IN the works for long, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally given wings to Indian Space ambitions. In a transformational move, the Union Cabinet on April 6 approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 under which roles and responsibilities of both, the Government and private sector companies, have been enunciated in clear terms.
Now national icons like the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), New Space India Limited (ISRO’s commercial arm) and private sector entities will be able to share assets, work with each other and turbo charge this ambitious, new leap into space.
Primary requisite
What this policy does is open up the private sector to be a full participant and provide the innovative and sustainable platform space R&D so urgently required. Infact, this is a primary requisite if India has to be competitive in the space ecosystem globally.
Our immediate competitor in the region, China, has a burgeoning private sector space ecosystem that the MIT Technology Review described as “less focused on bringing prestige and glory to the nation and more concerned with reducing the cost of spaceflight, increasing its international influence – and making money.”
Launch of the ISpA
While our neighbour to the East brought in the private sector in 2014, we did that in June 2020 and 2021 and launched the Indian Space Association (ISpA) to open the Indian space industry to private sectors and start-ups. Several private companies like Larsen & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, MapmyIndia, and Walchandnagar Industries are founding members of this organisation.
Later came the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (INSPACe), as a single-window, independent, nodal agency which functions as an autonomous agency in the Department of Space (DOS) for all space sector activities of private entities, IN-SPACe plays an important role in boosting the private space sector economy in India.
To be competitive in the private in global space ecosystems these institutions were critical foundational building blocks. Now with the Space Policy, the Government has given the sector its third and final pillar that will help companies and institutions map out their future and create their collaborations. Of course, ISRO will be
