Relevance : GS Paper II
Theme of the Article
India will need pragmatism, diplomatic skill in shaping new rules for regulation of outer space.
Why has this issue been Raised?
In intercepting and destroying a satellite in orbit through its first anti-satellite weapon , India has signalled its determination to deter threats to its growing number of space assets.
Factors that India should take care of:
India needs to come to terms with a number of factors that are transforming the political and economic nature of outer space. Four issues demand India’s attention. And all of them call for a reorientation of India’s national strategy towards outer space.
- First, India has a long way to go before it can claim effective deterrence against attacks to its space assets because the great powers are investing heavily in developing far more sophisticated systems than the one India tested. To effectively secure its interests in outer space, India will need a comprehensive military space policy and the necessary investments to realise its goals.
- Second, while its capabilities for the construction, launch and delivery of satellite services are impressive, India must now wrestle with the exponential growth of the space market. Today’s global space business is estimated to be $350 billion and according to some estimates it could nearly triple in the next two decades. India must promote a massive expansion of the private sector’s role in space to ensure that India gets a reasonable slice of the growing global space business.
- Third, as space becomes the site for expansive commercial enterprise, national space agencies are under pressure to redefine their role. While NASA has gone through multiple reinventions, the structure remains essentially unaltered in India.Instead of trying to do everything, the national agency ISRO could focus on a few critical objectives.
- Fourth, India’s inability to conduct an atomic weapon test before the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty was finalised in 1968 had severely undermined India’s position in the global nuclear order. This time, India must prepare for the inevitable evolution of the global space regime centred around the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
Conclusion
As technological innovation, commercial competition and geopolitical rivalry put great strain on the old order in space, India will need all the strategic pragmatism, legal acumen and diplomatic skill in shaping new rules for the regulation of outer space. Above all it needs collaboration with allies and partners in outer space.
