4. India’s Space Enterprise: Strategic Thinking and Planning

Modern space science had its beginnings around 1946 when scientists started the deployment of instruments to the outer fringes of the Earth’s atmosphere using balloons and rockets to study radiation from outer space as well as geophysical phenomena. In spite of the professed scientific goals for the first earth satellite missions, the launch of SPUTNIK on October 4, 1957 by the then Soviet Union added a new dimension (Logsdon in Exploring the unknown. In: Selected Documents in the History of US Civil Space Program Vol. V: Exploring the Cosmos, NASA History Series, 2001) to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The early scientific satellite missions of the United States also had implicit goals of pursuing their interest by establishing the international legal principle that national sovereignty did not extend to the altitudes at which satellites would orbit. Thus, there was no obstacle in international law to the flight of a reconnaissance satellite over Soviet territory. Against this back drop, it is significant to note that the early inspiration for the Indian space programme came not from any military objectives but from the interests of a large scientific community who had been actively engaged in research programmes related to geophysics and astrophysics. When Vikram Sarabhai and Homi Bhabha suggested national support for space science and technology with possible applications to Indian problems in 1962, the Sputnik era was just five years old. Pandit Nehru’s approval for the application of space technology in India was an act of extraordinary foresight and courage. This decision in the absence of experience with operational systems, the newness and complexity of the technology, and the high risks involved only could have been based on a vision of the future and an abiding faith and confidence in Indian scientists and people.