A 230-feet-tall jumbo rocket with a cherry red Tesla Roadster in tow roared through the skies into space amid clouds of stream at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral ushering in a historic moment. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was successful in launching a first private rocket into space.
This certainly is the turning point for Musk’s privately-owned Space Exploration Technologies. The idea of this model rocket originated a good seven years ago at a conference in Washington DC. On Tuesday, it was a dream realized. It is this one man’s vision that forced people to see through. This is a moment where the world stood up and took note.
It is the Falcon Heavy successful flight that will bring back some space pride to the United States which it lost years ago. It may be noted that the last was way back in 2011 when a heavy-lift launch vehicle left Cape Canaveral. The Falcon Heavy is now the most powerful rocket in operation, surpassing the Delta IV Heavy of the United Launch Alliance.
While the world watches in awe, there are huge takeaways for India. This is a time to reflect on initiatives like Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India. Initiatives which open up new vistas for private enterprises and promising entrepreneurs to take up greater challenges. Modi’s inaugural speech at the World Economic Forum summit at Davos sets the tone where he spoke of red carpet and said it has made way for red tape while promising a ‘feel at home’ experience to foreign investors.
It is against backdrop of successes like Falcon Heavy that small steps towards science like the Nobel Prize Series in Goa assume significance. On this count Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s plan for a yearly innovation in science contest for students of all high schools and colleges in Goa is a step in the right direction, where research on ideas proposed by selected students will be funded for at least a year by the state. Initiatives where scientists of international repute have been called upon to come forward to mentor the chosen Goan students only reflect the State’s sense of purpose.
On the flip side, Goa has not been able to give a big push for startups despite the fact they have shown promise. The IT policy may have been notified but the benefits are yet to be rolled out. On paper Goa is seen to be making its moves, but on the ground much of it is not translated. The much-talked about incubation centres which were conceptualized in 2016 are still to be operative. IT was being a subject of intense debate in 2015, but three years later nothing much has materialized and nothing appears concrete. Work on the proposed IT park which in Chimbel and the Electorinic City project in Tuem has been moving at snail’s pace. Goa should be moving faster on the IT front if it has to keep pace with some of the other states in the race. The private player cannot be left to itself and needs to be looked at more seriously.
