The Great Gig in the Sky

India is set to play a significant role in space exploration, because of a growing private sector and national projects. The country's space economy is projected to reach ₹35,200 crore by 2033. What will the flight path look like by 2047?

- NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA

"BECAUSE IT'S THERE!" English climber George Mallory reportedly said in 1924 when asked why he was trying to climb Mt Everest for the third time. By then, the farthest corners of the Earth had been explored, and only Everest was left. Mallory and fellow climber Andrew Irvine lost their lives in that bid.

A century later, that retort could sum up why the private sector has become a critical part of India’s space exploration plans, which grabbed eyeballs in 2014 with Mangalyaan. The Mars orbiter mission, its first interplanetary mission, cost less than Hollywood movies on science fiction, and the three Moon missions (2008, 2019 and 2023) have shown that the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has come of age.

In 2020, the government allowed the private sector to reach for the stars, creating the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). Private companies swarmed into the sector.

Coming up: missions targeting other planets and celestial bodies, a Mars mission and lunar exploration. By 2030, India’s share of the global space economy will be four times what it was in 2021, going up to 8% by 2030 from 2% in 2021. By 2047, India’s share will be 15%.

Sam Hutchison, Co-founder of Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA), is pitching for democratised space travel. He says a few nations have dominated space exploration. Over 80% of all astronauts have come from three countries—the US, Russia, and China.

Hutchison says things are changing. SERA is leveraging innovative space technologies such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket to build a community-driven platform that allows anyone, anywhere, to participate in space exploration and research. “As India’s national manned space programme advances, we are excited to include India in our upcoming mission,” Hutchison says. SERA will help India launch a citizen astronaut.