Chandrayaan 2 - The Strengthening of India As A Space Power

Chandrayaan-2 mission, headed by 2 female scientists viz. Ritu Karidhal and M. Vanitha, will help expand India's footprint in space, inspire a future generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers and surpass international aspirations. Even more interesting is the fact that 30 percent of the workforce in this mission were women. The Chandrayaan-2, which is just a Rs 978-crore project, will place the country in a niche league of nations populated by the US, Russia and China that have successfully conducted a moon-landing by sending a rover to the moon.

Beyond that, the lander will touch the region of the south pole of the moon, an unexplored territory making India the 1^st country in the world to probe the south pole to understand the extent of water distribution under the lunar surface. The Chandrayaan-2 mission is a giant leap forward in India's space dreams. The mission is also a precursor to the ambitious Aditya-L1 mission (to study the sun’s corona and its atmosphere by 2020), the Gaganyaan project (to place three Indians in space by 2022) and the Mars Orbiter Mission 2 aka MOM-2 (to assess Mars even closely in 2022-2023). Such upcoming space programs will boost India's dominance in the space world.

Fig 2.  M. Vanitha and Ritu Karidhal

There were and are several management aspects needed for the proper continuation of this mission or else it might fail even after reaching the moon. First of them was the cost-cutting in building the project with the minimum required cost. Secondly, proper management of the launch had helped in detecting the leak else the shuttle would have got annihilated after the launch and the entire project would have to be built from scratch. Due to this, ISRO would have had to face criticism globally. Thirdly, it’s the propellant management at various stages, engine burns, orbit and trajectory design.

The strategic advantage that it gives India needs to be acknowledged. Space is getting militarized. France and the US already have a space command. On March 27, 2019, India successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon that created unrest in the USA. Chandrayaan-2 proves that India can have equipment far away in invulnerable space. In the future, India could add space to its nuclear triad thus improving India’s nuclear strength.

Fig 3. A pictorial description of the mission

As countries would compete, the moon would be treated like any other geography that needs to be captured and dominated. The US has launched Project Artemis (the successor to the Apollo moon missions). Donald Trump, the US President, has set 2024 as a deadline to a man back on the moon. Elon Musk, Space X and Jeff Bezos are also targeting the same dates. The Chinese are not too far behind; they have already landed a probe on the far side of the moon. They are looking at a research station on the South Pole of the moon and a permanent manned presence by 2030s.

I am also amazed by the strategic vision of the political class. Despite being a fractious political system, our leaders have always had one unified vision for space. India has a very strong sense of her manifest destiny. There is no dilution in India’s space narrative irrespective of a churn in leadership. ISRO’s plans have transcended leadership change from the UPA to NDA seamlessly. And credit should be given to the deserved ones.

Fig 4. PM Modi watching the live telecast of the launch and congratulating the ISRO team for the same.

ISRO has come far from not being given any assistance by NASA in launching Nike-Apache rocket back in 1963 to being congratulated by NASA on the launch of Chandrayaan 2 and their willingness to work with ISRO for further space programs. India had to use bullock carts and bicycles to transport rocket parts and payloads to the launchpads as it didn’t receive any help from NASA. But, with the advancement in indigenous technology, ISRO now stands tall and is giving tough competition to all the best space organizations of the world. This kind of strength display is necessary to showcase what ISRO is capable of.

Fig 5. Rocket parts being transported by bicycles and bullock carts around 1963.