Last month has been exceptional for the Indian space sector. It started with the successful launch and complex placement of 36 communication satellites of London-based OneWeb by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro). Then there was the historic launch of India's first privately built rocket by Hyderabad-based startup Skyroot Aerospace.
Two other space startups, Dhruva Space and Pixxel India, piggybacked on Isro's polar satellite launch vehicles (PSLV) to successfully inject their indigenously developed payloads into space. It doesn't end here. A consortium of firms led by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have been awarded the contract to manufacture PSLVs. This is the first time this class of launch rockets will be manufactured by anyone other than Isro.
This spate of news has a common thread: one that is about the emergence of the private sector as a key partner to Isro in productionising India's ambitions in the space business. It is the beginning of the pivot to private-funded and private-conducted space activities in India.
This dramatic transformation elevates the private sector from a vendor to a partner of Isro, and that too in just two years since GoI loosened the rules for commercial space operations. To a large extent, this is because this was undertaken to a plan, as much as Isro being a willing collaborator.
At a very basic level, this involved winning over the sceptics and unbundling Isro's activities. Accordingly, NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) was incorporated as a wholly owned government company under the department of space (DoS) to take over Isro's commercial operations. In fact, it was NSIL that inked the contract with OneWeb.
Alongside, GoI also spun off the regulatory functions of Isro to set up the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), a single-window, independent, nodal agency that would function as an autonomous agency in DoS to sign off on proposals put up by the private sector. Launch of the first private rocket by Skyroot Aerospace was approved by IN-SPACe.
Simultaneously, to ensure better coordination between the private sector and government agencies, especially in ironing out any rough edges in policy, the Indian Space Association (ISpA) was set up. In less than a year since it was set up, the number of private companies in ISpA has grown from five to 50.
This reset of India's playbook for commercial exploitation of space activities coincides with a paradigm shift in the global business of space that is expected to grow from about $450 billion today to about $1 trillion in the next few years. The preferred choice of satellites has shifted from the conventional geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) to low Earth orbit (LEO).
GEOs are extremely heavy and operate at 36,000 km above Earth. As a result, they are expensive to produce and launch, as they need rockets large enough to handle this kind of heavy payload. LEOs weigh less than 100 kg and circle Earth at heights of less than 2,000 km, the cost of components in the subsystem is, therefore, that much lower. Exponential growth in technology has ensured that this class of satellites also pack a lot of power and capability.
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/indias-space-exploration-sector-will-potentially-hit-13-billion-by-2025-making-it-ripe-for-startups/articleshow/96180161.cms