India Tests its Space Shuttle

Who knew India had a space shuttle (shown above). Actually, it is a prototype of a reusable launch vehicle that should lead to greater things. The first flight on Monday lasted only 13 minutes.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his pleasure at the successful flight earlier this week:

Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the result of the industrious efforts of our scientists. Congrats to them.

This could help India increase its share of the space transportation industry, giving SpaceX and others some real competition. 

We Are Not Alone...

That is, we are not alone in our efforts to study the solar system and dream as a nation. This is good news, and yet also a little troubling since we saw ourselves as the smartest kid on the block (though one could argue that was not even the case with Russia during the Cold War until the Apollo landing).  While the Orion mission is a bold step forward, it is not clear where that step is leading as Congress debates destinations such as asteroids, the Moon, and Mars.  And the White House seems to be taking a back seat rather than voicing a vision. 

If you look at the traffic in space, you can see the "space race" is turning into rush hour:  Here are a few examples:

- Europe:  The Rosetta mission was a great accomplishment.  Landing a probe on a comet is no small task, and the European Space Agency (ESA) should be elated with this accomplishment.  ESA is also working with Russia on a new mission to Mars, something that the U.S. backed out of earlier.  Hence, alliances are forming with the U.S. being sidelined.

- China:  China continues to work on its plans for a space station and took further steps last year in its efforts to return samples from the moon.  China already has a rover on the Moon's surface. 

- Japan:  Japan launched the Hayabusa 2 mission last month (pictured above) heading for a 3,000-foot-wide asteroid named 1999 JU3.  NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plan to share asteroid samples.

- Russia:  The Russians continue to build most of the rockets we depend upon, have discussed pulling out of the International Space Station so they can build their own station, and recently restated plans to put cosmonauts on the Moon.  Whether or not Russia will have the budget to do these things in coming years will depend upon economics as much as science and technology given the state of the Russian economy. 

- India:  India joined the big leagues last year with its successful Mars Orbiter Mission, which put a spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet. India is also taking steps to build a new rocket and capsule for future manned missions.

- Private Sector:  In addition to the various national missions, the private sector has its own plans, including Planetary Resources mining asteroid, Mars One bringing humans to Mars, SpaceX hopefully allowing the U.S. to move away from Russian rockets, and Bigelow designing inflatable space stations (see photo) for both science and tourism. 

All of the activity is encouraging, and maybe it will give the NASA and the Congress a swift kick in the pants, letting them know that the world will not stand idle while Rome (or budgets) burn and committees fiddle.  Competition helped us get to the Moon, and it may do so again. 

Image Credits:  Hayabusa 2 from JAXA and inflatable space station from Bigelow.

Last Word: India Defends Mars Mission

 

Given all the press criticizing India's plan to visit Mars, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defending his nation's decision (as quoted in a recent article in The Times of Oman):

Questions are sometimes asked about whether a poor country like India can afford a space programme and whether the funds spent on space exploration, albeit modest, could be better utilised elsewhere," Singh said in a speech...This misses the point that a nation's state of development is finally a product of its technological prowess.

The statement was made as India successfully launched its 100th space mission placing two foreign commercial satellites into orbit.  Of course, the article then goes on to note that "42 percent of Indian children aged under five are underweight due to malnutrition."

More Mars News: India

With all of the attention on NASA's Curiosity, many may have missed India's announcement that it would like to send a spacecraft to Mars next year.  The $82 million mission will orbit the planet and collect data.  India has already proved it space prowess back in 2008 when it sent a probe to the moon (Chandralayaan-1), so the idea is not all that far fetched. 

"This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India follows the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and China, who have already sent missions to Mars.

Of course, with India still recovering from a massive electricity blackout, the announcement could not have come at a worst time. Critics of the announcement worry that India has bigger problems at home and planetary missions are a luxury the Indian people cannot afford.  Of course, the United States had a few problems at home itself as it was planning some of its space missions.  For instance, the moon mission was being implemented while the country was facing the Vietnam War abroad and race riots at home.  Competition with Russia was still paramount during this period, as was national pride.  India is no different, though its competition is with neighboring China.
 
The announcement may have unintended consequences.  The United Kingdom is already reconsidering the economic assistance it provides to India.  The Economic Times reported Conservative MP Philip Davies stated, "If they can afford to have some high-tech mission to Mars they can afford to look after their own people without British taxpayers having to put their hands in their pockets for money they haven't got."