In Space Growing Private Roll – Burning Issues

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HISTORIC DECISION

The government on Wednesday approved the creation of a new organisation to ensure greater private participation in India’s space activities.
A decision which it described as “historic”, and which Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan said was part of an important set of reforms to open up the space sector and make space-based applications and services more widely accessible to everyone.

The new Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which is expected to be functional within six months, will assess the needs and demands of private players, including educational and research institutions, and, explore ways to accommodate these requirements in consultation with ISRO.
Existing ISRO infrastructure, both ground- and space-based, scientific and technical resources, and even data are planned to be made accessible to interested parties to enable them to carry out their space-related activities.

It is not that there is no private industry involvement in India’s space sector. In fact, a large part of manufacturing and fabrication of rockets and satellites now happens in the private sector.
Indian industry, however, is unable to compete, because till now its role has been mainly that of suppliers of components and sub-systems.
Indian industries do not have the resources or the technology to undertake independent space projects of the kind that US companies such as SpaceX have been doing, or provide space-based services.

At the same time, there were several Indian companies waiting for make use of these opportunities.
Right now, all launches from India happen on ISRO rockets, the different versions of PSLV and GSLV.
IN-SPACe is supposed to be a facilitator, and also a regulator. It will act as an interface between ISRO and private parties, and assess how best to utilise India’s space resources and increase space-based activities.

There are two main reasons why enhanced private involvement in the space sector seems important. One is commercial, and the other strategic.
The private industry will also free up ISRO to concentrate on science, research and development, interplanetary exploration and strategic launches.
There is no reason why ISRO alone should be launching weather or communication satellites. The world over, an increasing number of private players are taking over this activity for commercial benefits.

IN-SPACe is the second space organisation created by the government in the last two years. In the 2019 Budget, the government had announced the setting up of a New Space India Limited (NSIL), a public sector company that would serve as a marketing arm of ISRO.
That role, incidentally, was already being performed by Antrix Corporation, another PSU working under the Department of Space, and which still exists.
Essentially, what that means is that instead of just marketing what ISRO has to offer, NSIL would listen to the needs of the clients and ask ISRO to fulfil those.