India’s Progressive Space Geoeconomics for Constructive International Relations

• Commentary Asia
  by Chaitanya Giri
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The Indian space program has experienced significant evolution in recent years, due to the consistent and space-proven heritage technologies developed within the country, alongside bold policy reforms initiated by the government. In the latter half of the 20th century, India initiated its national space program to support human development objectives and to attain higher economic and social indicators, as it was emerging from the clutches of stifling colonization. The civilian-oriented approach in the space initiative led to prioritizing the development of geospatial and satellite communication capabilities for downstream applications: supporting extensive agricultural, urban, and rural development; enhancing disaster preparedness and response mechanisms; and facilitating the delivery of government citizen services, such as health and education, to remote regions. To this aim, the different administrations of the space program have maintained a steadfast and pragmatic commitment, largely unaffected by geopolitical polarity, exhibiting a disciplined approach that eschews the pursuit of resource-intensive space endeavors driven solely by spectacle. Today, with a strong legacy of ​​​​fifty years of satellite operation, four decades of sovereign space launch capabilities, and nearly twenty years of experience in space exploration, having a significant contribution in uplifting nearly 170 million people out of poverty in the last decade, and possessing strong economic fundamentals and projections, India has laid the foundation for kick-starting "high-risk-high-reward" space projects as part of its "space geoeconomics".

The state of India's space program

​​​​​Since the 1957 International Geophysical Year, led by the International Council for Scientific Unions, India has developed strong international academic, scientific and space agency-level partnerships. However, the country's strategy of external engagement, which was meant to safeguard its strategic autonomy during the long period of the Cold War, led to the imposition of sanctions from superpowers, stifling many of its crucial technological developments. The moment India felt compelled to work on the renewal of its earlier civilian space technology architecture came with the beginning of the 21st century, when it faced a wave of state-sponsored terrorism on its eastern and western land and maritime frontiers. Elements that were missing until that moment - such as high-resolution geospatial imaging, secure satellite communications, an indigenous positioning-navigation-timing system, and a reliable space launch capability - started to become pivotal for the development of the national space sector. ​​​​The civilian space program began spinning off military as well as interplanetary space capabilities. In 1999, unfazed by geopolitical turmoil in the neighborhood, the country decided to pursue a space exploration program, with missions designed for inner Solar System bodies. The goal was to use the space exploration program for opening a new avenue for international space cooperation, growing STEM competencies in-house, and stimulating the aspirations of a young population. A number of interplanetary missions were carried out successfully: the series Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 aimed at observing and analyzing Lunar surface, with Chandrayaan-3 landing Pragyan rover near the South pole (a Chandrayaan-4 mission to the dark side of the Moon has already been announced); Aditya-L1 for Sun observation; Mars Orbiter Mission; the upcoming Lunar Polar Explorer (LUPEX); and Shukrayaan (also known as "Venus orbiter mission"). These missions have all benefited, to varying degrees, from heritage space payloads and spacecraft systems, as well as knowledge base from the earth-observation and satellite communications technologies. They have also created a repertoire of new technologies necessary for more advanced space missions to happen later in the 21st century. The same heritage also flowed into development of defence space capabilities, which eventually resulted in the establishment of the Defence Space Agency in 2019. However, the attempted cyberattack on the launchpad of Chandrayaan-2-carrying launch vehicle, and the various reported and unreported vulnerabilities that India's assets in space face, from natural and astropolitical threats, have called for New Delhi to create dual-purpose synergies that cater to development and security needs not only for India but for the world.

The Indian space program was solely government-run until 2020, when a series of space sector reforms was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aim was to begin providing a level playing field for age-old commercial space contractors, who had previously worked with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on its designs and technological templates, to serve as licensed manufacturers of the same technologies and even embellish them with their own intellectual property. Likewise, in congruence with the global trend of governments supporting space research and technology startups, the Indian government assisted more than hundred space sector startups, creating a strong academia-industry-government space innovation ecosystem. ​​A sizable number of these startups are now contributing to the Indian space program, playing a significant role in servicing domestic and international customers and end-users. For instance, Indian startup Digantara and space and defence contractor Ananth Technologies are technology partners on an India-Australia bilateral space project known as Space Maitri, that involves construction and launching of an in-orbit inspector satellite known as Optimus. Another project worth noting is the "Dronagiri", that involves collation of geospatial datasets from various commercial and non-commercial sources to help attain ease of doing business and improving citizens' lives. With Dronagiri, the government aims to create synergies between state-run agencies, geospatial startups, and the corporate sector. Now, the program has attained dimensions that facilitate government-to-government (G2G), business-to-government (B2G), and business-to-business (B2B) interactions. Startups and commercial space entities are now pivotal participants in the country's economic, technological, and developmental collaborations with partner nations and their respective agencies. This diversity of engagements has augmented the momentum and scope of space cooperation endeavors available, and space geoeconomic collaboration has achieved unprecedented relevance.

Outreach and international engagement in the space realm: IMEC, ITEC and other strategies

Space cooperation and partnership have attained immense significance in India's diplomatic outreach to the world. G2G, B2B, and B2G space partnerships now figure regularly in India's track-1 and track-2 diplomacy. ​​​​The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which was initially announced during India's G20 Presidency in 2023, represents a multilateral, multi-modal trade and logistics connectivity megaproject. It is essential that such a modern infrastructure initiative incorporate a space component, wherein space assets - co-developed by IMEC partner countries - would facilitate the provision of geospatial imagery, satellite-based communications, and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems to support an economically and environmentally sustainable, well-monitored, and efficient trading route. India's ISRO, alongside numerous commercial space enterprises, will engage in B2G and B2B collaborations with partners from participating nations as IMEC progresses into its construction and operational phases. IMEC is not the only avenue for collaboration with Europe, especially when cislunar connectivity is also becoming a crucial international undertaking. ​​​​With proven capabilities to execute interplanetary missions to Mars and complicated lunar landings, India would be a dependable partner for Europe, in realizing joint India-European Union cislunar expeditions. The India-EU Space Dialogue, a part of the new 2025 EU-India Strategic Agenda, would serve well as a platform to contemplate and execute space projects of mutual significance, from the space component of IMEC to cislunar connectivity projects.

As recognised by the Global South as its 'Voice', New Delhi has also made several development-cooperation commitments in the Indo-Pacific. The country has extended cooperation - both directly and through the UN - to the Small Island Developing States in the Indo-Pacific, being conscious of India's cooperation role towards the environmental vulnerabilities these nations face. Furthermore, ​​​​it consistently supported the agenda set in the UN-led International Conferences on Small Island Development States (SIDS), starting from the agenda delineated in the Barbados Conference in 1994, the 2005 Mauritius Strategy, the Samoa Pathway in 2014, and the Antigua and Barbados Agenda in 2024, all broadly working towards ensuring sustainable progress and environmental security of small island nations from the vulnerabilities they face. Since the 2017 establishment of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, the fund has supported nearly a hundred projects in around 60 countries, half of which are SIDS. The Indian government has trained nearly 6000 professionals from SIDS countries under the formal and very successful Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program. Some of these ITEC training programs focus on building space-tech capacities, which help build space-technical competencies in the Indo-Pacific.

India also maintains numerous longstanding bilateral development partnerships, encompassing grant aid, concessional financing, capacity-building activity and training programs akin to ITEC. In the forthcoming years, New Delhi's space-based training initiatives will extend beyond the current scope of ISRO and its affiliated institutions. Vocational training and skills development will be offered to Indo-Pacific professionals through private, for-profit, and non-profit entities. India's space assets serve as tools for the Indian government to facilitate economic development, cooperation, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, climate change monitoring, meteorology, last-mile connectivity, and education and skill enhancement. This represents a natural evolution of New Delhi's space geoeconomics strategy within the Indo-Pacific region via development cooperation.

The future of the Indian Space Program

India has begun preparations for long-duration human presence in the low-Earth orbit and research and logistics connectivity in the (Earth-Moon) cislunar space for human-rated missions. In these cutting-edge pursuits, the country does not position itself as a vehement partner to the main geoeconomic groupings of the current space race - namely Chinese-led and US-led exploration programs - even though it has signed the Washington-sponsored Artemis Accords and, at the same time, it does not seem interested to in participate in joining the the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) promoted by Beijing and Moscow. However, as far as international alignment is concerned, what it tries to do is asking for the best returns from partners across the groupings. For instance, during the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested the establishment of the BRICS Space Exploration Consortium, in an attempt to identify bilateral and multilateral space cooperation partners in the now expanded BRICS grouping.

Furthermore, New Delhi ​​​​is currently designing its "Bharatiya Antariksh Station", a low-Earth orbit, 50 tonne, space station, which would be operationalised by 2040. Offering partners in the Global South access to its station could enable numerous scientific and commercial exercises that are crucial to global progress and prosperity.

Today, India's space program stands as a hallmark of its development narrative since decolonization, and it may become a powerful tool to enhance cooperation with partners in the Global South and, particularly, pursue its aspirations to mitigate the geoeconomic disparities between the Global North and South, positioning itself an alternative pole to the People's republic of China (PRC). In fact, India's conception of its triangular relation with China and the rest of the Global South is that as the PRC's manufacturing capacities wane, India does not intend to fully supplant it, but rather, to leverage its position as one of the world's leading economies to influence the global industrial and innovation landscape. ​​​