Syllabus:
GS3: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.
Context:
Recently, the travel of Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Axiom-4 mission this week marks the beginning of a new era in Indian space.
More on the News
- Shukla will be the first Indian on the ISS, gaining first hand experience of its operations. His insights will aid ISRO’s future goal of building its own space station after Gaganyaan.
- Zero gravity in space enables studies hard to conduct on Earth, like ISRO’s muscle behaviour experiment. It isolates natural muscle degradation by removing the weight factor, offering insights into human health.
- Globally, the space market is worth about $500 billion, and is expected to double by the year 2030. India, despite being a major spacefaring nation, accounts for a just 2% share of this market.
About Axiom-4 Mission (Ax-4 mission)
- The Axiom 4 mission is being operated by private US space company Axiom Space, in partnership with NASA and SpaceX. The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- The Ax-4 mission features an international crew from the United States, India, Poland and Hungary.
- The crew will travel to the ISS on a SpaceX Dragon and spend up to 14 days conducting science, education, and commercial activities.
- One experiment studies cyanobacteria, which photosynthesize like plants, to explore their potential for oxygen generation in deep space missions and long-term human presence on the Moon or other planets.
- Axiom-4 mission includes a study focused on helping diabetic people travel to space. Currently, people who depend on insulin are not chosen as astronauts.
- This is because space conditions, especially microgravity, make it hard to manage blood sugar levels.
- However, scientists have been working for years to solve this problem. The diabetes research on Axiom-4 is a major step toward making space travel possible for diabetic patients.
About Zero-G indicator
- A Zero-G indicator is a small item, often a plushie, that provides astronauts a visual cue that they have entered a state of weightlessness. The zero-G indicator for the Axiom-4 mission is a swan plushie named ‘Joy’.
- The swan plushie was selected, as it represents virtues such as wisdom, loyalty, resilience, and the beauty of nature in India, Hungary and Poland.
Significance of the Mission for India
- The Indian participation in Axiom-4 mission is a result of an agreement between ISRO and NASA. The mission has scheduled several experiments the results of which would help Indian Space Research Organisation execute its own manned spaceflight, Gaganyaan.
- ISRO has planned 10 experiments, including studies on microgravity’s effect on muscles, screen use in space, and the growth of six crop seed varieties during spaceflight.
- ISRO is sending tardigrades, microscopic organisms known for surviving extreme conditions, to the ISS to study how life can endure in space.
- These are the experiments that ISRO would have carried out on Gaganyaan if the mission had gone ahead of Axiom-4. Now it has the opportunity to conduct follow-up and more advanced experiments on its own missions.
- ISRO is also sending tiny creatures called tardigrades to the International Space Station (ISS).
- These microscopic, water-dwelling organisms, also known as water bears or moss piglets, are famous for surviving in extreme conditions.
- Scientists study them in space to learn how life might survive in outer space or on other planets.
- According to ISRO’s website, the short-term goal is to successfully send humans to Low Earth Orbit.
- In the long run, the aim is to build a strong foundation for a continuous Indian human space exploration program.
- Achieving this goal , by developing this complex technology within India , would mark a major milestone and a big achievement for ISRO.