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South Asia

May 20, 2005

India races into space
By Siddharth Srivastava

NEW DELHI - India recently successfully placed its 11th remote-sensing satellite Cartosat-1 into orbit - blasted into space by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) - stretching further its record to 12 launches, including broadcast satellites, without any failure, though there have been glitches.

The stage is now set for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), run by the government, to carry out a fully fledged commercial launch, with a little help from the US, by the removal of sanctions on dual-use technologies. India considers its missile, space and nuclear programs as closely inter-linked, with nuclear deterrence against Pakistan and China and benefits to the people through satellite technology and nuclear energy being critical factors.

But first, the significance of the satellite launch. The latest launch, carried out from a newly built second launch pad with an estimated cost of US$100 million, will provide the flexibility that exists with the Space Shuttle of the US and Europe's Ariane rockets. Indian launchers can now be assembled on a mobile platform in a separate work area and then transferred to the pad just days before launch. With this arrangement, one rocket can be at the pad while another is being commissioned. This was also the first time that the ISRO had launched two satellites in a single flight from Sriharikota (near the city of Chennai, in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu), the other on this occasion being the much smaller Hamsat for amateur radio broadcasts.

The launch "reaffirms the emergence of India as a major space power", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told parliament in New Delhi. India has committed to sending a probe to the moon in two or three years, but its space program has been mainly aimed at harnessing high technology for the masses.

While India's space program, largely developed by indigenous scientists with help from European partners and the US earlier, deserves kudos, similar technology is being used to build synergies into another arena - India has also announced that it will test-fire its longest range (3,000 kilometers) surface-to-surface missile, Agni III, capable of delivering nuclear payloads, by the end of the year. This range effectively covers China and Pakistan, unlike the earlier two versions. The development of India's missile program is a contravention of missile control and test-ban treaties, which India opposes as being biased toward major powers.

India's Agni project, which was launched in the late 1980s, has been under the US microscope, with the country using every persuasive power, including sanctions, to delay it. Indeed, progress in missile technology has happened concomitantly with the strides in space research as the motors used in the launch vehicles of satellites have been incorporated into missiles.

ISRO is developing two categories of rocket - the PSLVs are designed for earth observation and scientific missions, such as Cartosat-1, and the forthcoming Chandrayaan moon mission. The larger Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) carry communications satellites into geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the earth, at which height they can "hover" over the same place. The GSLV motors form the critical stages of operations of the long-range Agni.

Keeping India's interest in overcoming hurdles in procuring dual-use technologies, by getting US export control procedures simplified, the Indian parliament recently passed the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) bill, which the government has emphasized does not "in any manner constrict" India's nuclear program, either strategic or civilian.

The nuclear bill is important in light of India's emergence as a "nuclear state", and meets the country's commitments under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 passed in April 2004.

"For us, nuclear energy is an important means to address this challenge [energy security]. As such, we intend to maintain and expand our indigenous nuclear power program. This would also ease the strain on conventional energy supplies globally. Since India's record in non-proliferation is impeccable and acknowledged to be so internationally, the current restrictions on cooperation in nuclear power production with India have become anachronistic and counter-productive," Manmohan said in parliament recently.

The US, too, has had a change in strategy and has agreed to cooperate with India on nuclear energy, given India's record as a "responsible" nuclear power nation after successfully testing nuclear weapons in May 1998, unlike Pakistan, which has been accused of systematically peddling nuclear technology. India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as it feels that the agreement is biased toward the possessors of nuclear weapons.

Indeed, in the arena of space, too, many feel that the time is ripe for India to embark on a government-led campaign to win launch orders from other countries by putting in competitive bids, especially to developing countries. As in several other fields, India can follow the lead taken by China, which has joined hands with Brazil and which won an order last year to build and launch a communications satellite for Nigeria. Russia, the US and Europe continue to lead the world in space launches, followed by China.

In the past decade, the ISRO has launched eight PSLVs and three GSLVs without encountering any failure. Cartosat-1 is the 12th successful consecutive launch in 12 successive years. Cartosat-1 will join what is already the world's largest cluster of non-military remote-sensing satellites. Six Indian spacecraft are already observing the earth with a wide range of instruments. The INSAT series of satellites has given 90% of the population access to satellite television. The most recent launch in September last year was Edusat, used for building a distant-learning network.

Indian launch vehicles are not yet powerful enough for India's heaviest satellites, which have been launched on Europe's Ariane. But the ISRO plans to become self-sufficient in this sector from 2008, when its GLSV-3 launcher is due to be ready.

Last year, the ISRO won a $10 million contract to launch its first satellite for the European Union. Four satellites of Germany, South Korea and Belgium have been launched by the ISRO, which is set to launch an Italian satellite, Agile, early next year. India may launch Russian satellites for a global navigational system next year, a Russian space chief said earlier this month. India will send an Indonesian micro-satellite into space on an indigenous launch rocket by early 2006. The target is to garner a 10% share of all commercial space launches in the world in the next five years.

Space, nuclear energy, nuclear deterrence, it is always treading a fine line.

Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.

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