<ul><li>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ready to share India's space technology with the rest of the world — but only with 'friendly countries'. </li><li>India is known for its pocket friendly missions like its most recent mission to the moon — Chandrayaan 2. </li><li>India is also trying to break into the space launch market with ISRO first fully commercial launch exclusively for foreign satellites pegged to launch later this month. </li></ul>The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ready to share India's budget space technology with the rest of the world — but only to 'friendly' countries. "I am happy to state that India would be happy to help other friendly countries develop land restoration strategies through cost-effective satellite and space technology," stated Modi during the United Nations Conference of the Parties (<a href="https://www.unccd.int/conventionconference-parties-cop/cop14-2-13-september-new-delhi-india">UN-COP</a>) 14 to combat desertification. India's most recent mission to moon, Chandrayaan 2, cost ₹10 billion ($140 million). It's lauded for being cheaper than the budget of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/chandrayaan-2-cheaper-than-avengers-endgame-what-the-foreign-press-says/articleshow/70208309.cms">Avengers: Endgame.</a> India's Mars Orbiter Mission (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/mars-orbiter-mission-completes-4-years-in-pictures/articleshow/65972664.cms">MOM</a>) — also called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/akshay-kumars-mission-mangal-could-miss-facts-about-mangalyaan/articleshow/70498232.cms">Mangalyaan</a> — also impressed the world by reaching the Red Planet on a budget of ₹4.5 billion ($74 million). Even the upcoming <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-first-manned-mission-to-space-may-have-women-too/articleshow/67486206.cms">Gaganyaan mission</a>, which is India's first attempt to send astronauts into space, has expected to cost less than ₹100 billion ($1.43 billion). The price of keeping costs down India's exploration of space might be considered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-low-cost-chandrayaan-and-mars-missions-come-at-a-price/articleshow/70226652.cms">budget friendly but it comes at a price.</a> These missions are mostly undertaken to demonstrate India's technological prowess. Other space agencies around the world, like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), spend a lot more on their voyages into outer space — and have a lot more to gain as well. ESA's missions are categorised from Class A to D, depending on the priority of the mission, its national significance, the mission's lifetime and how much it's going to cost. The longer the mission, the more expensive it likely will be. Capturing the launch market It's not only India's missions into space that are pocket friendly, but also their launch technology. Later this month on 16 September 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to conduct its first ever commercial launch catering exclusively to foreign satellites. It will be launching two British satellites — Novasar and S1-4 — aboard its PSLV C-42 rocket from the launch pad in Sriharikota. "Subsequent two PSLV mission will also carry foreign satellites. However those missions will be on sharing mode (also carrying Indian payloads)," ISRO Chairman K Sivan told <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/isro-to-launch-rocket-solely-for-foreign-satellites-in-september/articleshow/65061764.cms">Times of India</a>. As of now, NASA dominates the commercial satellite launch market. India's apex space agency has only managed to muster 0.6% share of the market pegged at ₹36 billion. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-low-cost-chandrayaan-and-mars-missions-come-at-a-price/articleshow/70226652.cms">India's low cost space missions come at a price</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-why-chandrayaan-2-is-landmark-moon-mission-for-india/articleshow/69842571.cms">India's second moon mission Chandrayaan 2 that will cost ₹10 billion will break new records</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/5-Surprising-Things-That-Cost-More-Than-Indias-Historic-Mission-To-Mars/articleshow/43332986.cms">5 Surprising Things That Cost More Than India's Historic Mission To Mars</a>

Modi offers India's cost-effective technology but only to 'friendly' nations

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Indian+Space+Research+Organization+%28ISRO%29+">Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)</a> has given us many reasons to celebrate in the past, and it is back once again with good news. The space agency is going to help the US, which is self-sufficient in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=space+technology">space technology</a>, launch its satellite from India’s launch pad at <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Sriharikota">Sriharikota</a>. The US is the 20th country seeking India’s help for launching its satellite; <keyword id="6358064" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="ISRO">ISRO</keyword> scientists have earlier launched 45 satellites for 19 countries. 
 
