Another milestone in Indian space science

India’s space feat of Monday morning is a small step for Indian technology but a giant step for Indian pride, both scientific and of the general public. The director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, K. Sivan, has described the event, in terms suited to the Indian context, as “just the first baby steps towards the big Hanuman leap”. He is accurate. He is also modest. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro’s) successful testing of a reusable “rocket”, a vehicle launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and already being dubbed as a “swadeshi space shuttle”, essentially means that India has launched a big toy, weighing 1.5 tonnes and six times smaller than the regular American space shuttle, to an altitude of 65 km — very close to the edge of the Karman Line 100 km up that is accepted as where outer space begins — and has managed to being it back to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere.

This itself is a step forward for Indian space science since the technology being tested against gravity, extreme friction temperatures and speeds five times that of sound — even though it already exists — is in this case made in India. Isro’s scientists can rightfully feel proud that their RLV-TD (Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator) came back, even though it disintegrated on impacting the waters of the Bay of Bengal. It is remarkable that India’s space research programme has reached this far even though it has suffered from inadequate funding, and that’s putting it mildly. We have launched satellites cheaper than the others, sent an unmanned vehicle to the Moon and have a craft circling Mars right now. But the funding Isro receives pales in comparison to the budgets of space agencies such as America’s Nasa.

The know-how demonstrated on Monday will eventually lead to cheaper space flight and enable a greater understanding of the vastness in which our planet rests. The RLV-TD is not yet a space shuttle as the words are currently understood and does not yet put us into the elite two-member club of Russia and the US. That milestone will be achieved when Isro can take a person up and bring him back safely through a powered descent and that is what they are working towards. The government must now increase the amount it spends on our scientists so they can build, test, destroy, go back to the drawing board and build over again. Genius must be valued or it will seek appreciation abroad.