US hampers Indian commercial space programme

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US trying to hamper growth of Indian commercial space programme

http://www.samachar.com/features/130704-features.html

BY TUSHAR CHARAN

 

The previous government, perhaps spurred by China sending a man in

orbit in October 2003, had raised visions of India reaching the

moon. Well, as part of its now discredited India Shining programme,

it had announced that a moon (Chandrayaan) mission would be launched

by 2007/08. That is some years away. In the meantime, India

continues to concentrate on its space programme with notable

successes. Other than advanced countries like the US and Japan and

the West Europe, India is the only `third world' country to have

developed a rocket programme capable of launching satellites into

space.

 

Brazil is trying to catch up while Israel with the same capability

does not fall into the category of a third world country. Nations

looking for launching their satellites into orbit by paying millions

of dollars no longer need go to the West but can avail of the

facility offered by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at

considerably less cost-almost 30 percent less.

 

There is, however, a roadblock before India could start calculating

incomes in billions of dollars from putting other countries'

satellites into orbit. The US has turned its attention to India's

space programmes and is not happy to see the emergence of Bangalore-

based ISRO as a global player. The US under secretary of commerce,

Kenneth I. Juster, has hinted that the countries that use US

satellites or satellites that have been supplied by the US would not

be allowed to go to ISRO for their space launch. He visited

Bangalore late June to attend a five-day Indo-US conference on

`Space Science, Applications and Commerce'.

 

India has the capacity to launch medium weight satellite with its

geo-stationary satellite launch vehicles (GSLV) into low earth and

geo-transfer orbits. Several countries have shown interest in using

the ISRO facility because of the low launch cost in India. But at

least two potential deals were lost because of US policy on

satellite systems and components.

 

At the Bangalore meet, Juster sought to soften the blow by repeating

what the US administration has been telling India oftenthat export

of `dual use' technologies to India would be cleared on case by case

basis. That is poppycock as ISRO authorities insist that there has

been no `significant change' in the US policy as far as ground

realities are concerned.

 

US Justice Department, according to Juster, had approved 90 percent

of applications of US firms for export of high technology supply to

India. Again, the fact is that it means nothing because several

technologies that India seeks are required to be cleared by a host

of departments in the US. A clever way of blocking export of such

technologies to India.

 

As is well known, the US maintains an `entities list'. Its purpose

is to prohibit export of `dual technology' items from the US to

countries which are under some kind of sanction as India is, and

also countries the US does not like. This list has two Indian

`entities' and 14 subordinate `entities.'

 

Officially, all sanctions against India have been lifted and Indo-US

relations have `warmed up' to reach `strategic' status. Yet, the ban

on certain Indian `entities' remains as if in commemoration of the

Cold War era. That the `ban', has proved a blessing in disguise for

India is an altogether different matter. Because of US `no' to

cryogenic technology to power India's GSLV, and because of the way

it thwarted Russian cryogenic technology transfers to ISRO, our

space scientists have come up with our own cryogenic engine.

Indigenisation and selfreliance may be dirty words in the economic

lexicon because of globalisation but these are relevant where

country's space interests are involved.

 

The US has always been chary of scientific strides made by India.

During the Cold War era, India was considered rather unfriendly by

most US administrations because of New Delhi's decision to stay `non-

aligned'. (The US considers Pakistan `reliable' as that country has

always aligned itself firmly with the US). Naturally, sophisticated

US technologies or equipment were not to be exported to India. The

US has a tendency to see most of India's scientific programmes as

geared towards military use and, by extension, a likely threat to

its `reliable' ally in the region.

 

The powerful US lobby in the country that is well entrenched in all

influential circles might claim a definite warmth in Indo- US

relations but the fact is the US still denies India access to what

it calls `dual use' technology. The US assumes that if this

restriction is removed, India will immediately put such a technology

to military use to harass its trusted ally in South Asia from Cold

War days, Pakistan. This fear `compels' the Americans to supply

lethal and offensive weapons to Pakistan and offer it nearly every

high technology it wants.

 

If the US denies Pakistan a certain technology, Pakistan's `most

trusted ally and brother', China does the needful as the Americans

shut their eyes. The Pakistani nuclear and missile programmes are

based on theft, `clandestine' transfers and a thriving international

nuclear black market under the guidance of a Pakistani metallurgist,

A.Q.Khan. And the official US position is that all this happened

without its knowledge!

 

It is hard to see why the US is trying to hamper the growth of

Indian commercial space programme as the two countries are not

rivals in the field. During the initial stages of rocket and

satellite launches there was an intense rivalry between the US and

the former USSR. Things have changed a lot since with old players

moving in different `orbits' and new players like India entering the

field. There is no USSR and the US has shifted focus on space

shuttle transportation system. If there is any competition for

India, it comes from Europe. The US was never the sole space-faring

nation.

 

The Indian space programme is set to become self-reliant,

irrespective of whatever the US says or does. So far, India has been

using European Ariane rocket to launch its commercial satellites.

But the country will use its own launch vehicle after the GSLV

becomes operational.

 

India has established itself as a player in launching 1000 kg remote

sensing satellites through the indigenously developed polar

satellite launch vehicle (PSLV). In fact, ISRO has successfully

launched micro satellites for South Korea, Germany and Bulgaria. The

Americans will not be able to stop India from offering cheaper and

reliable satellite launches.