India’s space diplomacy is making ripples all across the globe and this is the man to be thanked for

India is flexing its prowess of space technology by embarking on an unprecedented and un-chartered 'stratospheric diplomacy' through a special Rs 450 crore gift for south Asians, according to PTI.

India is carving a very unique place in the universe, this week New Delhi will 'gift' a heavyweight bird in the sky to its neighbours through the 'South Asia Satellite'.

The country is opening its heart out to its neighbours, explains External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay, adding "neighbourhood first is now being extended beyond the stratosphere".

It seems this 'gift' of a communications satellite for use by neighbours at no cost has no parallels in the space- faring world, all other current regional consortia are commercial for-profit enterprises.

Prashant Agarwal, an IIT Kanpur-trained engineer and the point-person in the Ministry of External Affairs piloting the project told the news agency, "Prime Minister Modi has actually extended his slogan 'Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas' to India's neighbourhood essentially to service the needs of the poor in South Asia."

On May 5, the skies above the island of Sriharikota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal will be lit up as the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) also called the 'naughty boy of ISRO' on its 11th mission will carry a message of peace like never before.

The nearly 50-m-tall rockthat weighs about 412 tons will carry what is now dubbed as the 'South Asia Satellite' or what the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) still prefers to call GSAT-9.

The 2230-kg satellite has been fabricated in three years and is purely a communications satellite costing Rs 235 crore.