The story of NASA’s Space Shuttle Programme is a story about failures as well as successes. In this Opinion Piece for Mint, I share the lessons India can learn and the opportunities this presents.
From the article:
Space Shuttle’s retirement created an opportunity: When the US retired the Space Shuttle, Nasa had no ready substitute spacecraft…
A burgeoning American space industry cultivated robust capacities in LEO that has led to a flurry of private spacecraft capable of taking crew and cargo to orbit. Their pursuit of a competitive advantage spurred the development of reusable spacecraft, slashing launch costs by a staggering 95% compared to the Space Shuttle era. These advancements have done wonders for space accessibility, opening wider doors to Nasa and many space and satellite companies globally. We can create similar opportunities in India…
…The transfer of technical knowledge from Isro to the private sector for LVM3 production will spread crucial space expertise. These capabilities could then strengthen India’s supply of launch vehicles to meet growing global demand for launch services.