The setting up of an autonomous nodal agency—the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe)—under the Department of Space (DoS) as a separate vertical for permitting and regulating the activities of private industry in space sector has been welcomed by many players who feel that it is a positive progress from the government's side. Such a move can go a long way in opening up the space sector for business.
It will result in the space industry seeing a large boom in participation of private players, like the power and telecom sectors. It will help Indian companies take up a bigger chunk of the global space market and also generate many more high skilled jobs within the country. “The move to set up IN-SPACe as an independent regulatory body is in line with industry's expectations. In his briefing, ISRO chairman (K. Sivan) had mentioned that the government is working towards a policy that is forward-looking, keeping the ease of doing business in mind. The message was also clear that DoS and the ISRO will support companies that are planning to build their own satellites and launch their own rockets,” remarked Yashas Karanam, director of Bellatrix Aerospace, a company that works with the ISRO.
He felt that changing the focus of NewSpace India (NSIL) from a supply-driven approach to a demand-driven approach indicates that a majority of the commercial activities may be outsourced to numerous industries as and when there is increasing demand. “This step will surely help ISRO receive more international orders since it will be able to deliver more frequent launches than before. In his briefing, the chairman mentioned that ISRO will open up its facilities for private companies and also allow companies to set up additional facilities within the DoS premises if feasible. This is a sure shot enabler for the industry,” added Karanam.
Many felt that IN-SPACe can achieve wonders of coordinating with the private players in India if things are implemented properly. It can also go a long way in reducing the current bottlenecks. “It's a welcome move. It will be revolutionary if implemented the right way by cutting down red tape and equipping it with the right management,” remarked Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder and CEO, Skyroot Aerospace Limited.
Many private players felt that IN-SPACe can achieve a lot more in case there is more representation to its board from different government departments. “Providing an independent channel for the private sector to gain regulatory support is laudable. It would be great if IN-SPACe can consider consolidating its board by having representatives of other Central departments and ministries that are relevant to the space (sector) such as defence, home affairs and telecom ministries to ensure that seamless regulatory mechanisms are put in place to get access to space frequencies, ability to distribute satellite data, etc,” said Narayan Prasad, chief operations officer at Satsearch, a marketplace for the space industry.
Many experts felt that India has an advantage regarding industry involvement, compared to NASA and ESA that are obligated to distribute commercial contracts amongst their member countries or states as per the individual contributions of the countries or states to the space agency. However, ISRO is free to engage with companies and startups across the entire country.
"The offloading of operational tasks to industry consortiums, would create more business for local companies and thereby, encourage more players to undertake space activities. They would now have an incentive to develop space now, given the presence of ISRO as an assured customer. However, these new entrants to space have much to catch up, compared with their international incumbents who have a technological edge of several decades. This is where ISRO can accelerate them into being globally competitive by sharing any cutting edge technology that it now has for more resources to develop. This is a giant step for the ecosystem where the industry transitions from being suppliers to partners to the space agency,” said Rachana Reddy, a former ISRO scientist based in Germany.