However, what really makes this news special is that India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle will push the US satellite into the orbit. Besides this, other three major ISRO accomplishments this year had been: 
 
1) 100 days of Mangalyaan: Remember <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Mangalyaan">Mangalyaan</a>? It entered the Red Planet’s orbit on September 24, 2014 after a 666-million-km journey from Earth in over 10 months, and made India the first country to taste success in its maiden <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Mars+mission">Mars mission</a>. The satellite sent to Mars was none other than Mangalyaan, which successfully completed 100 days on January 1, 2015. It is still in the pink of its health and is busy collecting scientific data. 
 
 
 
2) Launch of India's 4th navigational satellite: ISRO successfully launched a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=navigation+satellite+">navigation satellite</a> using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota on March 28, 2015. It will help the country to have its own version of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Global+Positioning+System">Global Positioning System</a> (<keyword id="6362652" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="100" keywordseo="GPS">GPS</keyword>), useful in everyday life for navigation. Having an accuracy of less than 20 meters, this system is comparable to the best in the world. 
 
 
 
3) ISRO launches five British satellites: On July 11, 2015, Indian scientists successfully launched five British satellites into the orbit from Sriharikota. Britain not only rented premium space from ISRO but also hired a rocket for the first time. The total weight of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=British+satellites+">British satellites</a> is 1,440 kg, making this the heaviest commercial launch ever to be undertaken by India. 
 
 
 
The Indian space agency is now busy preparing for the launch of GSLV-Mark-II, probably around August 27. According to an official, the 2.1-tonne capacity GSLV-Mark-II would carry a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=communication+">communication</a> satellite. It would also launch seven other satellites by March 2016. And if all goes well, the Indian space agency might start its mission to Venus by end of this year. 
 
(Image: ISRO)

3 ISRO achievements that made Indians proud!

September 24, 2014, is all set to be a red letter day for the <keyword id="119061" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-Space-Research-Organization">Indian Space Research Organization</keyword> (ISRO). On this day, India’s Mars spacecraft, Mangalyaan, will enter the Red Planet’s orbit. Midway through its journey, India’s solo <keyword id="164562" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mars-mission">Mars mission</keyword> has captured the imagination of both its citizens and the international space community. If it succeeds, it will be testimony to Indian jugaad – our unique ability to part-innovate and part-improvise – and will also affirm the country’s status as an emerging space superpower. 
 
An insight into India 
Mangalyaan’s story provides a unique insight into the Indian psyche. Only in India you will find rocket scientists visiting temples and seeking blessings before every launch. In the case of Mangalyaan, it was ISRO’s chief, Dr K Radhakrishnan, who sought the divinity’s green light at the famed Tirupati temple before the launch. 
 
This social conservatism, however, did not extend to the team developing the spacecraft. In a country where a 60-plus Prime Ministerial candidate is considered young, Team Mangalyaan’s oldest member is the 50-year-old project director, Subbiah Arunan. The next most aged team member is 32 and the average age of Arunan’s team is just 27. 
 
But it was not just youthful vigour that spurred the team to develop the spacecraft in just 18 months, when a time span of 5-6 years happens to be the norm. While Mangalyaan may have been India’s first shot at Mars, ISRO is an old hand at the space game and they are very efficient at what they do. 
 
Set up in 1962 as the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), ISRO has, till date, mastered satellites, launch vehicles and a range of technologies required for each and every space mission. It is also persistent, which is useful when the usual sceptics begin questioning why a ‘poor’ country like India is squandering away millions for glory-hunting in space. 
 
As it turns out, one of the hallmarks of the Mars mission is the bargain basement for which India has spent $75 million or so, confounding the critics. Cheap labour, too, is partly responsible for this. 
 
Chasing a critical launch window where all the space geometry would work optimally for ISRO, the rule book was thrown out of the window – a typically Indian trait that frequently leads to chaos but paradoxically, is a must for innovation. And it saves money as well. 
 
Mission critical 
Although many of the subsystems used for Mangalyaan could be products of past endeavours, ISRO has definitely entered uncharted space as far as the complex mission profile of getting the spacecraft to Mars is concerned. 
 
When it was launched on November 5, 2013, Mangalyaan was temporarily placed in an orbit around the earth. That marked the geocentric phase where the earth’s gravity was used to build up to a slingshot that would send the spacecraft hurtling towards Mars. 
 
