India’s Space Diplomacy

A peaceful and prosperous neighbourhood is critical for India’s strategic, geo-political aspirations. A key objective of India’s foreign policy in the region is to overcome obstacles to regional integration and to broaden the scope for cooperation without appearing hegemonic.

• Initiatives like the ‘South Asia Satellite’ provide a means of pursuing these objectives. This project arguably is the first opportunity for India to harness its activities in outer space for distinct foreign policy goals. India first put forward the idea of a dedicated satellite for South Asia in June 2014.
• The satellite, which India launched in May 2017, is a geosynchronous satellite ....