[Chandrayan approaching moonscape]
Trust the ridiculous public sector Doordarshan to screw it up. Just as the lander got to within metres of the moon’s surface, instead of focussing the cameras on the approaching lunar surface captured by the onboard cameras, you had the DD idiots focussing their cameras on a simulated picture! Is there no end to Doordarshan’s lack of professionalism?
This massive coverage/visual snafu by the Doordarshan fools was compounded by having Prime Minister Modi speaking from — and going on and on a bit, from Johannesbrg, rather than having the cameras staying and relooping the Vikram camera sequence with the puffs of moondust as the lander’s qaudrupod feet settled on the moon. The PM could always have spoken a little later after the people had seen again and again the camera capturing the actual lunar touch down. It is time that in future Space missions private sector TV companies are allowed to report live from the control room than leave history in the making to be visually botched by the still amateurish Doordarshan.
That said, the mission was spectacularly successful also because it highlighted ISRO’s penny-wise, pound-wise approach of getting the most from the monies invested in the Chandrayan mission. What NASA does for billions of dollars, ISRO achieves for tens of millions — that is the cost differential that can’t be beat. The Chandrayan success also stands out even more in the context of the failure of the Japanese Hakuto-R moonlander in April this year, and because of the Russian Luna 25 mission, in a hurry to beat Chandrayan-3 to the lunar South Pole, that was victimised by the short cut it opted for. Instead of transitioning through a succession of progressively lower elliptical orbits before detaching the lunar module, it tried hardbraking from a height and crashlanded to Moscow’s embarrassment.
India has signed the Artemis accords (initiated in October 2020) when Modi recently visited Washington — the country becoming the 27th signatory of an agreement that has established “rules of the road” for Space ventures. With Russia and China forming their own group for cooperating in, and coordinating, their Space activities (that Pakistan, for instance, wants to join), there is now a democracy versus autocracy schism in Space exploration. This competition doesn’t augur well for anyone. Because remember, India’s geosynchronous orbit satellite injecting/deep Space launch rocket system is based on the Russian cryogenic engine design whose transfer the US did everything in its power to derail, even pressuring Moscow to desist from handing over ready rockets and associated technologies to ISRO.
The most consequential decision Modi made, which has brightened the prospects of India emerging as a truly substantial Space power, is to privatise much of the Space sector. Considering the quite extraordinary leap by young high-tech companies that have come up in the field in the last ten years — Agnikul Cosmos, Spaceroot (which won an international NASA competition for moon rover), Bellatrix, Pixxel, Satellize, Dhruva Space, et al, setting up their own launch and satellite design and production facilities, and augmenting the big corporates already in the business of helping out ISRO — L&T, Godrej Aerospace, etc., the public sector giant will soon be given a run for its money. And India will gain massively. In the ISRO-led Space ecosystem, some 500 small and medium companies are producing stellar technologies economically.
Once India acquires economies of scale in all aspects of Space technology, it will be unbeatable in that no country, least of all those from the West, will be able to compete on cost-proven quality terms. It is an edge the country needs to preserve (for launching low earth orbiting satellites, in particular) and a capability that needs continuous enhancement — a job private capital can help throttle up by investing hugely in Space tech companies and startups.
Security Wise 
Don’t blame us. There were orders from the top to focus on Modiji.
We are sarkaari employees and have to listen to the powers otherwise we would be rendered jobless.
DD walleyy@ – Are you actual management at Doordarshan? Or in your case, does DD refer to Doon-school Dropout? I think you’re confused about which DD we’re discussing here – in addition to being confused about life.
Chandrayan-4 will take Modi & Shah to moon next year in 2024 before the Parliamentary elections in India.
This would make the duo first political creatures from the Planet 🌎 Earth to land on Moon, where they will unfurl the BJP flag and open up a BJP office.
Doordarshan can’t do door ke darshan! Ironical!
The whole name is stupid and antiquated, and could use an update.
