Mars and Other Planets Offer Us an Opportunity We Must Not Loose

Context: An economics-driven scientific Mars exploration project can attract financing from public and private markets, freeing planetary exploration from bureaucratic and political partisanship.

Key Elements of Rising Significance of Mars Exploration 

• Prioritization amid pandemic: U.S., UAE, and China did not lead pandemic to affect their launch of Perseverance, Hope and Tianwen-1 into Mars.
• Not limited to free-market democracy (U.S.): but more countries are joining in like monarchy (UAE) and communist China.
• Rising techno-economic aspects: more than pure science-driven quest it has been for example-
• UAE: aims to build a city on Mars using 3D printing technology.
• China aims to establish Earth-Moon special economic zone.
• U.S. aims to set up transportation and communications infrastructure between Earth and Mars.

Problems in India’s Space Programme 

• Lack of prioritization: Scientists have had to fight an ideological bind that tended to give toilet-building greater priority than space exploration.
• Science-driven pursuit: 
  • for e.g. the output of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission has been limited to a few scientific research papers, earnings for industry and a fillip to international perception management. 
  • India’s proposed second Mars mission (2026) is content orbiting Mars without landing a rover.
• Restrictive participation: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO’s) missions are restricted to itself and department of space laboratories, and sometimes public universities.
• Short of talent: that can work simultaneously on Venus, Moon, Mars, asteroid and comet missions.

Way Forward

• Engage the private sector: to lower the cost and pursue economics-driven scientific space exploration.
  • As Mars becomes populated with landers, rovers, drones and orbiters, the data generated by their geological, atmospheric, geochemical, hydrological and geophysical probes will have significant commercial value.
  • Ensure the participation of innovative companies and startups with insights knowledge of payload building and commercialization of data-sets generated.
  • The Space Commission, India’s main body for space strategy formulation, should increase the frequency of its exploratory missions.