The slingshot took place on December 1, 2013, marking the start of the current 9-month heliocentric phase where the craft is under the gravitational influence of the Sun, apart from being subject to minor course corrections with the firing of onboard thrusters. 
 
The final leg of this journey – the Martian phase – will involve firing Mangalyaan’s liquid engine in what ISRO terms as the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) manoeuvre to set it up in an elliptical orbit over the planet, which will vary between 387 and 80,000 km. 
 
But the mission doesn’t end there. The 1,337 kg spacecraft carries a payload of around 15 kg that comprises five different sensors for gathering scientific data ranging from the measurement of the amount of methane in the Martian atmosphere to different kinds of minerals and soils found on the planet. Such mundane data collection may seem a far cry from the claims of glory-hunting made by critics, but these small discoveries are the basis of larger scientific leaps. 
 
A reality check 
While India’s achievements in developing a low-cost, homegrown Mars vehicle within a crunched timeframe is undoubtedly impressive, the larger task of exploring the planet is beyond the capabilities of any single country. 
 <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword>, which is in a different league when it comes to Mars missions, has barely scratched the surface, inspirational as the <keyword id="2200873" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Curiosity-mission">Curiosity mission</keyword> might have been. Having splurged $2.5 billion on this mission alone, it faces similar accusations of misplaced priorities as its Indian counterparts. 
 
But what is the endgame behind all these Mars missions? 
 
Wernher von Braun, the German rocket pioneer and creator of the infamous German V-2 rocket of WWII, imagined a manned flight to the Mars back in 1948 when he wrote The Mars Project. But his vision was not that of a solitary human explorer, sent out on hope and prayer. He had imagined a group of 70 Martian explorers, travelling in 10 spacecraft. 
 
Asked when that would be possible to achieve, von Braun replied, “In a hundred years.” That was in 1954. Today, critics of the Martian expeditions see red as it is expected to cost $100 billion to send a manned mission to the Red Planet. 
 
Budgetary battles and economic downturns may come and go, but the ambition of the space community is central to its DNA. 
 
India has recently unveiled plans for sending a rover to the moon after the success of its moon orbital mission. And a successful Mars mission will only spearhead ISRO’s demand for bigger budgets. Meanwhile, it doesn’t hurt to have God on your side.

India’s First Mars Mission Midway Through Its Journey, Nearing Its
Goal

<div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image">APA rocket carrying the Mars orbiter takes off from the east-coast island of Sriharikota, <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. </div></div>ON NOVEMBER 5th, India's <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> organisation, ISRO, launced a rocket carrying a small, unmanned spacecraft, the Mangalyaan ("Mars vehicle"). By the end of the month, the orbiter is set to stretch its solar wings and begin a <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21588945-boldly-go-china-mind-red-planet-red-rival">nine-month trip to Mars</a>. Officially, it will look for signs of methane on Earth's neighbour. In fact the main concern is rivalry closer to home: to show that India's space plans are not entirely outclassed by China's. A successful mission would swell national pride. But as the Mangalyaan begins its journey, many might wonder how a country that cannot feed all of its people can find the money for a Mars mission. How can poor countries afford space programmes?
India is not the only emerging economy with space ambitions. Nigeria already has a handful of satellites floating around the Earth (though these were launched by others). Depending how you define a space programme, even minnows like Sri Lanka, Bolivia and Belarus have plans of some sort to get space activity under way. By one count, including co-operative efforts between countries but not fully private ones, there are currently over 70 space programmes, though only a dozen of these have any sort of launch capability. China's programme is advanced: last year it <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/06/chinas-space-programme%20">put a woman in space</a>, and in December it will launch its <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21586805-international-astronautical-congress-meeting-beijing-what-exactly">first (uncrewed) lunar mission</a>. 
From a distance, India's extra-terrestrial ambitions might seem like a waste of money. The country still has immense numbers of poor people: two-fifths of its children remain stunted from malnutrition and half the population lack proper toilets. Its Mars mission may be cheap by American (or Chinese) standards, at just $74m, but India's overall space programme costs roughly $1 billion a year. That is more than spare change, even for a near $2-trillion economy. Meanwhile, spending on public health, at about 1.2% of GDP, is dismally low. What if the 16,000 scientists and engineers now working on space development were deployed instead to fix rotten sanitation? And why should donors bother to help tackle poverty where governments have enough spare resources to think about space? For some countries, at least, decent answers exist to such questions. Trips to the Moon and Mars may well be mostly about showing off. But most space programmes are designed to get satellites into Earth's orbit for the sake of better communications, mapping, weather observation or military capacity at home. These bring direct benefits to ordinary people. Take one recent example: a fierce cyclone that hit India's east coast last month killed few, whereas a similar-strength one in the same spot, in 1999, killed over 10,000. One reason for the improvement was that Indian weather satellites helped to make possible far more accurate predictions of where and when the storm would hit. Otherwise, improved data on monsoon rains, or generally shifting weather patterns, can help even the poorest farmers have a better idea of when to plant crops.
Donors may not be mollified (Britain, for example, is winding down its aid to India). But any aid programme has to be justified in the face of other waste, which can be far costlier than space programmes. A bigger problem in India, for example, is that pitifully few people pay tax, partly because so few have formal jobs. As an emerging middle-income country, India should easily have the means to pay for proper public health, as well as the odd jaunt into space. The pity of it all: it does neither as well as it could.

