Ace in space

Getting off to a flying start in the new year under a new chief, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved yet another milestone by successfully performing the docking of satellites as a part of the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX). This exercise is expected to make the country better equipped for more ambitious and complex missions such as the Bharatiya Antriksha Station, Chandrayaan-4 and Gaganyaan. India’s stature in space has gone up a few notches as it has become the fourth country — after the US, Russia and China — to accomplish the feat. It is remarkable that ISRO has bounced back from the Chandrayaan-2 heartbreak of 2019 to make rapid strides in the past couple of years, especially the Chandrayaan-3 soft-landing in 2023.

The strategic importance of the space sector cannot be overemphasised. The SpaDeX success comes amid a fierce race between the US and China, which are both going all out to send a crew to the moon — the first since NASA’s Apollo programme conducted its final mission in 1972. Just a few weeks ago, China accused America of initiating “dangerous actions” to jeopardise global strategic stability after the US Space Force stationed a unit in Japan. Beijing itself has been speedily expanding its military capabilities in space. President Xi Jinping’s “eternal dream” of building China into a space power has an ominous ring to it. This is worrisome not only for the US but also for its ally India, whose relations with China continue to be uneasy despite recent signs of a thaw.

The Chinese challenge makes it imperative for India to develop cutting-edge capabilities to protect its space assets such as satellites and indigenous launch vehicles. This should go hand in hand with greater stress on research and innovation to ensure that the country’s space programme remains on course for human spaceflight and other key missions.