Congratulations to all Indians on this most monumental of events in our 76 year old journey. DD news typifies the “sarkari incompetence” which has become awfully cliche. While there is no question that they had orders from the top to broadcast Modi’s speech(who won’t know Jack about anything science-related), they could have done a better job by using better cameras and not relying upon the cheap, cringey simulations. Russian failure to reach Moon before the cash cows they have so mercilessly milked in every defense-ToT deal was very well-deserved and extremely satisfying. It epitomizes the failure of Putin’s filthy bureaucratic-oligarchic clique in even preserving legacy Soviet industries(forget about making new ones). Soviet grandfathers would be rolling in their graves watching many a folly of team Putin. The real deal now is to operationalize ISRO’s prototype of the massive 2000 KN thrust engine, paving the way for super heavy lift rockets.
As a side note, I believe it was unnecessary to mention that our initial cryogenic engine designs were Russian, for even startups like Agnikul and skyroot have made better cryogenic engines than the one given to us by the Russians. The whole enterprise succeeded only because of the heavy involvement of the private sector.
By Email from RB
Piggybacking on Nehru
Thu, 24 Aug at 8:13 am
Dear Mr. Karnad,
Following from the NY TIMES.
“And with the success of Chandrayaan-3, Mr. Modi can reap benefits in leaning into India’s scientific prowess to “more confidently assert Indian national interest on the world stage,” said Bharat Karnad, an emeritus professor of national security studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.”
The appropriate reading should be “Mr. Modi can reap benefits piggybacking on what Nehru established while using him as his favorite bete noire to gain votes”.
This is not meant as disrespect to you, I apologize if you take it so. The propaganda about development and hijacking of past hard work by the tall leaders is somehow repulsive. It is not even 24 hours and have seen a couple of posts attributing this stunning achievement to the Present Prime Minister.
Respectfully,
RB
I too feel that we really didn’t need to see Modi’s face plastered onscreen directly alongside Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram during the actual moon-landing. This was a North Korean level of sycophancy (which is only slightly less than Nehruvian level of sycophancy, as evinced by the letter above), done so ham-handedly that it had me shaking my head.
I think Modi needs to fire his media consultants, because they’re really taking him for a sub-orbital ride.
Vishvguru Modiji has inspired young Indians by this feat so much so that now every school kid in India aspires to become a Space Scientist. Due to Kalki avtaar Modiji’s vision, India will fully colonize moon within the next 5-10 years.
Is it every school kid who goes to a government school without teachers and toilets? Or just the children who go to private schools? Just asking for a friend
@Amit- I need to ask our RSS Shakha Pramukh the answer to your question. We don’t question our leaders in RSS and BJP
By every school kid do you mean the one who goes to government schools without drinking water, toilets and enough teachers. Or those who go to private schools? Just asking for a friend.
Email from Vice Admiral RN Ganesh, who retired as FOCINC, Southern Naval Command
Thu, 24 Aug at 10:33 am
Thank you for that article.
I, too,couldn’t believe it when the moment of landing went unrecorded
(or at least un-transmitted). We were left to guess that it had passed by
the cheers of the ISRO assembly.
Ravi Ganesh
Sir,I am excited with the prospects of private sector companies participating in space missions. However, Indian start ups may struggle to scale up due to the requirement of huge funding for advanced research in the space technology. They are thus open to funding and acquisition by foreign investors. The lack of adequate funding mechanism in India for pursuing higher research and scaling up manufacturing from Indian sources could make them vulnerable to brain/ technology drain. India needs a national strategy and an action plan for retention of talent and protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
Warm Regards
Gp Capt R K Narang VM (Retd.) PhD
@manofsan- DD here refers to Delhi Doordarshan. It seems you are a Doon school dropout and thus confused about everything.
Note- Google the word ‘satire’ 😉
Professor,
Here is an interview of Col. Douglas McGregor by Tucker Carlson. Both have been anti Ukraine war from the beginning. However, what is interesting to note is the Colonel’s assessment of the U.S. military. It seems like the U.S. military is underpowered and vulnerable just the Chinese. Some of the issues with arms production, lack of jointness, lack of air defences etc. also remind one of the woes facing the Indian military.
