By Dr. Jajati K. Pattnaik
This maiden expedition to the lunar south pole is going to empower India with critical information in space research and secure a firm place among the elite nations that compete to exercise their deep presence in space.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation from Johannesburg in the immediate aftermath of Chandrayaan-3’s historic soft landing in the south pole of the Moon aptly alludes to the ‘Global South’. This is no doubt a remarkable feat achieved by a nation from the global south which has experienced a couple of centuries of British colonisation. To be the fourth country to have sent a space mission to the Moon after the US, Russia and China and to be the first country to have sent its spacecraft to the south of the Moon is an incredible accomplishment by India. Soft landing on the south pole of the Moon where the temperature may sink 230 degrees Celsius and mostly dark in the absence of sunlight is a difficult enterprise but this illustrates the depth of Indian engineering and space research.
This develops a great deal of enthusiasm for nations in the Global South, and India becomes a nation that inspires a multitude of nations. The grit, resilience, and courage with which India has emerged from its colonial past form an inspiring story that shapes the imagination of success for many nations in the Global South. The reference made in PM Modi’s speech is a subtle call to the Global South to awaken from the colonially induced lethargy, and India takes the lead to shake off the invisible yokes. This enhances India’s prestige in the Global South and gives the former a leadership role. The attitudinal shift that India inspires naturally attracts allies to ensure India’s rise in the soft power sphere. The cutting-edge research that India is expected to conduct on the Moon is also going to help in several ways to the developing countries.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology and Space Research, the countries that have established their strength in these areas are going to make a difference and determine the nature of the global order. The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s surface will help India acquire information about the nature and features of the Moon and its metal and mineral constitutions, the possibility of life and bacterial formations, vegetation, etc. The importance of India, in this connection, is going to enhance globally as a nation with a difference. India’s democratic political culture and its ethos of friendship and cooperation are going to be its soft power assets to make more collaboration with NASA and other international organisations to add more critical layers to space research. This achievement will encourage a deeper ISRO-NASA research engagement. With the deployment of critical technology, the research on the Moon may arrive at some breakthroughs that may enhance the scope of the probability of life on the Moon. India’s soft power through space research is going to take a very defined shape.
This historic mission to the south of the Moon is just the end of the beginning. The real and challenging task lies ahead regarding its function on the moon’s surface to procure critical data for major research to take place. The Chandrayaan-1 gave India the breakthrough of exploring frozen water on the Moon. The Chandrayaan-3 is expected to examine the soil on the moon and measure its density and contents. The nature of metal and mineral compositions in the Lunar soil and rock is one of the significant objectives of the mission.
The spacecraft is equipped with high-tech instruments which are capable of high-end experiments and analysis. The instruments such as RAMBHA and the Langmuir Probe sent in the module are going to play a key role in observing the plasma activities on the lunar surface. The research effort would be to understand the nature of the ion and electron particles. The thermal properties of the soil and other related constituents are going to be the key focus of this lunar expedition. NASA’s payload accommodated in the module is the LASER Retroreflector Array which is going to give measurement-related breakthroughs regarding the distance between the earth and the moon and the lunar orbital behaviours.
This information will help in a crucial way to understand the behaviour of the earth. This will enable scientists to make precise predictions about different geological or seismic activities. In addition, the other two critical instruments namely the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) are designed to examine the properties of the lunar topsoil. This may lead to the exploration of the history and evolution of the moon.
This along with a host of other reasons creates a compelling case for India’s soft power ascendancy on the global platform. This maiden expedition to the lunar south pole is going to empower India with critical information in space research and secure a firm place among the elite nations that compete to exercise their deep presence in space. India, in this direction, has put dedicated efforts into establishing its position as one of the impactful players in space technology and exploration. Its space-tech ecosystem and enthusiastic and sustained entrepreneurial interest in it are going to make India a hub of space research and technology. For this purpose, there are over 140 space-tech start-ups have organised their efforts to take India to a different level in space science.
The success of the Chandrayaan-3 explains the top standard of Indian space technology. This will attract more investment in space engineering. The cost-effective model that India has pioneered through its Chandrayaan-3 constitutes a central motif for definitive investment. This is going to add more energy to the Indian economy. This will also generate a scope of employment for the Indian youth. The space economy may also emerge as a catalyst for diversifying India’s economic imagination. India will definitely gain strong soft power leverage across the globe and a substantive place in the space league.
Originally Published : The FirstPost, 24th August, 2023
Posted on SIS Blog with the authorisation of the Author
Dr Jajati K Pattnaik is an Associate Professor at Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India