India recently launched a number of ambitious space projects and allocated 227 billion rupees ($2.7 billion; £2.1 billion) to them. The ambitions include the next stage of India's historic trip to the Moon, sending an orbiter to Venus, constructing the first phase of the country's first space station, and developing a new reusable heavy-lifting rocket to launch satellites. It is the single greatest commitment of monies ever made for space programs in India, but given the scope and complexity of the projects, it is far from luxurious and has once again highlighted the cost-effectiveness of India's space program.

Experts throughout the world have marveled at the low cost of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) Moon, Mars, and solar missions. India paid $74 million on the Mars orbiter Mangalyaan and $75 million on last year's landmark Chandrayaan-3, which is less than the $100 million spent on the sci-fi blockbuster Gravity. NASA's Maven orbiter cost $582 million, whereas Russia's Luna-25, which crashed on the Moon's surface two days before Chandrayaan-3 landed, cost 12.6 billion roubles ($133 million).

Mangalyaan carried a payload to examine methane in Mars' atmosphere, while Chandrayaan-1 was the first to demonstrate the existence of water in lunar soil. Space enthusiasts all across the world are very interested in the images and data transmitted by Chandrayaan-3. Sisir Kumar Das, a retired civil official who oversaw Isro's finances for more than two decades, says the frugality dates back to the 1960s, when scientists first proposed a space programme to the government. India won independence from British colonial authority in 1947, and the country struggled to feed its people and create adequate schools and hospitals.

"Isro's founder and scientist, Vikram Sarabhai, had to persuade the government that a space program was not a sophisticated luxury that had no place in a poor country like India." Mr Das told the BBC that satellites may help India serve its population better. However, India's space project has always had to work within a limited budget in a country with competing needs and aspirations. Photographs from the 1960s and 1970s show scientists transporting rockets and satellites on bicycles or even a bullock cart. Isro's budget remains small despite multiple successful interplanetary trips throughout the decades. This year, India's budgeted allocation for its space program is 130 billion rupees ($1.55 billion), whereas NASA's budget for the year is $25 billion.