Godrej and some other firms are frustrated at what they say is the slow execution of projects and lack of government support, which are hampering India's efforts to compete with China and Russia as a cheaper option for launching satellites.
'ISRO takes a very cautious approach.' 'After reaching the moon, the orbit has to be brought down from a single elliptical orbit to a circular orbit while simultaneously ensuring the stability of Chandrayaan 3 and the health parameters of the lander and rover.'
Billionaires are not only eyeing a profit as they push mankind out into the stars.
It appears India will be among those nations consigned to being among the watchers and not participants of this crucial phase, observes Aakar Patel.
As India celebrated its success in testing an unmanned space crew module on Thursday, over 1.7 lakh Indians had another reason to be happy as a similar National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacecraft carrying a microchip containing their names was brought back safely to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States, on the same day after a space odyssey.
'It is a blessing in disguise that they could find the glitch before the launch.' 'If this was not found, the entire mission would have been lost.'
A NASA spacecraft has detected deposits of glass on Mars.
India is set to operationalise its own navigational system with the successful launch of IRNSS-1D, the fourth in the series of seven navigational satellites, onboard PSLV-C27 from Sriharikota on Saturday.
Asteroid 2011 UW-158, an asteroid with 90 million tons of platinum core worth over five trillion dollars, hurtled past earth early Monday morning.
ISRO hopes to put a crew on the moon, but it has to learn how to keep people alive and healthy in space first.
The entire mission operations of Chandrayaan-3, right from the launch till landing, "happened flawlessly" as per the timeline, the team that led India's third mission to the Moon said on Wednesday.
India is attempting to soft-land a rover on the moon and will attempt, at some point next year hopefully, sending humans into orbit. All of this makes an exciting time for space around the world, notes Aakar Patel.
Three Chinese astronauts on Thursday entered the country's new space station after their spaceship successfully docked with it, just over seven hours after the launch from the Gobi Desert, in a major milestone for the Communist giant's space exploration plans and its bid to become a leading space power.
'If Chandrayaan 1 had a launch with GSLV, we need not have an orbiter for Chandrayaan 2.' 'We could have gone straight round the moon and landed on the moon.'
From The New York Times to BBC and The Guardian to The Washington Post, the historic event in India's space programme on Wednesday made headlines across the globe.
While New Jersey, US-based OrbitBeyond leads a consortium of subcontractors who have designed and developed hardware for deep space missions, Bengaluru-based Team Indus is leading OrbitBeyond's lander engineering, reports T E Narasimhan.
'A person weighing 68 kilograms on the Earth would weigh only over 11 kg on the Moon'
The stage is set for the launch of India's satellite IRNSS-1D on Saturday from Sriharikota onboard workhorse PSLV-C27 that would pave the way for the country's own navigation system on par with the GPS of United States.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday gave away Gandhi Peace Prize 2014 to ISRO in recognition of its services in transforming India through the use of space technology.
Scientists also expressed the hope that any technical problem will be sorted out by ISRO, and the mission will be launched successfully.
'ISRO's style is a terrific example of being able to survive, acknowledge failures, and then most importantly of all, learn from them to ensure that subsequent missions are successful.'
Deciphering its secrets will unlock the early history of not only our planet, but also of the star system, explains Kumar Abishek.
ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan spoke with rediff.com briefly before the launch of India's mission to Mars
Starting on Monday, the country's low-cost Mars mission that is in a rendezvous with the red planet for an extended period will enter the "blackout" phase snapping communication with the satellite.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, The BBC and The Guardian, among many other leading foreign media outlets, all carried stories on Chandrayaan-2, India's landmark moon mission.
In fact, a $1-million initial fund has been announced to help developers build apps and new services, including for more local-language content, and a contest has been launched, too.
As for his interest in space, Amazon founded Blue Origin, a privately funded aerospace company.
'The unflappable temperament and nerves of steel under extreme pressure -- essential ingredients in space research -- were on full display in the rows occupied by the scientists still engrossed in their monitor screens,' says Minnie Vaid, author of Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, ISRO's Mission to Mars.
'The ultimate satisfaction of helping in the country's space programme is the bigger achievement attracting women to space research -- and they are so good at it!'
Contributors to Team Indus project will have names etched on an object going to space.
And what happens next?
The spacecraft is the first to take the American astronauts to orbit from American soil in nearly a decade.
'In our textbooks, we never had chapters where a woman does something. We had one Rani Laxmibai chapter, the rest only the men did. We have been trained like that but, now, things have to change.'
This handout image from obtained from the European Space Agency / National Aeronautics and Space Administration, obtained on August 21, 2008 taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board the ESA's Mars Express shows the highest-resolution full-disc image yet of the surface of the martian moon Phobos.
China on Friday announced plans to boost space cooperation with Pakistan, including the development of a space centre and launching of more satellites for its all-weather ally.
'In a part of the world where the government tells people what not to eat and what slogans to shout and not shout, it is beneficial to develop a mentality that is science minded and therefore open-minded.' 'That is possibly why the space programme has always had support from all sides of the political divide,' says Aakar Patel.
It is important for India to develop multiple launch sites and become capable of undertaking more launches in a year's time, says Ajey Lele.
There appears to be uncertainty over availability of a lander from Russia even as the 'desi' rocket to launch the space odyssey would take time to become operational.
Ice? Volcano? Or Alien life? The discovery of two bright spots on Ceres -- the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that happens to be the largest body in that asteroid belt -- has baffled scientists and space enthusiasts.
Bezos wears it on his sleeve, Nadella keeps it quiet
'When the Americans are talking about colonising Mars by 2030, India cannot be lagging behind.'
