India's Space Program - Research Paper Example

?Research paper – India’s space program The potential of s to secure their position in the international community has been related to specific strategies: emphasizing to space missions is an example. However, the particular strategy cannot be employed by all governments mostly due to the high costs involved. In this paper the decision of India to send a space vehicle to Mars is evaluated taking into consideration the country’s overall needs and its financial status. The paper is against the India’s space program. This thesis is justified in the paper using appropriate scientific evidence. India’s involvement in space programs can be traced at the beginning of 1960s. Actually, it was just in 1962 that the authority that would control the relevant science projects established in India: reference is made to the ‘Indian National Committee for Space Research’ (Moltz 114). Since then, the country’s missions to space have been related to a particular target: to secure the social and economic environment of the country (Sadeh 303). More specifically, the space program of India has been based on ‘the needs of man and society’ (Moltz 114). However, if reviewed carefully, the particular program is proved as being far from its initial mission. One of the most important issues that should be taken into consideration when developing a space program is the program’s financing needs. In the case of India, this rule had not been followed. According to Sadeh (11) the gaps between the estimated cost of a space program and its final cost is a common problem in the specific sector. For this reason, the government of a country involved in such project needs to locate in advance potential sources of funds that could be used when the project would exceed its budget (Sadeh 11). In the case study it is explained that the cost of the whole project reached the level of $70m (page study, p.1), an amount that it is considered as extremely high if taking into consideration the current status of Indian economy. The review of the historical development of India’s space program shows that there has been no provision for covering extra costs during the project’s life cycle (Sadeh 303). On the other hand, the threat from neigbouring countries, especially of China, is often used as an argument for justifying India’s space program (Harding 107). According to the case study, India’s mission to Mars has been decided not so much for gathering information in regard to the planet’s ground and environment but mostly in order to verify the country’s technological advances especially compared to its key rival, i.e. China (page study, p.1). Of course, the potential use of space technology for securing the country’s safety in terms of national security cannot be ignored. However, such target would be in opposition with the program’s initial mission, i.e. to respond to the needs of the country’s social and economic environment (Sadeh 303). In other words, a contradiction appears between the targets on which the establishment of the program was based and the targets that appear today as the program’s priorities, such as the increase of India’s military strength towards its rivals, or the improvement of the country’s position in geo-political terms. The inappropriateness of India’s space mission, at least in regard to the current period of time, is also proved through the following facts: A) The status of India’s current infrastructure seems to be quite low. In fact, it was a few days before the mission to Mars that due to severe damages the country’s power supply units stopped their operations; even if the problem caused by the weather the extension of the damage, about 825 electric poles had to be replaced, reveals the weakness of the country in maintaining its vital infrastructure (Salomi 2013). At this point, the following question appears: how the country could support a mission to space while facing such problems in regard to its energy infrastructure is a question that cannot be easily answered. B) The stability of India’s economy has not been secured. In August 2013 the country’s currency faced quite strong pressures and its value was significantly decreased (The Economist 2013). Soon, the crisis was further expanded leading to the limitation of FDI in the country (MarketPlace 2013). In addition, up to now, Britain supports India with an annual sum of ?280m; the specific aid-program will be terminated in 2015 according to a relevant announcement of the British government (Sky News 2012). It is clear that the stability of Indian economy is severely threaten; in such context, the decision of the Indian government to support a space mission to Mars cannot be justified. C) The mission of Mars is related to many risks; actually, it is impossible to secure the success of the project since the space vehicle sent to Mars has to face a series of challenges before reaching the red planet (Bagla 2013). Indeed, the success of the mission could be assessed only when reaching Mars, a fact that denotes the high risks involved in the particular project (Bagla 2013). This means that the huge investment of $70m made on the specific mission could be lost, leading to zero benefit. D) India has been proved to be among the countries that have ‘the highest level of child malnutrition’ (BBC News 2013). At this point the following question can be set: how a country that has failed in covering the nutrition needs of its population invest such amount, approximately $72m as estimated by the researchers of BBC News, on space missions? The concerns in regard to the necessity of these missions in the case of India are unavoidable. As noted in the relevant article of BBC News, India is, still, an emerging country (BBC News 2013) meaning that its financial potentials are not standardized and that uncertainties and risks related to national income can appear anytime. India’s mission to Mars cannot be justified. The reasons for developing such view are many: a) India’s economic growth is not standardized; therefore, the exposure to costs that would result to severe economic pressures should be avoided; b) the country has other needs that should be set as priorities; reference is made in particular to the nutrition needs of the population but also to the country’s needs in terms of infrastructure; c) the success of the mission to Mars cannot be guaranteed. Instead, the risks involved are many and the chances for failures, even during the last phases of the project are quite high. In other words, the mission to Mars does not serve any of the country’s emergent needs nor it can secure economic stability in the long term. Under these terms, the decision of the Indian government to approve this project could lead to severe economic and political turbulences especially if the budget of the project exceeds its initial limit, a phenomenon common in plans of such kind as revealed in the literature. Works Cited Bagla, P., 2013. “India's mission to Mars: Crucial operation to be conducted after midnight.” Nov 30, 2013. NDTV. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/india-s-mission-to-mars-crucial-operation-to-be-conducted-after-midnight-452908 BBC News. “India launches spacecraft to Mars.” 5 November 2013. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24729073 Harding, Robert. Space Policy in Developing Countries: The Search for Security and Development on the Final Frontier. London: Routledge, 2012. Available at http://books.google.gr/books?id=aJ9YQ1y_OzwC&pg=PA107&dq=space+race+and+Indian+government&hl=el&sa=X&ei=Q1C5Uoq0JufB0QWL04CIDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=space%20race%20and%20Indian%20government&f=false Marketplace, 2013. “India faces worst economic crisis in 20 years.” Aug 28, 2013. http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/bbc-world-service/india-faces-worst-economic-crisis-20-years Moltz, James. Asia's Space Race: National Motivations, Regional Rivalries, and International Risks. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Available at http://books.google.gr/books?id=h16AnwvpSQwC&pg=PA113&dq=space+race+and+Indian+government&hl=el&sa=X&ei=Q1C5Uoq0JufB0QWL04CIDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=space%20race%20and%20Indian%20government&f=false Sadeh, Eligar. Space Strategy in the 21st Century: Theory and Policy. London: Routledge, 2013. Available at http://books.google.gr/books?id=pKQoZKkHOycC&pg=PA319&dq=space+race+and+Indian+government&hl=el&sa=X&ei=Q1C5Uoq0JufB0QWL04CIDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=space%20race%20and%20Indian%20government&f=false Salomi, V., 2013. “825 electric poles damaged in last 2 days.” The Times of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-16/patna/43105706_1_power-supply-bsphcl-power-disruption Sky News, 2012. “Britain To End Financial Aid To India In 2015.” Nov 9, 2012. http://news.sky.com/story/1009157/britain-to-end-financial-aid-to-india-in-2015 The Economist, 2013. “India in trouble: Why India is particularly vulnerable to the turbulence rattling emerging markets?” Aug 24, 2013. http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21584010-why-india-particularly-vulnerable-turbulence-rattling-emerging Read More