Hope and fear: India's space revolution
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
India is revolutionising its approach to space exploration. Science journalist Alok Jha follows preparations for the country’s first human spaceflight mission. For decades, India focused its space programme on limited, inexpensive projects directly benefiting its citizens, such as weather satellites and communications networks. Now, the most ambitious mission yet is underway: India will send humans into space. Alok Jha speaks to people at the heart of this radical shift to understand how it’s happening and what’s driving it. Dr Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) takes us inside the room where it all began, a high-stakes one-to-one meeting with the prime minister of the time. We relive tense moments of ISRO’s famous Mars mission with its Science Director, Dr Seetha Somasundaram. Indian-American astronaut Anil Menon counts down to his own launch. We visit India’s leading rocket company to witness a start-up boom.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm science journalist Alok Jarre. |
| 0:16.0 | 10, 9, 8, 7. |
| 0:19.8 | It's 2013, and on the screen in my newsroom is a rocket towering over the launch pad. |
| 0:26.5 | It's carrying a probe destined for Mars. |
| 0:34.2 | The rocket lifts off successfully and the flight controllers are celebrating. |
| 0:42.0 | I've spent years covering space and now I'm the Science and Technology editor for The Economist, |
| 0:48.0 | so I've been in many control rooms. You've seen these rooms on TV and in films. |
| 0:53.3 | Ranks of austere computers, rows of serious-looking people. |
| 0:58.0 | But the room on this screen is nothing like I've seen before. There's so much colour for a start. |
| 1:05.0 | And there are women in sari's loudly clapping and cheering. This control room is in India. |
| 1:12.5 | There's a tremendous sense of excitement here at the Satis Dhaban Space Center. |
| 1:16.5 | I'm amazed, despite being born in India, until this moment I hadn't even been aware that India |
| 1:23.7 | had a space program, let alone one that could send probes to Mars. And I'm not alone. |
| 1:31.8 | For decades outside the country, India's space program seems to have flown completely under the |
| 1:38.7 | radar. Yet now, watching this rocket arcing across the sky, headed for Mars, it's clear that India is a true contender in space. |
| 1:52.1 | And it's not just Mars. Fast forward to 2026, and after a string of successful missions to the moon, the country is spending billions on its first |
| 2:02.9 | human spaceflight mission. There are even plans for a space station. But how has India reached |
| 2:10.4 | this point seemingly out of nowhere? And why has the government decided to prioritize space |
| 2:17.0 | exploration? What's really prioritise space exploration? |
| 2:18.3 | What's really driving this space revolution? |
... |
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