India’s recent efforts in space exploration closely mirror the country’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise.
Indian officials are pushing in favor of a multipolar world order in which New Delhi is seen as indispensable to global solutions. In space exploration, as in many other fields, the message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been clear: The world will be a fairer place if India takes a leadership role, even as the world’s most populous nation. is striving to meet its core citizens. need.
That stance on the world stage was a central campaign message for Mr. Modi, who is up for re-election for a third term early next year. He often conflated his image with India’s rise as an economic, diplomatic and technological power.
“Thanks to our scientists, India has a very rich history in the space sector,” Mr. Modi said after the launch of Chandrayaan-3 to the moon last month. “This remarkable mission will carry the hopes and dreams of our nation.”
India aims to become only the fourth country to achieve a moon landing — after the United States, the Soviet Union and China — and the first to do so in the moon’s South Pole region.
Much of India’s foreign policy in recent decades has been shaped by a delicate balancing act between Washington and Moscow, as the country grapples with an increasingly aggressive China on its borders. The militaries of the two countries have been locked in a standoff in the Himalayas for two years now, and vulnerability to a threat from China is a major driving factor in India’s calculations.
The common frustration with Beijing only increases American and Indian cooperation, including in space, where China is establishing itself in direct competition with the United States. Russia’s failed moon landing days before India’s successful attempt is the latest indication of Moscow’s struggles as a space power.
On the day India was trying to land on the moon, Mr. Modi for a meeting of the group of countries known as BRICS. Much attention will be focused on whether Mr. Modi for talks on the sidelines of the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which will be the first proper bilateral discussions between the two leaders since the deadly clash between their militaries in 2020.
Bharat Karnad, an emeritus professor of national security studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, said India’s cost-effective approach to space exploration “makes India the launcher of choice for many countries for their low Earth orbit communications satellites.”
But the potential success of Chandrayaan-3 comes at a particularly important moment in the nation’s rise, Mr. Karnad said, and Mr. Modi could reap the benefits of leaning on India’s scientific prowess to “ more confidently assert India’s national interests on the world stage. ”
