Space age 2.0 has kicked off — here are five ways that India's ISRO can capitalise on this window of opportunity

• The second space age has given India a narrow window of opportunity to play on a level playing field with more advanced economies, like the US and China.
  
• In order to fully capitalise on this, there are a few things that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Space (DoS) could work on.
  
• Gateway House fellow, Chaitanya Giri, has made five recommendations on how India can become the powerhouse that it needs to be for the coming of the second space age.
  

The first space age came and went, and India sorely missed the bus. The second space age is setting in, and this time around, history looks doomed to repeat itself. With the US and China on the ‘brink of cold war’, it could be an opportune moment for India to fill the gap.

It’s a rare opportunity for emerging economies to compete with advanced economies on a level-playing field. However, there are at least six factors standing in India’s way that could keep it from taking advantage of this narrow window of opportunity, according to Gateway House fellow, Chaitanya Giri.

“Its [India’s] space-exploration programme continues to be almost entirely noncommercial, operating within the confines of DoS [Department of Space]. Policymakers still do not view space exploration as an economy-boosting enterprise,” he wrote in his paper outlining India’s space exploration industry agenda.

Here are five things that India needs to do to capitalise on this opportunity: