National development through space: India as a model

Abstract

The experience of India, over the past 40 plus years, in developing and operating a space program focused on providing direct societal benefits offers a number of lessons as developing countries across the globe become increasingly involved in space activities. For a space program to be successful in the context of a developing nation, that program must provide tangible benefits to that country and its people and be tied to broader development objectives. This chapter describes how India's experience in space can be applied as a model to developing countries as they seek to achieve this type of growth from a space program. The chapter describes the relationship between science and technology investment and national development generally and then provides specific detail on the example of India's experience in space. After the capabilities and organization of the Indian Space Program are described a detailed review of the history and current operations of that program is undertaken that reveals a set of elements that have enabled the success of India's space efforts. These elements become the key attributes of a model that can be applied in other developing countries. The paper concludes by applying the model to two test cases, Kazakhstan and South Africa. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.