By Maitphang Syiem
As you begin to read, try enunciating the words “spatial” and “special,” you may find them homophonic. But even though they supposedly sound the same, they have different meanings. At this juncture we would be more interested in the word “Spatial.” In layman’s terms, it literally relates to Space and in the mind of common individuals the visual of a rocket, Moon, perhaps Mars would pop-up or likely names of NASA, ISRO would supposedly be uttered. In this context, this simple understanding is perfectly fine for the general public which can be augmented with more simple, effective and quality elaborations that Spatial or Space domain is more than just rockets etc. It would be difficult to elucidate here on the benefits of the Spatial or Space domain to humankind but let us briefly look at the major sectors.
Broadcasting and Tele-communication, (Sat-Com), Earth Observation (Remote Sensing), Navigation (GPS, NaVIC, Glonass Beidou), Meteorology, Disaster Management, Natural Resource Management (Forest,Water,Soil, Land Use) , Environment (Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration, Ozone layer studies, Pollution, Wildlife), Homeland Security (Geo-Intelligence), Health (Disease surveillance) Utilities ( Power, Roads, Water Supply, Sanitation) Urban and Rural Planning ( Monitoring, Evaluation, Project Management and Land Records) are all outcomes of using Space/Spatial domain. As we say that sky has no limit so also the benefits that can be availed from the Spatial/Space domain is limitless. It all lies on our collective approach for the cause of nation-building and these benefits justify why “Spatial is Special.”
In this context India has always been upfront and proactive for peaceful utilization of Space/Spatial technology. The credit goes to the founding Scientific leadership of (L) Dr Vikram Sarabhai, (L) Satish Dhawan, (L) Prof UR Rao, (L) Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and many more. The journey for the founding Indian Scientific leadership wasn’t a cakewalk but they leapfrogged from developing sounding rockets to payloads, developing space launch vehicles to the recent trend in development and successful testing of reusable launch vehicles (RLV).
This year the Spatial Special connection is with India as it assumes the G20 Presidency and for the first time it is convening meetings across the country, with a theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future “which manifests ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ or the world is one family. It is indeed a moment of pride for all of us. Much further Group of 20 (G20) is an intergovernmental forum consisting of 20 member countries with parallel working tracks, the Finance Track and Sherpa Track, steered by the G20 Presidency. This elucidation would like to confine to the Sherpa Track wherein Space /Spatial component is exclusively mentioned in the four Initiatives spearheaded by India’s G20 presidency. Further, it is a sense of pride as the precursor meeting of the space component where delegates and heads of G20 (Members) Space Agencies of the world are meeting in Shillong Meghalaya. That’s special indeed!
As we dive deeper, we might want to understand about the component that’s Spatial. To connect the dots, the component is called Space Economy Leaders Meeting (SELM), which is part of the initiative of the country holding the G20 Presidency. Going back to the SELM legacies, the first SELM was held in 2020 initiated by the Saudi Space Commission, the second SELM was organized by the (Italian Space Agency) in 2021, the third SELM was organized by National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia. This year, the SELM event is organized by ISRO where the main event will be held at Bengaluru on July 6th -7th, 2023.
Looking at the theme of the 4th edition SELM Towards a New Space Era “Economy, Responsibility, Alliance” it is quite promising and motivating. In the context of the globalized world and deciphering the theme, what we can see is that Space/Spatial Technology is a happening domain which is continuously evolving and as per Morgan Stanley the global space industry could generate revenue of more than 1 trillion by 2040. Earlier the race for space was just between the two superpowers but currently there are 90 nations that are engaged in Space/Spatial Economy. Basically “Space Economy,” as OECD defines it is, “Any activity that involves “exploring, researching, understanding, managing, and utilizing space”. Coming back to why Spatial is Special, the point is that the Space/Spatial economy is also fuelling and supporting the growth of other sectors such as Defence, Energy, Telecommunications, Maritime and many more.
As per World Economic Forum report (2021) India has increased spending in the space domain by 36 %, the US has pumped in extra 18%, China invested 23% and the other nations have also increased their spendings, isn’t the space economy booming? As we begin to understand that Space/Spatial domain is moving by leap and bounds there is another factor which also binds the space faring nations which is the core concept of nation building, benefits to humankind and life on Earth and here comes the point of “Responsibility” and the theme itself is befitting as we all need and must have the attributes of accountability and responsibility for the good cause of the society and in particular the responsibility of sustaining Planet Earth and the life on it and as such the innovations on Space/Spatial domain are all for peaceful good cause of humankind and life on Earth and in this connection the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) professes for cooperation, management of space infrastructures and peaceful use of space science.
The management of the space infrastructures is also one of the hot topics discussed by global space agencies. As per the report by World Economic Forum, there are already 4000+ satellites orbiting the Earth and probably many more would be added with the advent of the 4th Industrial revolution infrastructure and in this regard the World Economic Forum body have come up with SSR or Space Sustainability Rating to ensure that space infrastructures and activities are designed sustainably. Moving further with “Alliance”, this is something which is special and particularly with the Spatial/Space domain the scientific communities globally have always worked together in sharing knowledge and collaborating in many projects for the cause of humanity and planet Earth and with this 4th SELM event the existing alliance will become even stronger and in this regard India have always collaborated globally with global space agencies in many space ventures, to cite one of the example is NISAR (NASA-ISRO SAR Mission) which is a joint venture between ISRO and NASA for Earth Observatory Mission using Synthetic Aperture Radar.
As we have briefly seen the potential of Space/Spatial domain and with the precursor meeting of the 4th Edition SELM held here in Shillong, this event should be an eye opener for us and especially for the state leaderships to introspect and to take cognisance of the fact that Spatial is Special and to realize the potential that such technology can be a boon for the state. The fact that Space/Spatial domain is a booming sector one must realize that it is high time for our state leadership to start taking steps to educate, to be in-tune with, to formulate, implement policies to create a common platform where many local young concerned trained minds can contribute collectively in solving issues, problems, innovate for the good cause of the state, and this step has become much easier as the Indian Government has already liberalized the space/spatial arena and opened up opportunities for young minds to venture into spatial entrepreneurships, take spatial education into grassroots level, developing minds for this booming sector and create employment opportunities for the upcoming youths of our state. Therefore, with the right political drive we can make Spatial even more Special.
(The writer is a Geospatial Expert @[email protected])