Designs on space

The Discovery mission blended accomplishment and dissatisfaction, optimism and poignancy. For NASA, the safe landing of Discovery means much...

The Discovery mission blended accomplishment and dissatisfaction, optimism and poignancy. For NASA, the safe landing of Discovery means much more than simply 8216;8216;mission accomplished8217;8217;. After the celebrations are over, NASA has a major task on its hands and that is to restart the space missions by overcoming all technical glitches.

NASA was expected to undertake the next space launch in September 2005 but now they have admitted that they still do not know the cause of a recurring problem at lift-off 8212; pieces of foam flying off the fuel tank responsible for the crash of Colombia and have ruled out any fresh space launches before November. Many analysts are of the opinion that NASA is unlikely to undertake any launches in the near future.

Interestingly, NASA8217;s decision to cease future space missions is also bad news for India. The recent visit by India8217;s prime minister to the US and the subsequent euphoria on the Indo-US nuclear deal has somewhat diluted the importance of other important deals signed during this visit. Along with the nuclear energy deal, Bush and Singh also agreed to cooperate on space technologies. Both sides agreed to build closer ties in space exploration, satellite navigation and launch, and in the commercial space arena.

Moreover, it was agreed in principle that the US would train a few Indians to become astronauts and in future these astronauts would become a part of US space missions. But now with the future of the US space missions itself in jeopardy the prospects of an Indian visiting space appears to be bleak. However, there is a need for the Indian government to keep working at it, because astronaut training is a very lengthy process.

The current crew of Discovery had undergone a thorough training schedule lasting almost three to four years. NASA cannot afford to sit tight on the space launch project. The success of the International Space Station depends much on NASA finding a solution for a safe space journey. Only a month ago President Bush approved NASA8217;s budget for 2005-06, to the whopping amount of 35 billion dollars.

India8217;s own space programme over the last few years is a success story. Now, India intends to conquer the moon with an unmanned flight in 2007/08 with its moon mission codenamed Chandrayan-1. For the same mission India has agreed to carry a few US sensors. In the arena of space technology, particularly for developing countries like India, it becomes important to have global partners. Now that India has promised the US to carry its sensors for the moon mission, the best quid pro quo would be to ask the US to start the process of training Indian astronauts immediately.