The Importance of States In Space Missions

Context: 

Recently, India’s Chandrayaan-3’s lander module made a soft landing on the moon.

• India became only the fourth country after the erstwhile Soviet Union, the U.S., and China to accomplish this achievement.

A Comparison of Countries:

• USSR: By some estimates, the USSR was 50%-60% the size of the U.S. economy in the 1960s, when it landed the first spacecraft, Luna 9, on the moon. 
• China: According to World Bank data, in terms of purchasing power parity, China’s per capita income was around 22% that of the U.S. in 2013 at the time of its moon landing.
• India: India’s per capita income in 2022 was only 10.9% that of the U.S. 

Role of Human Resources:

• Highly Populous Nations: China, India, and the U.S. are the world’s most populous nations, and have been since the 1970s; Russia ranked in the top four in the 1970s. 
• Emphasis on Science & Technology: China, Russia, and India laid a lot of importance on science and technology in their post-colonial development trajectory. 
• Minds of the Achievement: The large numbers of potential scientists and engineers in these countries help in the achievement of successes of these nations in space exploration despite not being as rich as the developed world.

Role of Capital Resources:

• The Case of the UAE: The UAE is richer in per capita terms than the U.S., but with a population of roughly nine million in 2023. 
• In 2020, with the help of Japan, the UAE launched the Hope probe that entered Martian orbit in 2021, making it the fifth country after Russia, the U.S., China, and India to achieve this triumph. 

Role of States:

• Triple Helix Model: In 2022, the head of the Emirates Mars Mission stressed the importance of the “triple helix model”, where the government, the private sector, and academics worked together to achieve objectives. 
• An Active and Capable state: It can help to establish frameworks and procedures that overcome financial constraints and enable the harnessing of important resources like skilled workers. 

Raised Concern:

• Developing economies firstly need to focus on basic issues such as poverty, civic infrastructure and racism.
• Such Programs diverted valuable resources from basic required programmes that needed an urgent action. 

An Answer is Human Development & Progress: 

• The importance of these programmes are in material and scientific terms. 
• These missions will contribute to human progress, and ISRO’s demonstration of its ability to launch satellites at relatively low costs can attract business and revenue from private players.

Need of the Hour:

• A true partnership between the state and private players is required.
• An inclusive and secular state, committed to building the capacity required to ensure genuine human development, is the need of the hour.

News Source: The Hindu