Press Trust of IndiaMar 16, 2021 09:05:03 IST
The Space Research Agency of India (ISRO) intends to link most of its activities to industry and strengthen its focus on advanced research, Chairman Dr K Sivan has said, while the government opening the division to get private players on board. Sivan, who is also Secretary of the Department of Space (DoS), said the reforms put forward by the government in the region last June to encourage enhanced private participation in the space sector has fostered enthusiasm among the industry. “The future of space activity is changing now. Another thing, (earlier) all space operations were done by just ISRO. Now, we are giving equal opportunity to private players do it too, “he said.
Sivan was speaking at a webinar organized by the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) for ‘Future of Aerospace & Avionics in India’. He said ISRO can share its technologies with private players and allows them to use its resources.
“We want to hold them by hand to bring them to our house [ISRO’s] stage until most of the activity that ISRO does is downloaded to industry, and we can spend more time on advanced research to take India to the next level (in the space sector) , “he said.
As part of space reforms for ‘Unlocking India’s Space Potential’ to allow private players to perform end-to-end space activities, the establishment of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) was also announced .
An autonomous organization under the DoS, IN-SPACe acts as a single window node organization for enabling and managing ISRO space activity and resource utilization by NGPEs (private non-governmental organizations). It will work out an appropriate way to share technology, knowledge and resources free of charge where possible or at a reasonable cost to promote NGPEs.
Sivan, however, made it clear in the interaction with students and faculty of the Dehradun-based private university last Friday that ISRO with Bengaluru headquarters is not looking at collaboration with NGPEn at this stage.
K Sivan. Image: Reuters
ISRO can only cooperate with partners with equal strength, such as international space agencies, he said, noting that NGPEs in the space sector are still at a growth stage.
The space agency is currently enabling industry to “catch up [its] level “.
“That’s a process. Hopefully as soon as they grow to our level, then surely we will be able to work together,” he said.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who heads DoS, has said 35 start-ups and businesses were in consultation with ISRO for support related to a number of areas of space activity such as satellite development, launch of vehicles , developing applications, and providing place-based services.
The commercial arm of ISRO NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), which was introduced two years ago, is also working proactively to enhance the capability of Indian businesses through technology transfer from ISRO in several named areas.
“This will certainly help them to play a significant role in the emerging space markets both nationally and globally.
To date, we have made 14 such technology transfer agreements and you will see many more such transfers in the coming days, ”NSIL Chairman and Managing Director G Narayanan told PTI last week.