Shubhanshu Shukla

5 posts

On the BBC, talking about Gaganyaan and inspiration

7 min read
Analysis Scicomm Science Alok Jha Anil Menon Axiom-4 mission BBC Dave Anderson Hirschman's linkage theory Homi Bhabha human spaceflight Indian Space Research Organisation inspiration Jahnavi Phalkey Madhavan Nair national prestige Shubhanshu Shukla spin-off technologies unbalanced growth

The BBC has produced a documentary podcast titled ‘Hope and fear: India’s space revolution’. Its host, Alok Jha of The Economist, interviewed me late last year as part of it, to provide a media perspe…

To be Indian is to set records

5 min read
Analysis Culture Science Bharatiya Janata Party gigantism Guinness Book of World Records Limca Book of Records postcolonial identity Prime Minister Narendra Modi Republic Day Samanth Subramanian Shubhanshu Shukla Sohan Rai space programme Vinay Lal world records

For all the ways in which the Indian people are divided these days, they're seemingly united in their desire to set records. On January 22, a tinkerer named Sohan Rai, a.k.a. “Zikiguy”, said on In…

Enfeebling the Indian space programme

6 min read
Analysis Science Axiom Space Axiom-4 Bharatiya Janata Party Board of Control for Cricket in India Chandrayaan 2 Covaxin Department of Space Election Commission of India Falcon 9 HUNOR Indian Space Research Organisation K Sivan NASA political capture Prime Minister Narendra Modi S Somanath Shubhanshu Shukla SpaceX V Narayanan VG Somani Vikram lander

There's no denying that there currently prevails a public culture in India that equates criticism, even well-reasoned, with pooh-poohing. It's especially pronounced in certain geographies wher…