ISRO Encourages Startups and MSMEs to Carry Out Their Own Space Missions

• ISRO recently conducted an international space conference, Ushering the New Era for Indian Space Sector virtually from September 15 to 17.
• SEED (Space Enterprise Encouragement and Development) is a program, which is aimed at supporting the startups and MSMEs in innovation, research, and product development.
• According to a report, the Indian space economy is valued at $7 billion and forms 2% of the global space economy.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently conducted an international space conference, Ushering the New Era for Indian Space Sector virtually from September 15 to 17.

Speaking at the Conference Dr. K Sivan, ISRO Chairman and the Secretary at the Department of Space (DoS), said, “Domestic and international space requirements have increased multifold, and thus private sectors must come forward to contribute.”

"ISRO will provide various opportunities to startups and MSMEs for developing products and services, and will also empower them to carry out their own space missions," he added.

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Apart from this, he also announced that DoS is now working on the SEED (Space Enterprise Encouragement and Development) program, which is aimed at supporting the startups and MSMEs in innovation, research, and product development, and will also help them solve any problems which they may encounter during solution development.

Several new policies and legislations are being framed to encourage private sector participation and make the business environment easier for private players.

The government also announced new reforms in the space sector to include the participation of private players in space-related activities. In June, the Union Cabinet announced the formation of an autonomous nodal agency, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), an extension of ISRO, which is aimed at monitoring private players involved in space-related activities. 

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R Umamaheshwaran, Scientific Secretary at ISRO said, IN-SPACe will also be responsible for coming up with an Integrated Launch Manifest, which will set boundaries between the private players, ISRO, and New Space India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO.

Unlike USA, there are a very few number of private players in Indian space sector and the number is gradually increasing.

Pixxel is one such private Indian space-technology start-up that aims to put a constellation of earth observation micro-satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit by the end of 2020. Pixxel, started by BITS Pilani graduates Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal in February 2019, was Asia's only space startup to qualify for the 2019 Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator in Los Angeles.

Skyroot Aerospace, Bellatrix Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos are among other Indian private players in space technology.

ISRO was established under the aegis of the Department of Space (DOS) to develop space-related programs and technologies.

Today, ISRO is one of the largest space agencies in the world and maintains a large fleet of communication, (INSAT)/Geostationary Satellites (GSAT) remote sensing, navigation, and scientific satellites.

According to a report, the Indian space economy is valued at $7 billion and forms 2% of the global space economy. The Indian space sector needs to grow at an approximate rate of 48 percent CAGR over the next five years in order to reach its target of $50 billion.