Indian space program - Essay Example

However, there was another country, which made the dream of going to space its own, and this was a developing nation situated in Asia, known by the name ‘India.’ The Indians, although lagging in terms of national progress and technological advancement, still developed their own space technology and finally sent their first human to space shortly after the same was done by the former mentioned countries. Since then India has dedicated its time and efforts to strenuously enhance in the field of space technology and reach further heights, which decades ago, was not even imagined of.

Pallava Bagla, one of India’s prominent science commentators, and author of ‘Destination Moon: India’s Quest for Moon, Mars and Beyond’ highlights that where it was the “US against the Soviets” in the last century’s space race, however, in the present century this space race means “India against China (Burke, 2013: 1). The topic of space travel and allied programmes in the context of the world in general and India in particular assumes great scope in the present day, as it may pave the way for future progress on various aspects.

Besides, India is a nation that always strives to forge friendly relations with other countries, especially the UK and US. Therefore, it is also a topic relevant to the present global political environment. Literature Review: In order to gain extensive knowledge on the present space programmes in India and to attain an overall idea of their space capabilities, it is necessary to review the information by analysing the literature published on the topic in reliable sources. This, apart from providing evidence on the existing knowledge that the researcher possesses, will also enable to reveal additional aspects of the topic that the researcher may not be aware of.

Therefore, a literature review has been conducted, which has enabled the research to gain the following information, which is arranged in different sections as under. Historical Background of Indian Space Programme: Indian Space Programme found its origins in “Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR),” which was formed under the “Department of Atomic Energy in 1962” (Outcome Budget of the Department of Space Government of India 2013: 1). The first official undertaking of the Indian Space Programme took place on an auspicious November day in the year 1963, with the launch of the “first sounding rockets” that aimed to investigate the earth’s ionosphere (Outcome Budget of the Department of Space Government of India 2013: 1).

The launch took place at Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, situated in Thiruvananthapuram, which is the capital city of a major south Indian state. Later on, in 1967, the “Experimental Satellite Communication Earth Station (ESCES)” was set up in “Ahmedabad” (Dadhwal 2013: 2). The year 1969 saw the transformation of the space program into a concrete organization, which came to be known as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Thus, with the formation of the ISRO, India was able to take its space endeavours to the next level, and this was further enhanced with the constitution of the Indian Space Commission as well as the establishment of the Department of Space (DoS) in 1972.

India owes the groundwork of its space endeavours to Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, “