Given Isro’s safety record in over 100 space events, the space agency can well claim that it represents great value for money
Given Isro’s safety record in over 100 space events, the space agency can well claim that it represents great value for money
It is a matter of national pride that India has placed in orbit the first of its dedicated navigation satellites — IRNSS 1A — to provide a system similar to GPS while increasing the surveillance capability of the security forces.
The cost of this one satellite of a planned seven in the Indian regional satellite navigation system may be `1,600 crore. However, it is the price to be paid for independence from the global positioning system provided by the US as such data may not be available in the event of war, however unlikely such a scenario sounds despite the perception that India is surrounded by not-so-friendly or outright hostile neighbours.
With the system being compatible with GPS and Galileo, the satellite does place India in a technologically advantageous position even if the cost seems incongruous when measured against not only the poverty of millions but also, more worryingly, the undernourished state of many of our children. Arguments against technological progress are hard to sustain when a nation’s worth in a fast changing world is measured also by advancements in science, especially in a prestigious area like space programmes.
The launch and placement of the satellite in its designated orbit is another feather in Isro’s cap. How unpredictable launches can be even in an advanced era of space launches was brought into focus by the crash of a Russian Proton-M rocket carrying three Glosnass system satellites — which, much like India’s, were the equivalent of the GPS — over the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakshtan. This accident happened within hours of the Indian satellite going up.
Also, India’s meritorious space programme is not driven by the one-upmanship that began in October 1957, when Russia placed the first man-made satellite — Sputnik — in Earth orbit. For instance, a relatively inexpensive Mars orbiter makes more sense than a perilous Mars landing that costs a billion dollars and more. Given Isro’s safety record in over 100 space events, which is not bad compared with launches by other countries around the world, the space agency can well claim that it represents great value for money. A positioning system that helps in terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation should be a big positive that would go some way towards fulfilling the PM’s projection of the space programme helping socio-economic development.
