Making more Room for Space

Of all the unprecedented decisions that have been taken recently in the country, India’s move to privatise the space sector has proven to be one of the most revolutionary as the number of startups in the sector has increased to more than 100 in 2022 from just 11 in 2019. From launch vehicles to satellites, propulsion engines, remote sensors, navigation & communication etc., Indian space startups are developing space tools and solutions. The move has democratised the access of both public and private space entities to tap the potential of the space sector to the fullest and opened gates to a more collaborative & self-reliant space start-up ecosystem.

India is acting swiftly to fulfil its space ambitions as it also slowly upgrades its position with a space program that marks as one of the most advanced among other spacefaring nations in the Asian Continent. India earmarked Rs 13,700 cr for the Dept. of Space in Budget 2022-23, as ISRO gears up for Gaganyaan — India’s first human spaceflight mission. Besides, India has other future missions including the Chandrayaan-3 programme, the Shukrayaan Venus mission which is expected to get launched in 2024, a twin aeronomy satellite mission that will study the uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere, Mission Trishna (in collaboration with French Space Agency CNES) for accurate mapping of land surface temperature, to name a few.

PM Narendra Modi, in the 90th episode of his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, went to lengths lauding the growth of the Indian space sector and shared interesting strides made by various accomplished space start-ups and organisations. Two start-ups ‘Agnikul’ and ‘Skyroot’ – were also mentioned, which are developing launch vehicles that will take small payloads into space, also bringing down the cost of Space Launching significantly. Other space start-ups that made it to the radio programme included the Hyderabad-based Startup ‘Dhruva Space’, which is working on High technology Solar Panels for Satellite deployers and Satellites; and a Banagalore-based start-up ‘Astrome’, which is making flat antennas which will not only be small, but very cost-efficient too. PM also mentioned about Tanvi Patel, a school student who is working on a very small satellite, which is going to be launched into space in the next few months; and about Tanveer Ahmed of ‘Digantara’, another space startup who is trying to map waste in space.

“In the past few years, many big feats related to the space sector… One of these achievements of the country has been the creation of ‘In-Space’ agency, that is promoting new opportunities in the space sector for the private sector of India. This beginning has especially attracted the youth of our country,” PM Modi said as he elaborated on the role being played by the Indian National Center for Space Promotion and Authorization (IN-SPACe) for promoting, handholding, authorizing and licensing private players to carry out Space Activities. Access to ISRO facilities and expertise has also been extended to private entities to support their space activities. The existing policies in the space domain are also being revised and new policies are being drafted to address policy frameworks for various areas such as SpaceCom, Remote Sensing, Technology Transfer, Navigation, Space Transportation, Space exploration and Space Situational Awareness. In order to address the necessary legal framework, the department of Space is also in the process of enacting a National legislation. The draft Space Activities Bill has completed Public and Legal consultations and will be processed for further approvals for inter-ministerial consultations.The government is even in the process of planning to allow FDI with the view to boost the investment in the space sector by the foreign players.

“Like the IT sector, India’s space sector will rise to new heights…we will soon come up with a new policy for the space sector and a policy for ease of doing business,” PM Modi had said after inaugurating the headquarters of the Indian National Center for Space Promotion and Authorization (IN-SPACe) in Ahmedabad just recently. As India awaits this breaking bit, its space economy, which is valued at around ₹40,000 crore, is sure to grow exponentially.

Race to Space is Real for India

Space is the next frontier of human evolution and nation states are competing hard with limited resources. It feels like battle to stay relevant. The current valuation of the global space economy stands at about USD 447 billion and India’s ‘space economy’ is valued at ₹36,794 crore (approx. USD 5 billion only), which shows that India still needs to cover a big gap.

India is acting swiftly to fulfil its space ambitions as it also slowly upgrades its position with a space program that marks as one of the most advanced among other spacefaring nations in the Asian Continent. After unlocking the Space Sector for private players, Innovative Start-Ups are coming in a big way to explore the untapped potential. Access to ISRO facilities and expertise has also been extended to private entities to support their space activities. Talks are on to allow FDI in the space sector too.

India earmarked Rs 13,700 cr for the Dept. of Space in Budget 2022-23, as ISRO gears up for Gaganyaan — India’s first human spaceflight mission. Besides, India has other future missions including the Chandrayaan-3 programme, the Shukrayaan Venus mission which is expected to get launched in 2024, a twin aeronomy satellite mission that will study the uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere, Mission Trishna (in collaboration with French Space Agency CNES) for accurate mapping of land surface temperature, to name a few.

