The space sector has seen a marginal increase in funds with an allocation of Rs 10,252 crore in the interim budget 2019—the highest in the last three years. In 2017-18, the actual allocation was Rs 8,053 crore, while in 2018-19 the revised estimate stood at Rs 9,918 crore.
The space sector is entering into its next big phase with Gaganyaan—the human space flight mission planned to be launched in December 2021. The mission alone is pegged at Rs 10,000 crore.
Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Piyush Goyal, while presenting the interim budget, said, “The seventh dimension of our vision for the next decade aims at the outer skies. Our space programme – Gaganyaan, India becoming the launch-pad of satellites for the world and placing an Indian astronaut into space by 2022 reflect this dimension of our vision.''
The largest amount of the funds is allotted for space technology. The funds allocated has seen a rise from Rs 5,948 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 7, 483 crore in the year next. The rise in space applications has been from Rs 1,540 crore to Rs 1,885 crore. The INSAT satellite system, a big project of Indian space research organisation that provides telecommunication, broadcasting, metereology facilities to the country, has had an increase of funds from Rs 565 crore to Rs 884 crore.
The space department has never felt a shortage of funds, Isro chairman K Sivan had earlier said,
Apart from Gaganyaan, Isro is also working on another ambitious plan—a reusable spacecraft. While the ultimate aim is to have a completely reusable vehicle, it is working in phases to develop some reusable components first. Some of the experiments have had trial flights, like that of re-entry into atmosphere. One test flight is due for this year, which will test the runway landing of a spacecraft. A more recent mission is Chandrayaan 2, due for launch this April.
