91Èȱ¬

It's been 50 years since the human race first set foot on the Moon. And as the United States celebrates the historic Apollo 11 mission, India is hoping to achieve another space feat.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is attempting to soft-land a rover on the south pole of the Moon – something no other country has done before.

The global commercial space industry is worth more than $300bn. India has developed a reputation for being a reliable launch pad for small satellites, but what more can India do to earn larger space revenues?

And as India’s space sector slowly opens up to commercialisation, where do private space start-ups come in? Can India have its own version of SpaceX?

We ask a young scientist who has developed satellites launched by both NASA and ISRO, a leading space entrepreneur with ventures in three different continents, and a researcher who specialises in India’s space programme whether India is on the right path to become a global space superpower.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Rifath Shaarook, student scientist, chief technology officer, Space Kidz India; Dr Susmita Mohanty, entrepreneur and CEO, Earth2Orbit; Dr. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, head of nuclear & space policy, Observer Research Foundation (ORF)

Show less