As the nation was grappling with bathed breath, the tweet from ISRO, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: ‘India, I reached my destination and you too!” was erupted with joy. It marked India’s prowess in a stellar way. The cost-competitive country has executed several of its missions in a similar way, giving the nation an edge in space exploration.
When an American satellite live transmitted the Tokyo Olympic across the Pacific, the power of space technology struck Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of Indian space programme. Immediately in 1962, the Indian National Committee for Space Research was set with Dr. Sarabhai and Dr. Ramanathan leading from front. Later in 1969, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was formed with the objective to develop space technology for national needs. While the pictures of transporting rocket parts on cycles and bullock carts have trended across social media, signifying the initial days of ISRO, today India has grown to become the fifth amongst spacefaring nations. With end-to-end capabilities in space research and development, a new era has thus begun.
Opening up for private players
India’s share in the global space industry is less than 3 per cent. In a bid to increase the share, the space sector was opened for private participation in 2020. Even in this short period of time several startups have created a huge impact. Skyroot, headquartered in Hyderabad made history by launching the first private launch vehicle. Digantara, an aerospace company based out of Bengaluru, built the world’s first commercial space weather sensor and Jayanthi Raghunathan Space Research To the moon and far… As the nation was grappling with bathed breath, the tweet from ISRO, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: ‘India, I reached my destination and you too!” was erupted with joy. It marked India’s prowess in a stellar way. The cost-competitive country has executed several of its missions in a similar way, giving the nation an edge in space exploration. Agnikul Cosmos under the aegis of IN-SPACe established India’s first private space vehicle launchpad at Sriharikota. According to a report by Ernst & Young and ISpA, the Indian space economy is expected to reach about USD 13 billion by 2025 and USD 40 billion by 2040, if it continues the current growth momentum of 9 per cent CAGR.
ISRO to focus on new technologies
Recently the cabinet approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 that further provides a structure for managing and regulating private participation in end-to-end operations. It aims at boosting competition and bringing entrepreneurship into the sector and substantially increase India’s share to 10 per cent in the global space economy. Based on the policy, ISRO will henceforth focus primarily on the research and development of new space technologies and applications and on expanding the human understanding of outer space. The mature systems would be transferred to industries for commercial exploitation. This marks the beginning of an interesting era for India’s space exploration. Along with private participation, new discoveries and ground breaking revelations will bring in new knowledge and understandings of the world around us.
