Slice of the Space Pie

"The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented."
~Dennis Gabor

In the hype surrounding India becoming the Twenty20 World Champions, one story I feel that was lost to the inside pages of the dailies, is that the 58th International Aeronautical Congress 2007, is being held in Hyderabad, India after 19 years, organised by the International Aeronautical Federation. Obviously all things Indian are the flavour of the meet of delegates from the major space agencies around the world. And India's recent strides in space technologies are being highlighted by the ISRO guys, in an attempt to hard-sell India as a major space power that has come of age. Such conferences are always where big deals are made and the buzzword is usually 'business', although the theme for the Congress goes, 'Touching Humanity: Space for Improving Quality of Life'. Nothing wrong with that. Except when the concerns raised are, pollution in space and how space will be the battlefield of the future. Now that is food for thought, isn't it?

It is an open secret that all nations who have a presence in space are working on developing technologies to preserve it. When you have countries like the United States and Russia developing laser guns that could blow up satellites and destroy communication and reconnaissance capabilities that will totally cripple nations and bring them to their knees, this deserves a serious discussion. After Japan sent its probe Kayuga to the moon earlier this month, and with China and India planning their own moon missions, we now have Germany and Italy preparing for lunar rendezvous, it is being feared that the race for the moon might make a mockery of the international understanding on the use of space. Since space has now become a business destination, we need to provide a legal framework to support the development of space as a common property of the nations much on the lines of the Antarctic Treaty.

But what role can India play? Everyone knows that India has truly arrived on the global scene. The century is being described as the Asian Century. India has an advanced space programme and barring funding concerns, we have a very able organisation in ISRO that can match any space agency in the world. Since space is such a new territory to explore, India can have a major role to play in its development. This will be perhaps after a long time when India will be able to flex its muscle in an international effort. Will India align itself with either the US or Russia if space is indeed exploited? Probably not. India will definitely have to upgrade its space infrastructure and also look at developing defence systems to protect its assets in space in the future. But before that we need to play a role to ensure that space does not fall to human greed. We need to ensure that we do not make a mess of this glorious opportunity to showcase the collaborative human spirit, not seen in centuries. India has always had a record in foreign relations of sticking only to its interests and putting its foreign and domestic policy first. This is seldom highlighted, but India's foreign policy has been truly independent and a shining example in global diplomacy. I hope to be a part of it someday.

As ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair put it, India's space programme with its application of models to develop the country in the spheres of education, communication and health can be of immense help for the other developing countries, in Africa and Latin America to be a part of the space pie, that would otherwise be left bereft of its benefits. And I am sure India will be seeking to have inclusive space technologies and policies.

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