According to Union Minister of State for Space Jitendra Singh, Chandrayaan-3 has demonstrated India’s capacity for missions to space at a reasonable cost.
Speaking at an interactive meet of intellectuals, prominent citizens and media persons in Indore on Saturday, “The Russian moon mission, that was unsuccessful, cost Rs 16,000 crore, and our (Chandrayaan-3) mission cost just around Rs 600 crore. Consider, Hollywood films based on moon and space Missions cost over Rs 600 crore.”
He said India’s space missions are designed in such a way that it is cost-effective. India, he said, has learned to compensate for costs through skills.
“Questions will arise, how? We made use of gravitational forces, the spacecraft made about 20 orbits of the earth, each rising in parabola, until it escaped and was captured in the Moon’s gravity and it made 70-80 revolutions of the moon before landing at the designated spot,” he said.
Jitendra Singh claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the “Anusandhan National Research Foundation” Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha in the most recent session of Parliament, with a budget of Rs 50,000 crore for more than five years, in order to involve the private sector in R&D initiatives. “It will change the game when fully implemented. We are developing a special Public Private Partnership (PPP) entity, for which the private sector—mostly business—will provide Rs 36,000 crore of the research funding and the government will contribute Rs 14,000 crore, the official said.