India Budget Makes a Whopping 18% Increase in Space Program

FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

India Budget Makes a Whopping 18% Increase in Space Program

Feb. 3, 2018 (EIRNS)—In the just-released national budget for Fiscal 2018 India’s Department of Space has gotten a whopping 18.7% increase. The Department oversees the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) and India’s space industry. Since 2013, the Department of Space has received increases of 40%, 6.6%, 2%, 8%, 14%, and now 18.6%, over the previous year.

The Indian space program’s emphasis has always been on satellite-based technologies for applications in the economy and raising people’s standard of living. In the new budget, the government has given a “huge chunk of investment” to centers working in new technologies for satellites and launch vehicles, and has identified 156 areas where space technology can be used “for the welfare of the common man,” as Geospatial World describes it.

The budget also supports programs in the space sciences, including a second Mars Orbiter Mission, a Venus mission plan, small satellites, and an X-ray satellite called XpoSat. In space applications, there is an emphasis on remote sensing and disaster management related support.

Although the press constantly blabs about an “Asian space race,” India has focused its space program on inputs to its economy, and recently has branched out to include space science. Most notable, have been successful missions to orbit the Moon, and Mars.