India's Launch of South Asia Satellite in May 2017

TLDR

• Space has become one of India’s most durable instruments of diplomacy.The template for this was set in May 2017, when India launched the South Asia Satellite(Opens in new window), a geosynchronous communications.
• In July 2026, Skyroot Aerospace completed the country’s first private orbital launch(Opens in new window), a genuine milestone that still depended on state-run facilities and support, suggesting a private sector poised.
• India has courted the Pacific Islands(Opens in new window) since 2015 and pursued a satellite monitoring station in Fiji, in a region where several states have voiced unease about Chinese fishing fleets and port.
• If India wants this tool to do more than accumulate goodwill, it could tie it more explicitly to the region’s own priorities, such as fisheries surveillance under the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent(Opens.
• Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Afghanistan signed on, but Pakistan opted out(Opens in new window), rejecting the project as an Indian gift rather than a joint initiative from the South Asian.