It seems like Russia is the only major power that has gained in military strength and maybe the only great power capable of fighting a major war today! And if you look at all candidates in the fray, except for Ramaswamy and Trump, no one is proposing to end the war. Just like the oligarchs in Eastern Europe, the American Oligarchs run the U.S. the U.S. seems to be committing harakiri! The longer this war goes on, the more dangerous it becomes, and the higher the chances of a Ukrainian and US defeat.
What this means is that the US and China are both inflating their power, and are less powerful than projected. It also means greater instability as middle powers will jostle for position. Interesting times indeed!
@Amit- US industrial military complex doesn’t care if they win or lose wars. They just wish to initiate and continue military conflicts all over the world.
The issue with losing to China or Russia is the significant loss of power, unlike with Afghanistan etc. it’s also very dangerous for the world at large.
First time in India’s history a strong Hindu government has come to power in 2014.
Country is progressing well.
People should shut up. Vishvguru Modiji knows what’s best for the country.
According to The Indian Express newspaper, no interpreters or note-takers were around when the two leaders spoke to each other.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66613040
Modi spoke in Gujarati. Xi replied in Mandarin. Meeting finished.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1297004.shtml
China has no intention of resolving the ongoing border dispute with India as is clearly evident from their aforementioned statement.
How long do you need to maintain peace at the border, when the border is not even marked properly?
Xi is not going to attend the forthcoming G-20 summit in India as well.
Both India and China are scared of each other and are thus treating the other too softly.
China ought to kick out India from every grouping dominated by it i.e, SCO, BRICS etc.
Reason being India not supporting OBOR, RCEP etc. India has for all practical purposes moved to the US block. Consider this;
India is buying discounted crude from Russia, refining it and then selling it back to the Western nations so, Western sanctions aren’t hurting Russia at all.
Indian export market on the other hand is heavily dominated by Chinese products and the Indian government hasn’t been able to do a rat’s ass about it inspite of shouting from the rooftop since 2020 about decoupling from China.
Banning the Chinese apps has no meaning. Anyone who uses VPN can easily access all these so called banned apps.
Deploying the additional troops at Ladakh border is costing the Indian government an estimated Rs. 100 Crores per day or 36000 Crores per year.
The Indian army management is happy with this situation since it provides them with an immense opportunity to siphon off huge funds into their pockets in the name of national security.
So, the prevailing tension between China and India will persist in the present form for a very long time.
Email from Lt. Gen. Balli Pawar (Retd), former DG, Army Aviation
balli pawar
Sun, 27 Aug at 11:39 am
Very well written Bharat.
Totally in sync with your profound views
Regards
Email from Air Marshal Harish Masand (Retd)
Sun, 27 Aug at 8:20 pm
Thanks for sharing, Bharat,
Remember what was said after the ASAT test, The paradox is that we can land on the South pole of the moon, on a shoestring budget but can’t even seem to design and manufacture quality small arms for our Army.
Regards,
Harish
@Harish- “can’t even seem to design and manufacture quality small arms for our Army.”
It’s not about not manufacturing but your colleagues in Army leadership roles would reject those weapons on one pretext or the other.
Foreign armaments companies provide foreign trips, cash and other allurements to army officers in charge of procurement. So who will buy ‘desi’ stuff.
Email from Air Marshal Satish Inamdar (Retd), former Vice Chief of the Air Staff
Mon, 28 Aug at 10:19 am
Very many thanks, Bharat, for your mail on the CY-3. Always liked your style of writing & the content! Breath of fresh air!
A different, homegrown & economical approach by ISRO to reach the moon, has indeed been a richly deserved, spectacular success! Very proud of Dr Somnath & Crew!!
But, since it is seldom possible to get something for nothing, is/ was there a significant price (‘downside’ or ‘trade off’ if you may!) to this indisputable & landmark space success, which may brook a look-see & analysis?!
