Pakistani satellites eye India
Pakistan is about to launch two military satellites in June with aid from China. It is pursuing its renewed space programme, using the same clandestine tactics it used for developing its atomic programme
Pakistan is about to launch two military satellites in June with aid from China. It is pursuing its renewed space programme, using the same clandestine tactics it used for developing its atomic programme
Modern astronomy will stimulate scientific, technological, economic and human resource development—all high priorities for India. New Delhi should exploit its proximity to the ‘Roof of the World’ to advance its geopolitical interests
China is steadily deploying state-of-the-art communications systems to connect its strategic and economic assets in Asia. It is then linkingthe Asian mainland to Africa, and Africa to South America. The investment spree is rapidly making Beijing a major player in global telecommunications – and ‘informationisation warfare’.
The year-old UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme has mobilised India’s aviation sector, helping consolidate a domestic market for its indigenous commercial aircraft. It can similarly nurture strategic emerging industries – if a national transportation policy is put in place
The two countries’ proposal to carry out a robotic sample-return mission to the Moon in the 2020s is a laudable attempt at catching up with Beijing’s rather more advanced lunar agenda. And there are many lessons that Japan can offer India
India is missing from the new wave of industrialisation that the space powers – both well-established and new – are ushering in. New Delhi must use the Indian Space Research Organisation smartly to create a competitive industrial base of avant-garde technologies, not regard it a mere revenue generator
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) recently announced intention to visit the planet Venus – the third celestial destination for India after the Moon and Mars – is a significant academic pursuit. But can New Delhi use this opportunity to develop cutting-edge trans-disciplinary technologies and advance its space diplomacy?
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has been steadily building its underwater infrastructure since the 1980s to undertake energy-efficient, long-range and dual-purpose reconnaissance and exploration missions. While the Indian Navy’s superiority is unquestionable, New Delhi should provide it the crucial futuristic paraphernalia
New Delhi’s space policy makers have been promoting the possibility of deriving Helium-3 from the Moon for Earth-based applications for over a decade—but it is not a viable proposition and it’s time they stopped placing the cart before the horse
India-EU space collaboration is still nascent largely due to the EU’s limited autonomy over its space programme. Astro-geopolitics, an inevitable successor to geopolitics, requires confidence-building and furthering strengthening of bilateral linkages