THE ECONOMIST EXPLAINS: How Poor Countries Afford Space Programs

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">NASA</div></div></div><keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> likes its stuff cheap.
Maker of the <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-11/tatas-nano-the-worlds-cheapest-car-is-sputtering">world's cheapest car</a> ($2600), <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-india-tablet-idUSTRE7940YV20111005">world's cheapest tablet</a> ($60) and even the <a href="http://phys.org/news/2011-07-india-tata-group-flat-pack-house.html">world's cheapest house</a> ($700), India is now launching the <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/science-technology/why-isros-mars-mission-is-the-cheapest/isros-mars-mission-the-cheapest/slideshow/24982329.cmshttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/science-technology/why-isros-mars-mission-is-the-cheapest/isros-mars-mission-the-cheapest/slideshow/24982329.cms">world's cheapest mission to Mars</a>, which takes off this week.
The mission, launched by Indian space agency ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) will cost the Indian government just $80 million, which compares to NASA's $2.5 billion expenditure on the US' <keyword id="47638" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars">Mars</keyword> Curiosity project. 
The satellite is called Mangalyaan (Mars Vehicle), and will not touch down on the planet. It has been only been designed for orbit. 21 of the 51 global missions to Mars gave failed, including the one launched by China. 
But how has India managed to keep its costs so low? The answer, <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/science-technology/why-isros-mars-mission-is-the-cheapest/save-time-money/slideshow/24982315.cms">according to the Economic Times, </a> is "frugal engineering," which has a few basic principles: to adapt existing technology as far as possible, minimize the number of physical models and optimize testing.
Unlike its European and US counterparts, ISRO has a much smaller budget and cannot afford to experiment and build iteratively. While NASA and the European Space Agency usually make three models of the spacecraft, ISRO modeled everything on software and physically built only the final model. 
This frugal approach does increase risks, which are evident from India's previous <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341521/Boom-Indian-space-scientists-watch-horror-rocket-explodes-minutes-off.html">failed</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-23751269">space missions</a>. Also, instead of flying directly, the 350-tonne rocket will orbit earth for <a href="http://phys.org/news/2013-11-india-mars-prestige-space-mission.html">nearly a month</a>, building up the necessary velocity to break free from the earth's gravitational pull. 
India's space mission has been criticized as being a waste of resources in a country where a huge proportion of the population still lives in poverty. However, defendants of the program have stated that the space program goes hand-in-hand with India's development goals. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/10/29/india-is-going-to-mars-but-dont-call-it-a-space-race/">The Washington Post reports</a> Dean Cheng a scholar at the Heritage Foundation saying, "The country realized early on that satellites would enable health officials to practice medicine remotely, reaching inaccessible parts of the country. The same was true for remote education. ISRO's major focus, in other words, has been to use space research as a way to overcome the country's (still) steep economic obstacles."
The chairman of ISRO, K. Radhakrishnan, has defended the program saying that India's budget for space exploration is only <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/mars-is-part-of-indias-space-vision/article5254175.ece">0.34% of its annual budget</a>, of which 7% has been allocated to planetary exploration. He also believes that the mission will also have positive implications for the rest of the economy, and will help with cyclone forecasting. 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="REUTERS GRAPHICS" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5278328fecad04f3498b4571-960/screen%20shot%202013-11-04%20at%206.48.58%20pm.png"></a>REUTERS GRAPHICS</div></div>

India Is Pioneering The Low-Cost Mission To Mars

Dreams are easy to sow, and even easier to revel in. India leading the world or playing a significant role in the current century is a heady drink from the spring of hope, at the fountain of the world. <keyword id="6354185" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="IT">It</keyword> is an oft heard phrase that India and China are set to be the super powers of the world in the near future and this would change the rule of trade game for many countries. 
 