If yes, who can do it better than you, when & where there is need to lucidly put matters in perspective?!
Warm regards,
Email from Vice Admiral Anup Singh (Retd), former FOCINC, Eastern Naval Command
Mon, 28 Aug at 10:16 am
Thanks for sharing Bharat; educative and instructive, as always.
Best,
Anup Singh
Admiral Singh, I’ve watched several of your shows on Def Talks by Aadi. Your discussion of Chinese naval power have especially been very enlightening! Thanks for a clear assessment of naval concepts and power projection.
India can soft land on the moon, but you sir, Prof Karnad believe that India cannot manufacture 250kt nuclear warhead? Perhaps you want to stand corrected? Or at least your assertions moderated ?
Itanium@ — You got it all wrong. If you have been reading this blog — even better my books — my contention since the 1998 tests has been that because the S-1 fusion weapon test on May 11, 1998 was manifestly a dud — and so intimated to the Vajpayee govt by Dr K Santhanam, director, Field Testing at Pokhran, India cannot have credible high yield thermonuclear weapons without more open-ended testing, something Dr Santhanam advised.
Would really like to know your objective opinion on the proposed revamp of DRDO. It reeks of a brazen attempt by the old import lobby to dismantle DRDO, for as much 75% of capital defense expenditure is going to local enterprises, depriving these parasites of their share of the “commission”. Please dedicate an entire article to the same.
Regards
Prof Karnad,
Even if thermonuclear is a dud, which btw India is more than capable of achieving or have perhaps achieved already, there is no doubt that boosted fission can be scaled up to 250kt.
In crisis if a negotiating Indian envoy wields Agni 5 as a 250kt ICBM, I doubt if any top official from any country would doubt either it’s high yield or it’s worldwide Range.
What then do we hope to achieve by conducting thermonuclear testing? Subcritical and intensive simulation IS the way to, go fortunately or unfortunately.
If India tests now, Iran , Pakistan and North Korea will all test and gain parity with India and other nuclear countries. I don’t think that is an outcome that top Indian officials want.
Itanium@ — Max scaled up effective 100 KT-125 KT. And then it will still require testing on yield, If India resumee testing it better be at 500KT-1MT level, minimum.
Professor,
Ashley Tellis has explained this well in his book on Pak, China, India nuclear balance. Megaton weapons are city killers. And you have also the accuracy or CEP of these weapons. Then you have the issue of counter value usage or counter force. Neither Pakistan or China have enough nuclear weapons for counter force as they do not have accurate delivery systems yet (CEP < 50m), or enough numbers of them. So both of them have to rely on countervalue deterrence. Then there is the question of delivery time for the weapons too, and how secret the locations of the weapons are.
If India has 100-125KT capability, and its adversaries can execute only countervalue, then India does not have an urgent need to massively expand its nuclear arsenal. However, India can and should improve the quality of its weapons and develop megaton weapons as the deterrence value for counter value increases. And also improve the average or median CEP of its delivery systems, while matching the rise in numbers in the neighbourhood. And improving it sea launch capabilities.
It does not seem feasible to change the NFU policy to first use as then India would need a significantly higher number of nuclear weapons (need counter force capability). That’s why I feel Pak’s policy of first use is suicidal, as they do not have the quality or quantity, while China’s policy makes more sense as they have a reasonable number to deter the U.S. and have high quality weapons. But according to the analysis presented by Tellis, neither does India have good quality or numbers, though it’s policy is more stable.
Unsurprisingly, Tellis repeats, with some embellishments, all the points I made in my 2002 book – Nuclear Weapons and Indian Security! This is so because as my analyis as well as Tellis’ is based on the facts of a mindlessly circumsribed N-weapons program and deterence experience to-date and logic. And no, my advocacy of First use exlsively and only against on the China on the LAC does not require massive build-up — read the case I made in my 2018 book — Staggering Forward.