Further, the economic survey 2022 showed how the number of startups in the space industry has almost doubled in the last year. The space sector has shown a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs and private businesses with aid from government policies and reforms. Over 55 start-ups have registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space, in just about two years since the Indian Space Department and the ISRO were opened to the private sector. Out of these 55 proposals, 29 are Satellite related, 10 are for Space Applications and Products, 8 are related to Launch vehicles and 8 are about Ground Systems and Research. In addition, 74 Student satellites are scheduled for launch this year that is coinciding with Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, celebrating the 75th year of India’s Independence.

India came up with many reforms in 2020 to boost the space sector. These included creation of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) under DOS for promoting, handholding, authorizing and licensing private players to carry out Space Activities. The existing policies in the space domain are also being revised and new policies are being drafted to address policy frameworks for various areas such as SpaceCom, Remote Sensing, Technology Transfer, Navigation, Space Transportation, Space exploration and Space Situational Awareness. The draft Space Activities Bill has completed Public and Legal consultations and will be processed for further approvals for inter-ministerial consultations.

Beginning of End of Co-operation at ISS

To build something delicate takes ages, and destruction can be done in a smack. Something very special to the world is about to perish. International Space Station(ISS), setup as one unit by all space powers in the world for orbital research has remained a rare domain of cooperation amidst hostile relationship between USA and Russia. Russian state media reported Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin as saying in an interview. “I can say this only, in accordance with our obligations, we’ll inform our partners about the end of our work on the ISS with a year’s notice….The decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly.” He had threatened earlier this month to end Russia’s mission unless the U.S., European Union and Canada lifted sanctions against enterprises involved in the Russian space industry.
ISS is largest man-made structure in space and is one of the most complex scientific and engineering projects. Russia had been a crucial player since the inception and making the ISS a success, with other space agencies relying on advanced Russian modular space station construction technology to build ISS. A total of 11 astronauts are presently inhibiting ISS – 6 Americans, 3 Russians, an Italian and a German – the diversity symbolising joint space exploration. Sanctions causing Russia’s international isolation since Ukraine crisis in February has marked the demise of this symbol.

Russia says that withdrawal from ISS will be complete 2025 and it will build and manage its own floating laboratory by 2030. NASA on the other hand, plans to operate ISS through 2030. Instead of Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts, the U.S. space agency is now relying more on private space flights. For example, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the four astronauts for NASA and the European Space Agency last Wednesday.

The safety of the ISS remains a real concern amidst these promises of independent setups. Russia controls critical aspects of the space station’s propulsion control systems which provided boosts to the ISS at regular intervals. Without these regular boosts the ISS would very slowly fall toward the atmosphere, where it would mostly burn up. Yet, there is a high chance that some components may survive and fall on earth surface and even cause damage to lives, mostly in the equator area.

Ongoing Russia-Ukrain conflict continues to spiral into chaos causing unprecedented damage to sense of global village, something which entire globe had started envisioning. While technology keeps bringing humans together in space and time, the attitudinal shift and lack of communication abilities to resolve conflict have escalated. Digital natives surely need to embrace each other to resolve problems which may have resulted due to kicking the can down the road attitude. Rise of nationalisms, terrorism, lack of International co-operation, global warming are few such issues which require immediate attention.

ISRO’s International Endeavours

The memory of transporting and assembling rockets and payloads on bicycles and bullock carts is still vivid in the minds of Indians. Today, far from it, ISRO has established a mark globally in the space sector by launching a total of 129 satellites of Indian origin. India has also led an incredible journey of launching a total of 343 foreign satellites belonging to 36 countries as of 14th February 2022, since 1975. Of this number, 39 are commercial satellites and the rest are nano-satellites.

The Indian Space Agency – ISRO has fostered the space ecosystem by opening avenues and opportunities for private players in the sector. Announcement of space sector reforms and the formation of IN-SPACe that regulates and promotes space sector activities brought in positive developments. Public Sector enterprise under the dept. of Space ‘NSIL’ has earned a Foreign Exchange revenue of about 35 Million US Dollars and 10 Million Euros during the last three years (2019-2021), by launching satellites of various private and international agencies. NSIL launched a total of 45 international customer satellites onboard ISRO’s PSLV during the last three years and has secured 4 Dedicated Launch service contracts for foreign satellite customers. Efforts are being made to use ISRO’s SSLV, PSLV, and GSLV-MkIII for such launches as well. Through launching foreign satellites, footprint of ISRO’s expertise is being ensured in building earth observation and communication satellites, providing launch and mission.

