LIVE: Reuters NEXT Newsmaker featuring Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman S. Somanath

India’s space organisation, ISRO, has captured the imagination of rocket scientists and civilians across the world with its affordable, yet ambitious, technology. The agency’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft last year became the first to land on the far side of the moon – just days after a similar Russian mission failed, and at a fraction of the cost of US space exploration projects.

S. Somanath, an aerospace engineer who became ISRO chairman in early 2022, is credited with steering the organization through a critical development phase that has bolstered national pride; almost 7 million people watched a livestream of the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing.

Reuters correspondent Nivedita Bhattacharjee talks with Somanath about ISRO’s plans to join the global race for a share of the $447 billion private space market, developments in the agency’s planned human mission, competition from China, the potential colonization of Mars and the future of mankind.

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