Author: Ashwin Ahmad

The use of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War has brought home the threats of potential space war and how the need for space diplomacy needs to be conducted moving forward. To debate this, a panel at the recently concluded DefSat Conference and Expo, of which Interstellar was a media partner, sat down to examine the challenges and the best moves to maintain space cooperation. Chairing the session, Ambassador Bhaskar Balakrishnan, Fellow for Science Diplomacy at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, New Delhi (see interview), held that while there was still cooperation between member nations…

India and Russia have maintained strong strategic ties and nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of space. Participants at the first edition of the India-Russia Space Dialogue, held at the Russian Cultural Culture to mark 75 years of space cooperation between the two nations, saw people from both countries speak about what the two nations had achieved and what more could be done going forward. Elena Malysheva, granddaughter of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malysheva who went into space with Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma as the spacecraft’s commander, highlighted the spirit of cooperation and dwelt on where India and…

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has highlighted the growing requirement for armies across the world to be “space ready.” This conflict, which has seen commercial space facilities being used for the first time, has ensured detailed discussions among the military and civilian players on how India can become a space power in the modern age. Keeping this in mind, players from the industry, the military and other experts gathered for a three-day seminar organised by the Indian Space Association (ISpA) to brainstorm the challenges and opportunities that come in the light of the recently released Indian Space Policy 2023, which aims to…