Isro
Last year, India became the first country in the world to land near the previously unexplored lunar south pole.
India recently announced a series of ambitious space projects and approved 227 billion rupees ($2.7 billion; £2.1 billion) for them.
Plans include the next phase of India's historic mission to the Moon, sending an orbiter to Venus, building the first phase of the country's first space station and developing a new heavy-lift rocket reusable to launch satellites.
This is the largest allocation of funds ever for space projects in India, but given the scale and complexity of the projects, they are far from lavish and have once again put the spotlight on the profitability of the Indian space program.
Experts around the world have marveled at the low cost of the Indian Space Research Organization's (Isro) lunar, Martian and solar missions. India spent $74 million on the Mangalyaan Mars orbiter and $75 million on last year's historic Chandrayaan-3 – less than the $100 million spent on the sci-fi thriller Gravity.
NASA's Maven orbiter cost $582 million and Russia's Luna-25, which crashed on the Moon's surface two days before Chandrayaan-3's moon landing, cost 12.6 billion rubles ($133 million).
Despite the low cost, scientists say India punches well above its weight in aiming to carry out valuable work.
Chandrayaan-1 was the first to confirm the presence of water in lunar soil and Mangalyaan carried a payload to study methane in Mars' atmosphere. The images and data sent by Chandrayaan-3 are watched with great interest by space enthusiasts around the world.
So how does India manage to keep costs so low?
Screenshot of Doordarshan
India aims to soon send a humanoid woman into space ahead of its ambitious Gaganyaan mission
Retired civil servant Sisir Kumar Das, who looked after Isro's finances for more than two decades, says this frugality dates back to the 1960s, when scientists first presented a space program to the government.
India only gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947, and the country has struggled to feed its population and build enough schools and hospitals.
“Isro founder and scientist Vikram Sarabhai had to convince the government that a space program was not just a fancy luxury that had no place in a poor country like India. He explained that satellites could help India better serve its citizens,” Das told the BBC.
But India's space program has always had to operate on a tight budget in a country with conflicting needs and demands. Photographs from the 1960s and 1970s show scientists transporting rockets and satellites on cycles or even an ox cart.
Decades later and after several successful interplanetary missions, Isro's budget remains modest. This year, India's budget allocation for its space program stands at 130 billion rupees ($1.55 billion) – NASA's budget for the year is $25 billion.
Mr Das says one of the main reasons why Isro's missions are so cheap is the fact that all its technology is indigenously developed and the machines are manufactured in India.
In 1974, after Delhi conducted its first nuclear test and the West imposed an embargo banning the transfer of technology to India, the restrictions were “turned into a blessing in disguise” for the space program, he adds. -he.
“Our scientists used it to inspire them to develop their own technology. All the equipment they needed was made locally – and wages and labor costs were significantly lower here than in the United States or Europe.
Isro
India's Aditya-L1 solar orbiter cost just $46 million
Science writer Pallava Bagla says that unlike Isro, NASA outsources the manufacturing of its satellites to private companies and also takes out insurance for its missions, which increases their costs.
“Moreover, unlike NASA, India does not produce engineering models that are used to test a project before its actual launch. We only make one model and it's made to fly. It's risky, there is a risk of a crash, but that's the risk we're taking. And we can accept it because it's a government program.
Mylswamy Annadurai, head of India's first and second missions to the Moon and Mars, told the BBC that Isro employs far fewer people and pays lower salaries, making Indian projects competitive.
He says he “managed small, dedicated teams of less than 10 people and people often worked long hours without overtime pay” because they were very passionate about what they did.
According to him, the tight budgets of the projects sometimes sent them back to the drawing board, allowed them to think outside the box and led to new innovations.
“For Chandrayaan-1, the allocated budget was $89 million and that was correct for the original configuration. But later it was decided that the spacecraft would carry a Moon impact probe, which is an additional 35 kg. »
Scientists had two choices: use a heavier rocket to carry out the mission, but it would cost more, or remove some of the hardware to lighten the load.
Getty Images
The space program is a source of immense pride for Indians
“We chose the second option. We reduced the number of thrusters from 16 to eight and the pressure tanks and batteries were reduced from two to one.
According to Mr Annadurai, the reduction in the number of batteries meant that the launch had to take place before the end of 2008.
“This would give the spacecraft two years to circle the Moon without encountering a long solar eclipse, which would impact its ability to recharge. So we had to maintain a strict work schedule to meet the launch deadline.
Mangalyaan cost so little, Mr. Annadurai says, “because we used most of the hardware we had already designed for Chandrayaan-2 after the second lunar mission was delayed.”
Mr. Bagla believes that India's space program, achieved at such a low cost, is “an incredible feat.” But as India grows, the cost could rise.
Right now, he says, India uses small rocket launchers because it doesn't have anything more powerful. But this means that Indian spacecraft take much longer to reach their destination.
So when Chandrayaan-3 was launched, it circled the Earth several times before being launched into lunar orbit, where it circled the Moon several times before landing. On the other hand, the Russian Luna-25 quickly escaped Earth's gravity thanks to a powerful Soyuz rocket.
“We used Mother Earth's gravity to push us towards the Moon. It took us weeks and a lot of ingenious planning. Isro has mastered this and has done it successfully on many occasions.
But, Mr. Bagla said, India has announced plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2040 and would need a more powerful rocket to get astronauts there more quickly.
The government recently said that work on this new rocket has already been approved and it will be ready by 2032. This next generation launch vehicle (NGLV) will be able to carry more weight but will also cost more.
Furthermore, Bagla says, India is opening up the space sector to private players and costs are unlikely to stay that low once that happens.
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