The first edition of the India Russia Space Dialogue 2023 was organized by Russian House New Delhi and Aviakul Private Limited on April 15 with the aim to revisit the historic milestones in the cooperation journey of the two nations, identify key moments, analyse the learnings from this bilateral cooperation and chart out the future roadmap of collaboration on various avenues in this current geopolitical scenario.

The event specifically looked back at the milestone human spaceflights of Yuri Gagarin, the first man to go in space on April 12, 1961 as well as that of Wg. Cmdr Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go in space on April 3, 1984.

Ekaterina Malysheva, the granddaughter of the Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Malysheva who went into space with Wing Cmdr. Rakesh Sharma as the spacecraft’s commander shared her memories, insights and valuable anecdotes from Yuri Malysheva’s life. She shared unseen images of her grandfather and the workings of the Russian space agency. Through the images she familiarized the attendees and specially the students about the cosmonaut training process.

In his keynote address, Dr. N. Suddheer Kumar, Director, Capacity Building & Public Outreach (CBPO), ISRO virtually presented a brief overview of the Indo -Russian collaboration since the beginning. He mentioned Vikram Sarabhai’s contribution in the Indian space program as well as the partnership between ISRO and ROSCOSMOS in launching of various satellites, Navic, cooperation for Gaganyaan, cryogenic technology stage, etc.

Indo Russian Cooperation has been marked by a close and strategic partnership across all spectrums of relationship and when the world is reeling with many challenges across the globe like pandemic, geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown and so on, rapid technological innovations and developments in space sector has become critical more than ever. Right from launching Aryabhata, India’s first unmanned satellite in 1975, to Wg Cmdr Rakesh Sharma, first Indian to travel to space in 1984, the cooperation between the two nations has seen many pinnacles. Several decades down the line, today, both the countries harbour common ambitions to journey deeper into space through many projects like Ganaganyaan, Marsoplane – the mission to explore mars and so on. Certainly, the 75 years of Indo-Russian cooperation provides many valuable lessons that are important to further explore the unexplored areas of Indo-Russian Space partnership and unearth the endless possibilities of Outer space.

The Fireside chat on the topic of 75 Years of India-Russia Space Cooperation highlighted the importance of friendship in current geopolitical situations, encouraged the Private Sector coming into the space domain, how it will expand the scope of the space sector as well as the space economy in particular. The panelists also stressed upon using outer space for people purposes as space belongs to all.

Aviakul Pvt Ltd also signed an MoU with the delegation from Moscow Aviation Institute to strengthen space education in the country.

In her Keynote lecture on ‘ women in aviation’ Executive Director of air India, President of IWPA, member of Indian aeronautical society Dr. Harpreet A De Singh highlighted how determination can lead women to touch the sky, she spoke about Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, Sirisha Bandla, Dr. Tessy Thomas and many more inspirational women. Dr. Singh enlightened students about various fields and job roles women can take in the space sector.

This was followed by a panel discussion on space for commercial opportunities. Panelists encouraged more people and the private sector to participate in the space domain as in future everything is going to be dependent on the space domain. General A. K. Bhatt, Director General, Indian Space Association, highlighted the everyday used services and product applications like GPS, Weather updates, ATM machines, water purifications, etc. Panelists also acknowledged the budget constraints and how countries’ cooperation can lead the way to 2030.

The next panel discussion enlightened towards creating ecosystems that can guide and nurture young minds to create a skilled workforce. The panelists spoke about the various domains of space, the hard work, and persistence needed coupled with curiosity, and imagination. They also touched upon the available resources that the students can explore to fuel their interest in space. The discussion also mentioned about the research process and the kind that is going on in space. It also highlighted that a single space mission requires a large team of workers with distinct variety of skills and competencies to work and therefore space is a domain comprising all range of industries and professions ranging from information, telecommunication, broadcasting, trade and manufacturing of space assets, professional and business services like R&D, technical services, engineering, geophysical surveying and so on.

Looking at the earth from a far you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for cooperation, as remarked by Yuri Gagarin. Another statement by Wg Cmdr Rakesh Sharma underlined, “Anyone who goes to space tries to look at his own country first, but soon it appears that there is no boundary between the countries and the entire world is one family where our destinies are integrated.” The dialogue that ended with a reminder to work together, to collaborate for further leaps of humans.