Professor,
The NFU for China only made more sense when the conventional balance was perceived to be in China’s favour. However, after studying China’s capabilities in the Himalaya, and India’s recent advances in conventional capabilities, it could be the case that this NFU deterrent may not be required so urgently.
From what I have gathered, the IAF can make 300 sorties a day with full payloads. That’s 2500 to 3500 tons of payload per day. The Indian rocket force can strike 500-1000 km into China from the border. China is highly exposed to interdiction in Tibet and Yunan. And here are several points across the LAC where the Indian mountain strike Corp can launch counter offensives. India is also able to manufacture artillery shells sufficiently for a prolonged war (a capability that even the U.S. lacks).
Apart from this, China is highly vulnerable in the Indian Ocean. A blockade there could force it to rely on strategic fuel reserves to fight.
Even its famed EW and Cyber capabilities maybe countered by the Indian military as it has invested significantly to improve EW capabilities of its fighter aircraft, has made significant progress in radar and ISR capabilities. India’s cyber command is also pretty active and I have not seen any recent assessments of India’s offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. But it would have improved since 2020 when IISS did the last cyber analysis (published in 2021).
I know some Indian military analysts like Sawhney try to scare monger the Indian population into believing that China is so far superior that they will attack in 2023, but I’m very sceptical of such claims.
Add to that the possibility that China’s economy may actually be half its stated size. The situation changes quite dramatically for military purposes.
The Indian military is doing a great job in using info warfare to highlight Chinese vulnerabilities and true capabilities. The narrative China has so carefully developed is slowly being punctured. Of course, no harm in improving Indian nuclear weapons quality and capabilities. But I am beginning to think that the conventional gap is much lower than generally perceived and the need for major nuclear posture change may have diminished.
@Prof Bharat
Sir 100kt with accuracy of Agni Vs or Agni IVs will do the job!
I don’t think Chinese will kid with threat of an 100kt Indian ICBM! Doing do would make them as dumb as pile or rocks!
Of course a global ICBM is something India ALREADY has, but then its a political decision to cap the range of Agni V and Agni VI or for that matter not productionizing Surya I.
The last is true. But that’s because Delhi does not want to alienate Washington, which wants India to remain this side of a genuine ICBM.
@Prof Karnad.
US wants India to remain on which side of a genuine ICBM?
Everyone knows India already has world wide,
no strike that,
India has interstellar ICBM. And not kidding here.
lower side
Email from Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia (Retd), former DG, Military Operations
Tue, 29 Aug at 2:51 pm
We get the big things right and have a habit of messing up the essentials
Xinhua reported that the Shaheen-X exercise will focus on training in typical combat scenarios such as joint air defense and joint countermeasures.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1297196.shtml
Ghazwa-e-Hind is going to happen very soon with the help of our Chinese brothers.
Ha! Ha!
Ayyashuddin@ — You literally don’t have the oil to carry out division sized maneuvers as said by your own baap(COAS Bajwa). TTP-BLA are kicking the rear side of your army every day and there is nothing you can do about it. There has been no Zarb-e-Azb 2.0 this time due to the following:
A) No American aid philanthropy.
B) No American drone strike cover.
Your lumber 1 ISI cannot predict any of the planned attacks of TTP-BLA and army doesn’t have the munitions or fuel to launch even counterterrorism operations. Speaking of which you have already emptied your munitions stocks in Ukraine, at the behest of your gora bosses sitting in Whitehall. Your country literally runs on IMF, has worse finances than say Nigeria! (At least the latter has oil) you are nobody to talk.
@Ayush- Don’t worry about our oil. We can get enough from Russia and Gulf.
What about Modi’s false bravado exposed by China in 2020? 😆
At least if the push comes to the shove Pakistani army is not afraid to use firearms unlike your Jawans who indulged in medieval style stone fight with the Chinese and ended up losing huge tracts of land.
Modi is obsessed with Yankees. They are letting him buy the Russian crude and sell the refined stuff back to the West. The day is not far when they pull off the plug.