There is no doubt that the United States has lit the way for humanity in space travel for decades. Today, NASA remains the world's leading space agency, facing an endless series of groundbreaking missions. However, space agencies in many countries have now begun to challenge NASA's status. In addition to the well-known and powerful China Space Agency, some people believe that the Indian Space Agency is also one of the major new forces. To this end, some have listed some of the advantages of Indian space agency. Today, Jerry prepared three aspects in which the Indian Space Agency is better than NASA.
ISRO has a shorter history than NASA, although not by much. The Indian Space Agency was established in August 1969, just days after NASA's Apollo 11 moon landing. However, NASA itself was established only 11 years ago, in July 1958, so India is not too far behind the United States in terms of time. However, in terms of budget, India has always been inferior to the United States, and its funding has been far lower than that of the United States. However, the Indian Space Agency has naturally always been aware of this reality and has actually accepted it. Now, not only are they starting to match the United States, but in some ways they are better. Some listed their top three strengths:
Cooperation
Now, NASA also often partners with other agencies and private space companies, but the entire model in India is mostly built around joint projects. While NASA has sometimes been accused of being very secretive about its goals and operations, India's space agency has been generally seen as open from the start. "India has always recognized that space has dimensions beyond national considerations that can only be addressed with international partners," the Indian space agency says on its website, and it has supported this at some key moments, including the Chandrayaan-1 mission and Salar missions. The Chandrayaan-1 probe was somewhat of a watershed moment for India in space as it was the country's first major mission to land on the moon, launched in 2008.
But the Indian space agency was able to get it off the ground by effectively collaborating with other space agencies including the European Space Agency and NASA. Salar, meanwhile, is an example of an ongoing Earth monitoring mission made possible thanks to teamwork between India's space agency and France's Center National d'études Spatiales. Going back further, the first Indian satellite Ayebodo was launched by a Soviet rocket in 1975 through the Soviet Union's cooperative program then known as the International Space Program. Moreover, the Indian Space Agency announced that it will open up various cooperation with the private sector through a series of reforms in 2021. Of course, India's space agency isn't the only space agency doing this.
efficiency
Until now, the Indian Space Agency has a great reputation as one of the most reliable space organizations. While NASA has reached milestones faster than India, India's space agency's history is also littered with failures, including some particularly noteworthy and tragic disasters. However, while some Indian space agency missions have had problems, such as the Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander crashing on the lunar surface, India's agency has a strong track record of getting things done first time. The best example is the Mars Orbiter mission, which was launched in November 2013 and has been around Mars since September 2014.
However, what makes the Mars spacecraft unique is that it makes the Indian space agency the first space agency ever to reach Mars orbit on its first operation. The likes of NASA and the Soviet space program had various missteps before getting there, but not India.
cost
Indian space agency's budget has never come close to NASA's budget. According to reports, NASA has received a budget of US$24 billion in 2022, while the Indian Space Agency has received a budget of US$1.8 billion. NASA receives more than 13 times as much funding as its Indian counterpart. But, no matter what, India is still at the forefront of space travel.Its expertise is valued around the world and its mission has led to some major breakthroughs. Likewise, the Mars spacecraft probe is a prime example. It is said to have cost just $73 million.
This is not only a fraction of the cost of NASA's MAVEN Mars rover , which is said to have invested $580 million, which is even much lower than the cost of producing a space or science fiction movie in the United States. The most commonly reported and derided comparison is that it cost $108 million to make the 2015 Matt Damon movie The Martian. This means that the actual cost of access to space for India is $35 million less than what the United States spends on a few hours of entertainment on Mars.
Of course, in terms of cooperation, efficiency, and cost, the Indian Space Agency seems to be better than NASA, but in terms of innovation, the Indian Space Agency lags far behind NASA, the Chinese Space Agency, and even the Japanese Space Agency. In addition, although China Space Administration lacks the flexibility of India Space Administration in terms of cooperation, this is also considered to be a shortcoming of poor autonomy and easy to get stuck. In terms of efficiency and cost, the international community generally believes that China Space Administration has done better. China's space agency is still considered NASA's main competitor and the most likely surpasser.
