Opinion Express View on Artemis Accords: In a new space
India throws its weight behind a US-led alliance on space matters. It's a significant step
Joining the US-led alliance is an attempt by India to leapfrog and start collaborating on the next generation of technologies, even as it pursues its own efforts to implement its space plans. 
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By signing the Artemis Accords, India has expressed its commitment to adhere to the best practices in space exploration. But that is the least significant part of the development. After all, India is already a signatory to the Outer Space Treaty, and the associated international regimes that seek adherence to the very same principles.
By signing the Accords, India has decisively thrown its weight behind a US-led alliance on space matters, an alliance that, currently, and most likely in future too, excludes Russia and China, two of the most important spacefaring nations. It is an interesting turn of events. The US was at the forefront of denying crucial space technologies to India in the 1980s and 1990s.
It forced Russia in the early 1990s to renege on a commitment to supply cryogenic technology to India, which slowed down India’s space programme for nearly three decades. Now, in the latest joint statement, it has promised to “address export controls and facilitate technology transfer”.
A lot of what India plans to do in space — human missions, moon landings, planetary explorations, setting up a space station — has already been done by countries like the US, Russia or China. There are benefits of doing things on your own. It brings expertise and confidence. But there are also pitfalls in trying to reinvent the wheel. There is the danger of being left behind. The fact that India has not yet sent manned missions to space, or even landed a satellite on the moon, is not because of lack of capacity or expertise. It has a lot to do with the technology denial regime of the early years.
Joining the US-led alliance is an attempt by India to leapfrog and start collaborating on the next generation of technologies, even as it pursues its own efforts to implement its space plans.
Historically, however, Russia has been India’s most trusted partner in the space sector, just like it has been in defence. Even recently, it was Russia that offered its facilities to train Indian astronauts for the Gaganyaan mission. Joining an alliance that is seen to be aimed at promoting US interests in space is not likely to be seen very favourably by Russia. India will have to strike the same careful and delicate balance that it has been doing in the energy sector ever since the war in Ukraine.
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