India’s space program stands out as one of the most cost-effective in the world. India has earned worldwide recognition for launching lunar probes, building satellites, ferrying foreign satellites up and has even succeeded in reaching Mars. Indian space programme has attracted global attention for its accelerated rate of development, with a critical appreciation for some of its extraordinary explorations, which include Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan, Chandrayaan-2 Mission(India’s 2nd mission to the moon), AstroSat Mission (India’s 1st observatory mission for astronomy) and Aditya-L1 Mission (India’s 1st solar observatory in space). ISRO has forged a strong relationship with many industrial enterprises, both in the public and private sector, to implement its space projects.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), is the protagonist behind providing launch service to international customers. The first such commercial service dates back to 26th May 1999, when KITSAT-3 of the Republic of Korea was launched onboard PSLV-C2 and DLR-TUBSAT of Germany along with India’s IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT).

India even holds a record of launching 104 satellites on a single rocket (PSLV-C37). This happened on 15th February 2017, when among the 104 satellites, 101 co-passengers were international customers, namely the USA (96), the Netherlands (1), Switzerland (1), Israel (1), Kazakhstan (1), and the UAE (1). The previous record was held by Russia of launched 37 satellites in 2014. In 2017, ISRO’s PSLV launched as many as 130 foreign satellites, the most in a year, followed by 2018 (60) and 2019 (50).

With an aim to flourish further, the Indian space Agency recently signed six agreements with four countries for launching foreign satellites from 2021-to 2023. 132 Million Euros would be earned through the launching of these foreign satellites on a commercial basis. As of 10th February 2022, India has a total of 53 operational satellites in space providing various identified services to the nation. 21 of these are communication satellites, 8 are Navigation satellites, 21 are Earth Observation Satellites and 3 are Science Satellites.

Economy, Collaboration and Diplomacy in Space Sector

Space Technology, over the years, has seen tremendous growth in multitude than originally envisaged. According to ISRO, many Non-Government-Private-Entities (NGPEs) in India have started engaging in space activities that are contributing to the growth trajectory with huge commercial potential. ‘Space Economy, Space Collaboration and Space Diplomacy’ are going to be the founding stone of the foreseeable future of the world economy and technology. Referring to the space economy while inaugurating North India’s first-ever space centre in Jammu, Union Minister of State for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned that India is already receiving revenue worth millions of Euros and US Dollars through the launching of foreign satellites.

The Global Space Sector is thriving. Over 65 countries have operated at least one satellite. Political and economic capital being invested in the space environment by governments and commercial entities is at record levels. Global Space Economy comprises the space industry’s core activities in-space manufacturing and in satellite operations, including others. The growing public-private factors contribute to the Space economy by providing space-related outputs, space derived products and services and the scientific knowledge arising from space research. The main segments of the space economy include manufacturing, services from satellite operators and consumer services.

At present India accounts for only about 2% of the space economy. With policy interventions in the right direction and public-private partnerships in the Indian space sector, India can capture a larger share of the global space economy. The budget allocation to these sectors is growing year after year. This year, the Department of Space has been allocated a whopping Rs 13,700 crores in the annual budget, Rs 7,456.60 crores of which is earmarked for capital expenditure. ISRO is expected to generate a revenue of Rs 219.14 crores from various launch activities in the year 2022-23, under its commercial wing NewSpaxe India Limited (NSIL). According to Budget, the Department of Space, between the years 2022 and 2023, plan to transfer 30 technologies for social, commercial ad other objectives.

A look at the numbers suggests that startups in the space sector have crossed a total number of 100, of which 47 were established in 2021. In 2019, only 11 new startups were added to the sector. According to the Economic Survey Report – 2022, as many as 47 new start-ups entered the Indian space sector in 2021, taking the tally to 101. More than 50 start-ups are working in the space sector and about 10 of them have funding of over Rs 50 crore or more, individually.

The government recently updated the SpaceCom and SpaceRS policies, liberalising the traditional satellite communication and remote sensing sectors. Under various space tech initiatives, the independent nodal agency IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre) has received close to 40 proposals from large industries, MSMEs, Startups. These proposals will be responsible for covering a broad range of activities including – launch vehicle and satellite manufacturing, Earth Observation Application, communications etc. Last year, Agnikul and Skyroot, two space-based startups signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with ISRO with the view to access facilities and expertise in developing and testing Space Launch Vehicle subsystems and systems.

These examples indicate the intervention of private players in the space sector and hence, the far-reaching reforms in the space sector are aimed at boosting private sector participation in the entire range of space activities. This spur in economic activities is surely going to open doors for collaboration and eventually evolve into critical tool for diplomacy – space diplomacy.

