Datanomics: Hits and misses as India celebrates Space Day on August 23

India will celebrate its second National Space Day on August 23, marking the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon’s south pole. In 2024, India ranked eighth globally in space capital expenditure, trailing not just bigger economies such as the US, China, Germany, and Japan, but also France, Russia, and Italy. However, the gap is not insurmountable to fill. India’s space spending stood at 0.05 per cent of GDP, compared with 0.27 per cent in the US, 0.17 per cent in Japan, and 0.18  per cent in Russia.  

Space research capex yet to hit pre-Covid level 

India’s capital expenditure on