NEW DELHI : From being an object of beauty and soothing light at night, moon may soon turn into a power house for the world’s energy needs, and India may be able to tap this resource by 2030.
India’s all energy requirements can be met through Helium 3 mined from Moon, according to Dr Sivathanu Pillai, Distinguished Professor of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which recently launched a record 104 satellites in through a single launch.
“By 2030, this process target will be met,” he said delivering the valedictory address at the three-day ORF-Kalpana Chawla Space Policy Dialogue, organised by Observer Research Foundation here last evening.
Mr Pillai said mining lunar dust which is rich in Helium 3 was a priority programme for his organisation. He said other countries as well were also working on this project and there was enough Helium in Moon which can meet the energy requirements of the whole world.
He said they are planning the whole of process of mining Helium in the Moon, producing energy and transporting it back to earth. Mr Pillai said creating low cost access to Moon and developing multi-purpose and reusable vehicles will help in a big way mining in planets and space tourism.
“In few decades, people will be going to Moon for honey-moon,” Mr Pillai remarked.
He said ISRO was also working on Fusion Energy ITER, adding a seven-nation consortium is working on mastering fusion technology. Lt Gen. PM Bali, Director General, Perspective Planning, Indian Army said the launch of GSAT-7, India’s first dedicated military satellite, was testimony to India’s outlook towards utilisation and exploitation of outer space for national security.
Gen Bali said India had now begun acknowledging the growing requirements of space technology for its national security and was beginning to pit in place relevant policy and institutional frameworks. He pointed out that at present the country possessed one of the largest constellations of communication and remote sensing satellites covering Asia Pacific.
Though India continues with a civilian orientation to its space programme, the changing regional and global realities require it to also develop military assets in space and on ground, as an emerging regional and global power, he said.
Lt Gen said there was a need for a dedicated military space programme with adequate resources at its disposal because of “the changing realities in our neighbourhood”.
Delivering a special address on “Outer Space and Strategic Stability”, Lt. Gen (Retd) BS Nagal felt that maintaining space stability was “very difficult” with changing warfare and space being no taboo unlike nuclear.
ORF Director Sunjoy Joshi underlined the need for framing the right regulations and the innovations required to frame regulations. He noted that transponder capacity falls far short of the increasing demand and the processes for leasing capacity from commercial satellites remained cumbersome taking anywhere between three to nine months for gaining regulatory approvals.
“More clutter in space, greater challenges in the form of space debris, conflicts over demands for spectrum allocation and radio frequency interference. Then there remains the looming question of cyber vulnerabilities, the increasing trend towards weaponisation of cyberspace itself ? all of these pose serious challenges for the governance of outer space,” Mr Joshi said. (AGENCIES)
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