Ease of Doing Science’ gets coined in India

‘India has data, demography, demand, democracy to achieve world-class scientific solutions,’ PM modi said in his inaugural address at the India International Science Festival-2020

Ancient India has immensely contributed to the knowledge in various branches of Science. The science of astronomy, called Khagolshastra, was in fact well advanced in ancient India. Contributions of popular ancient scientists & discoverers like Kanad, Varahamihira, Nagarjuna, Charak, Sushruta, Aryabhatta, and others, are a proof of India’s rich legacy in science, technology and innovation.

Many of world’s most remarkable and game-changing discoveries were made here long before they got cracked by the western world. The only drawback, however, had been on the promotional front as ancient India missed out on proper pedestalling of the discoveries and a shout out to the world. The new India, which is on a roundabout of taking science to newer heights, is but taking care of both showcasing India’s scientific prowess to the world and promoting science enthusiasm within the country, through even funding and other facilitations now.

Government of India coined a new term i.e. ‘Ease of Doing Science’ in the country today. Union Minister of Science and technology Dr. Jitendra Singh released the new guidelines for ‘Ease of Doing Science: Towards less government, more governance’ on the foundation day of the Department of Biotechnology. This step has been taken to reduce the compliance burden and switching from research administration to research facilitation. Under the initiative, the central government has relaxed compliance guidelines for scientists, therefore making it easier for them to access grants and rope in associates for research and development projects.

It is pertinent to mention that the reforms include single-step approval for administration issues including Budget re-appropriation within the recurring head and change of principle investigatory. The guidelines also stated that to ease the burden of research personnel engaged in research & development projects, salaries for the first two years will be released during the first year as ‘grant-in-aid’ in the project. With the view to promote scientific research in India, the Centre also planned to develop “Ease of Doing Scientific Index” that would ensure effective use of both disbursed funds and the time to weed out sub-standard research work.

Budget 2022-2023 allotted the Ministry of Science & Technology a sum of Rs 14,217, of which Rs 6,000 crore went to DST , Rs 5,636 crore to DSIR and Rs 2,581 crore to DBT. This allocation to DST and DSIR in 2022-2023 has increased by 15% and 6% respectively, as compared to last year allotment. The budget of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) also saw a miniscule jump of Rs 67 crore, whereas the allocation under R&D in DST saw an increase of Rs 11 crore. As the spectrums of innovation, startups, technology, indegeneity and science converge rapidly with changing times in the country, it would be rather interesting to see what all solutions India comes up with before the world in the coming years.

Indian Science : CoVID and Beyond

Pandemic has brought world’s attention to India’s capabilities in R&D as well as gigantic implementations. India seems to be on an inventing spree. Not just CoVID vaccines but many more scientific collaborations and discoveries are taking place in research departments, and various scientific institutions across the country. The splendid pace at which the work is carried out, combined with the unicity of ideas and innovations, is making India shine globally as a scientific exploration marvel.

In a bid to inculcate new technology in the ecosystem and to make India – aatmanirbhar – a self-reliant nation in power transistor technology, Indian scientists and researchers very recently developed a device which will be useful in space and defense applications requiring high voltage and high-frequency switching. The device, which is made from Aluminium gallium nitride, is called High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs). In yet another recent discovery, a new exoplanet i.e. a planet outside our solar system was discovered by Indian Space scientists. The study, carried out at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, found the exoplanet’s mass to be 70% and size about 1.4 times that of Jupiter. This exoplanet is orbiting too close to an evolved or ageing star with a mass of 1.5 times that of the Sun and is located 725 light-years away. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the detection of such a system contributes in enhancing the present understanding of various scientific mechanisms.

India is even embarking on space diplomacy like never before. ISRO is set to launch a Bhutanese satellite, which has been built by Bhutanese engineers that were trained by ISRO. “This is India’s gift to Bhutan as part of the space diplomacy initiatives put in place by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We’re helping their personnel to build the nano satellite which will be used for imaging purposes. It will be launched on the PSLV carrying EOS-6. The mission will also launch the Pixxel satellite, ” ISRO Chief K Sivan had remarked. Similarly, at COP 26 (held at Glasgow, Scotland), Prime Minster Narendra Modi announced a special data window for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to be built by ISRO. With this, SIDS will continue to receive timely information about cyclones, coral-reef monitoring, coastline monitoring, etc. via satellite. “No one has remained untouched by the wrath of climate change,” PM Modi had said while launching the initiative.

Moreover, continuous efforts have also been made to develop and enhance scientific temper among students, scholars and young researchers. The recent launch of the first-of-its-kind Virtual Science Lab for children under the CSIR Jigyasa program exemplifies this. The initiative will connect students with scientists across the country.