Every passing week, our space programme cracks another milestone. Interstellar achievements make us proud

On March 21, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch the PSLV-C45 mission that will release 30 payloads into three different orbits. If this launch is successful, as it should be, India’s space programme will have yet another feather in its cap, much to the chagrin of some other more economically developed nations and, notably, our former coloniser, the United Kingdom, some of whose newspapers cannot bear the fact that their rocket programme is limited to some amateur hobbyists. India’s space mission is by far and away this nation’s most significant scientific achievement with a remarkable ability to keep costs down. In fact, the success of the space programme makes one wonder how India has failed so spectacularly in so many other home-grown research and development endeavours such as developing a fighter jet.

As the private sector starts involving itself more in the research and development space, it should take lessons from ISRO’s success. All of it has come thanks to the abilities of Indian-trained engineers and scientists. One should also look at the remarkable gender diversity in ISRO’s corps of rocket engineers. Not only should private companies spend a bit of effort in attracting women to such male-dominated fields but the success of India’s women rocketeers should be used by the Government to spur more women to sign up for scientific fields. A greater gender diversity in science can lead to remarkable innovation and success as has been demonstrated by ISRO. The space agency’s success is also evidence of what can be achieved when there is a clear vision and policy plan spanning decades and administrations with minimal political interference.

Once upon a time, India’s space programme was a laughing stock as our rockets kept on blowing up and we needed to subcontract satellite launches to Russia, the US and Europe. But our scientists persevered till we had some amazing successes such as sending probes to the Moon and Mars. Now we will be sending an Indian into the orbit on an Indian rocket. In fact, India is progressing on manned launches while many other nations are scaling back their space programmes. For example,  the US currently does not have a manned programme although we could all learn lessons from America’s innovative involvement of the private sector with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin. Onward and upward we are moving.