Goswami, a space policy expert and professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
Another task will be to help chart this unexplored area, with Goswami pointing out that, once a map of the terrain is created, it will help further some of the goals identified in the Artemis program, namely human habitation and space resource utilization.
Artemis is a U.S.-backed space initiative featuring more than two dozen other countries, including India and Japan, aimed at advancing lunar exploration and returning humans to the moon by late 2025.
Low-cost space programs
Experts say that India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission highlights not only the country’s technological prowess but also that it can achieve such a feat using indigenous systems and at a much lower price tag than established space powers.
“With this mission India is extending its end-to-end space capacities — launch system, orbiter, lander and rover — to achieve three critical goals,” Goswami said. “First, that it can land on the moon; second, that it can send out a rover; and finally, that it can carry out on-site resource utilization. And all this with a budget of around $75 million,” she added.
Indeed, keeping costs low has been a key requirement for a country that operates on a fraction of what others spend on space exploration.
The successful mission also shows that India’s space agency, which was founded in 1969 with the primary goal of designing and launching satellites, has made significant strides.
In 2008, the agency launched Chandrayaan-1, India’s first lunar orbiter mission, which was crucial in the discovery of lunar water molecules. In 2014, it successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, and five years later it launched Chandrayaan-2, in its first, although unsuccessful, attempt to land a probe on the moon.
Experts point out that India's space program has become so advanced because of the hard work of its employees, long-term investments in its talent base and continued government support, including sustained funding.
For the most part, India has done this on its own, choosing to invest in core competencies and promoting science education, which has resulted in an abundance of highly skilled engineers, said Garretson, who is also a strategy consultant on space and defense issues.
Private sector involvement
Garretson also pointed out that the recent moon landing has boosted the country’s international standing — following successive failed landing attempts by other countries — while giving its leadership confidence to further India’s space ambitions, particularly as New Delhi recently decided to open its state-funded space programs to the private sector.
According to a space policy document released in April, the government aims to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses, allowing private companies to undertake end-to-end space activities. This includes the operation of ground-based assets and services such as communication, remote sensing and navigation.
Moreover, the government has established institutions such as the New Space India and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center to incentivize private sector collaboration in both civilian and military space platforms.
“India has an extremely vibrant community of entrepreneurs who want to provide space goods and services to a global market,” Garretson said.
“What they now need is a proactive government that puts in place the right incentive structures and creates a sufficiently business-friendly environment to prevent some of its most talented engineers from seeking to incorporate overseas,” he added.
The growing space capabilities also mean that India is becoming an important space cooperation partner. This can be seen not only in its participation in Artemis but also other projects such as the Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) mission involving the country’s space agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
LUPEX’s goal is to obtain data on the quantity, distribution and forms of the water resources present on the moon to determine if they can be utilized for sustainable space exploration activities.
A further objective will be to understand how water on the lunar surface evolved to its present state. “Understanding how water is retained by planetary bodies is important for the prospect of future human exploration beyond the Earth," a JAXA spokesperson said, adding that this mission will take place sometime after 2025.
Moreover, India plans to help set up a lunar logistics system in collaboration with other Artemis nations. Other envisaged projects include sending another orbiter mission to Mars, as well one to Venus and another to study the sun.
India is also preparing its first astronaut mission to low-Earth orbit and has agreed to launch a joint mission with the U.S. that will see an Indian astronaut arrive at the International Space Station in 2024.
Analysts expect India’s space program to continue progressing over the coming years, with the country aspiring to contribute about 9% by 2030 — from 0.2% currently — to the global space market, which is now worth more than $400 billion, according to Goswami.
In the long run, experts believe India is likely to be among the world’s top three space-faring nations, given its strong demographic and economic growth projections.
“Youth, wealth and vibrancy account for a lot, and so I certainly think India will catch up to be as capable as the most capable space-faring states,” Garretson said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.