The perfect launch of India’s unmanned moon craft, Chandrayaan-1, from Sriharikota on Wednesday morning marks the beginning of a national odyssey. Projects like these, when successfully executed, have a demonstration and psychological effect that goes far beyond the specific achievements of the mission, since it demonstrates national technological capacity-building and successful organisation. Post-nationalist commentators may decry such sentiments, but they are of very real importance in countries like India that are still in the process of developing their full capabilities and which therefore need to build self-belief. The world noticed the level of organisation and technological wizardry that the Chinese demonstrated in organising the Olympics and in doing a space walk recently; in the same way, Chandrayaan-1 tells India something about itself.
As for the specifics of the country’s space research programme, Chandrayaan-1 is a milestone because India is only the sixth country to send a moon orbiter into space. Of the previous five, the US, Russia and Japan have planted their flags on the moon; the tri-colour will thus be the fourth. That is only of symbolic importance, of course, since the moon belongs to all of humanity, on the strength of global conventions. Though this is the world’s 68th mission to the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is right in asserting that Chandrayaan-1 is not an exercise in reinventing the wheel, since it is designed to go beyond what previous moon missions have explored. It will look for the presence of water (not yet traced on the moon) and potential energy sources, notably helium-3, besides other uncommon minerals. It will also prepare a high-resolution, three-dimensional map of the two polar regions of the moon, which have not yet been satisfactorily mapped. In addition, Chandrayaan-1 will prepare the ground for India’s proposed manned flight to the moon, slated for 2015.
No one should forget the business angle. This venture will give Isro a firmer foothold in the multi-million dollar satellite development and launch market. Isro has already made a beginning in this direction by developing and shipping a few satellites for foreign customers, and its claim to more such business strengthens after yesterday’s successful launch. India has real cost advantages in its space programme—mainly because of the low cost of its trained, scientific and technological manpower. There is no reason why this should not be used to make the country the leader in the business of launching (and even fabricating) satellites into space. There are security implications as well, which the government may not like to talk about but which are real, nevertheless. The technology evolved for the Chandrayaan mission can prove handy for intelligence gathering and developing space weaponry, including long-distance intercontinental missiles.
The lunar mission has just begun. It will be fully successful only when it performs its task of crash-landing the moon impact probe into the lunar surface, and delivering on its research programme. The hassle-free take-off has, in reality, been only the first and, perhaps, the easiest phase of the whole project—involving as it did the use of a modified version of a tested rocket. Precise maneuvers are required to place the satellite in its final lunar orbit, and then to hit the designated point on the lunar surface. Much of this is new ground for Isro, involving precise calculations of planetary positions and gravitational pulls. Also, the satellite has to function to specifications, and undertake the projects assigned to it. In short, there is no shortage of challenges facing Isro in the next fortnight and beyond.
