Dr. Chaitanya Giri is the Gateway House Fellow of Space and Ocean Studies Programme. His present research focuses aquapolitics and astropolitics, the new-age techno-geostrategy, the space and marine industrial complex, and the science of space exploration. Prior to Gateway House, Dr. Giri has worked as planetary and astromaterials scientist for nearly a decade. He was affiliated to the Earth-Life Science Institute at Tokyo Institute of Technology, the Geophysical Laboratory at Carnegie Institution for Science, and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as an ELSI Origins Network Fellow. He was earlier an International Max Planck Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany and the University of Nice in France. Dr. Giri was also a scientific crew member of the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. He is a recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the 2014 Dieter Rampacher Prize of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Science, Germany and the 2016-2018 ELSI Origins Network Fellowship by the John Templeton Foundation, USA to name a few.
Expertise
Geo- and Space Strategy, Technology Forecasting, Space Exploration, Space Advocacy, Science
On 16 May, the government introduced a huge reform that liberalised India's space sector, leveling the field and propelling the space ambitions of private players. Corporations such as L&T and Godrej Aerospace, can now compete and collaborate with the Indian Space Research Organisation, to build an indigenous Boeing or Lockheed Martin, and be part of global, private, space industry syndicates. The timing is significant, as the space race has accelerated with the U.S. and China marking their space territories through Accords and SEZs. India now is much better equipped to launch its space agenda. This paper analyses India's future potential.
Under the ‘Artemis Accords’ the U.S. is planning an international coalition to extract natural resources from the Moon. China is concurrently planning an Earth-Moon Special Economic Zone. India’s antiquated endorsement of the 1979 Moon Agreement is shackling its true potential for economics-driven space exploration. India must immediately do away with Cold-War era, vintage whims of global commons.
The COVID19-caused migration of India’s large workforce to their rural roots holds immense promise for the country’s agriculture productivity and farmer incomes. Precision agritech and satellite-as-a-service (SAAS) can reduce the urban-rural skill, remuneration, and digital divide. Time to privatize space technology for agricultural benefit.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deficiencies of India’s precision instrument import-dependency and the global supply-chain vulnerabilities of international high-tech manufacturing giants. New Delhi can incentivise such companies to manufacture under the Make in India and Assemble for the World in India programmes
India has responded swiftly to contain the spread of the Corona Virus Disease. The government’s prompt and well-coordinated response, including in the diplomatic realm, shows direction from the highest political leadership. Yet, there is no room for complacency or slackening of vigilance
India’s expansion of its capability in Artificial Intelligence (AI) depends on how eclectically it can bring together indigenous philosophies and the natural sciences, the bedrock of AI. India’s philosophical riches and its unique approach to the natural sciences can enrich global comprehension not only of natural and artificial intelligence, but also the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence
Budget 2020’s allocation for the Department of Space needs to be used as a seed fund for spawning innovation, says Chaitanya Giri, Fellow for Space and Ocean Studies, Gateway House, while the Rs. 8000-crore outlay for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications can help stimulate research
The recently announced New and Emerging Strategic Technologies (NEST) Division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs is timely. It can become vital for India’s national technosecurity in the imminent Fourth Industrial Age if a new Cabinet Committee on Futuristic Science and Technologies is established along with it
India’s preparedness in the decade of the 2020s for the imminent revolution in space affairs depends on mastering Industry 4.0. This is critical as space aspirations now define national interests – a marked change from the vanity-and-pride programmes of the first space age. This will also determine India’s space leadership for the rest of the 21st century
India’s status as a key geoeconomic power calls for indigenous R&D of critical information-communication-technology infrastructure at least a generation ahead of time. India must activate the exploratory R&D phase on sixth-generation (6G) network technologies immediately to safeguard its strategic autonomy in the emerging era of informationalised warfare