How can India contribute to the global scenario when she herself is going through some transition within as far as political equations are concerned? 
 
When dreams are about India leading the world, there are some very important areas the country could be looking into, to march ahead with hope and promise. Some areas have been India’s innate strengths already, and some could be the strong points of the country that’s looking hopeful at the threshold of the world stage. 
 
Well, for starters, here are a few things that all the countries in the world engage in despite problems they might be fighting within its vicinity. 
 
<keyword id="6355445" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Education">Education</keyword> 
It was about a year ago when US State Secretary John Kerry said India and US together could lead the world in education. Now, India’s role in education per se would not be clear without the understanding of the great Indian middle class, which strives hard for the sake of education of their family members – mostly children. The median age of India’s population is 28 years and skill development is something India has been consistently working on. With institution-level collaboration, India can actually lead the world in better dissemination of education and innovative methods of teaching. 
 
Science research 
You sure have heard the success of Mangalyaan, which was the cheapest trip to the orbit of Mars by any country. India did it in about a year, and well within the budget of a Hollywood production. Now, jokes apart, to understand India’s emphasis on science and space technology, would be to comprehend with the age old wisdom seated in the Indian psyche. Most of the professors, who learnt in India, have gone about occupying cushy positions in renowned universities abroad. It is time India closed the loop to establish the intellectual potential and help the world understand its importance. 
 
IT industry 
Now, a popular joke is every second Indian, is an IT professional. Or, wait. Did you say second one? We thought ‘every’ Indian was an IT professional! When the jocular argument ends, it’s time to look at the reality. India and Indian professionals almost singlehandedly fixed the Y2k bug (remember? The millennium scare?) while working on most deathly shifts in various locations worldwide. Silicon Valley knows the reality that India cannot be ignored when it comes to the ‘e’ world. After all, we got our first email from an Indian Sabeer Bhatia. Right? India is still treading the path like a lone unchallenged tusker. 
 
<keyword id="107737" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship</keyword> 
One of the most endearing things about India is the presence of human resources, in most educated, skilled and ready-to-employ form. People speak more in English, the global language and can be one of the easiest employable workforces. Leveraging on this can turn India into a force to reckon with. 
 
eCommerce 
The emerging eCommerce sector has a lot to gain from India that has the most Internet-accessing generation. Average urban Indian being a youth before his 30s, working to earn a handsome salary, and is most comfortable shopping on the Internet makes him a hot property of tomorrow’s eCommerce debuts. India, with most young people connected to the net, can give a serious run to markets like US and China as far as eConsumerism is concerned. 
 
Innovative agricultural practices 
The age old wisdom in agriculture has somehow come to a standstill in the last few years when India took chemical fertilizers and poisoned the womb of her earth. Now, with things changing for better, Indians are returning to agriculture with aplomb and how! Innovative agricultural practices coupled with some knowledge passed through generations is making India a land of innovative agricultural practices. It is indeed a strong point India could compete with rest of the countries in the world. Abundant availability of human resources and a political will to check the migration by rural Indians into urban pockets can help the world satiate its hunger for fresh and healthy food.

You Searched For "Mangalyaan 2" and got 6 results

Modi offers India's cost-effective technology but only to 'friendly' nations

Prabhjote Gill

3 ISRO achievements that made Indians proud!

Gunja Deo

India’s First Mars Mission Midway Through Its Journey, Nearing Its Goal

Preetam Kaushik

THE ECONOMIST EXPLAINS: How Poor Countries Afford Space Programs

The Economist

India Is Pioneering The Low-Cost Mission To Mars

Saranya Kapur

India: A Showstopper On The World Ramp

Preetam Kaushik