Time for Take-Off

THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS and Space Admin­istration (NASA) of the US is seen as the institution at the forefront of space exploration in the world. But, in recent times, the biggest advance when it comes to space has been made by a private company, SpaceX, led by its maverick founder Elon Musk. It revolutionised the idea of the spacecraft, making them reusable. They could go up, do the mission and then come down and land to get outfitted for another mission, just like aeroplanes. This led to economies of scale. It is now within the scope of probability for Musk’s ambition of a human mission to Mars will become real. It also made him very wealthy because SpaceX now does most of the supply missions to the International Space Station. Not too far back, it began to launch large arrays of small satellites into space that then provided internet con­nections to remoter parts of countries around the world. NASA merely facilitated SpaceX in doing all the things it did. SpaceX is still privately held but is estimated to be valued at around $210 bil­lion. In comparison, Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company, is around $240 billion. Space is vast and so are the opportunities now coming around it for the private sector. The earlier idea of governments owning this economy is now extinct. Competition is not between nations, but between entrepreneurs of nations. This is why the latest Budget had this line by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: “With our continued emphasis on expand­ing the space economy by five times in the next 10 years, a venture capital fund of `1,000 crore will be set up.”

The initial interest in space by human beings was exploration and from the 1950s onward, another element got added to it—competition between two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union. The objective was to prove to respective popula­tions that their political system was better. This led to the moon landings that proved too expensive even for the US to sustain. There was nothing they were getting in return materially. That began to change. Space became a place for defence, like tracking and stopping nuclear missiles. Satellites also began to be used increasingly for commercial purposes. In the early 1980s, for instance, India got the INSAT-1 satellites, which could be used for weather and television broadcasting. Its meteorological data could be used by farmers in making decisions about agriculture. Cyclones or disruptions in weather patterns could be anticipated and pre-emptive action taken. Since then, Indian satellites have been doing a lot more. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) website lists seven types of satellites: Communication Satellites, Earth Observation Satellites, Scientific Spacecraft, Navigation Satellites, Experimental Satellites, Small Satellites, and even Student Satellites. They do everything from direct-to-home television broadcasting, education to oceanography, GPS navigation, and telecommunications.

In 2020, India opened up space to entrepreneurs. It had to because in the world outside, companies like SpaceX were corner­ing the future. And the sector was growing so rapidly that it was clear private participation was needed to engage with it. Earlier, ISRO had already created a supply chain ecosystem where it got its requirements from companies, but it was not enough for what was happening. An organisation called Indian National Space Pro­motion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was created in 2020 which would be a single window to rope in the private sector. As its website notes: “In view of the growing space sector business across the globe and to harness the huge untapped potential that exists in the country in terms of human resources, technical acumen, capabilities established in the industries in space sector, it is found prudent to enable NGEs to carry out independent space activities. In order to achieve this objective, the Union Cabinet led by the Prime Minister took the historic decision in June 2020 to open up the Space sector and enable the participation of Indian private sector in the entire gamut of space activities.” Its objective was to get the private sector involved in “the building of launch vehicles & satellites and providing space-based services; sharing of space infrastructure and premises under the control of DOS/ISRO; and establishment of new space infrastructure and facilities.”

In 2023, the government came out with an Indian Space Policy, which further sought to make private players be part of the space economy. We were only getting a fraction, two to three per cent, of the pie that was out there and the pie was getting bigger. If India wanted to be in the club, it had to move fast. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the then Union minister gave an indication of the scale of the sector: “The current size of the Indian Space Economy is estimated around $8.4 billion (around 2-3% of global space economy) and it is expected that with the implementation of the Indian Space Policy 2023, $44 billion Indian space economy can be achieved by the year 2033. The role of the private sector will be prime to achieve the expected economy figure. It is expected that the private sector will come up with independent end-to-end solutions in satellite manufacturing, launch vehicle manufactur­ing, provide satellite services, and manufacture ground systems.” His reply also had a statistic about the number of private startups in the sector. In 2014, there had been just one, by 2023, that had gone up to 189. This is a long way behind countries like the US and China, but a beginning was being made and entrepreneurs were lining up. Some have already begun to make interesting mile­stones. On May 30, a company called Agnikul Cosmos, launched Agnibaan SOrTeD, a demonstration of what they could do and it was touted to have many firsts, including a 3D-printed engine. A Press Information Bureau release said, “Agnibaan – SOrTeD (Sub- Orbital Technology Demonstrator) also has the unique distinc­tion of having been launched from India’s first private launch pad called ‘Dhanush’ established by Agnikul. It is also India’s first semi-cryogenic engine-powered rocket launch. The key purpose of this mission, which is also Agnikul’s first flight, is to serve as a test flight, to demonstrate the in-house and homegrown technolo­gies, gather crucial flight data and ensure optimal functioning of systems for Agnikul’s orbital launch vehicle, the ‘Agnibaan’.”

Skyroot, another startup, is targeting the market for launch of small satellites into space. They have their own Vikram series of rockets on the anvil to do that. Skyroot was co-founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana, a mechanical engineer from IIT who joined ISRO and worked there for six years before spotting opportunity in the space econo­my as an entrepreneur. In 2022, it successfully tested a sub-orbital launcher, the first such by an Indian private company. Recently, it tested the stage two of its orbital rocket, and commercial opera­tions are now within touching distance. Skyroot is borrowing a leaf out of ISRO to offer low-cost space services to the world. Yet another startup is Pixxel, which will initially use launch services of other companies to have their satellites in space and provide services through them. Last month, it received a grant from the government to develop small satellites for the Indian Air Force. It announced on its website that the contract “will initiate Pixxel’s efforts to develop small satellites of up to 150kg for Electro-Opti­cal, Infrared, Synthetic Aperture Radar, and Hyperspectral pur­poses… The SPARK grants are of­fered to startups selected through the iDEX (Prime) and DISC initiatives to empower Indian innovators and entrepreneurs to deliver technologically advanced solutions in India.”

In April, the consulting firm McKinsey & Co came out with a report on the global space economy and valued it at $1.8 trillion by 2035. India will still only be a small player in it even by the projected estimates of the government. One forecast by the consult­ing firm Arthur D Little, pegged that India’s space sector would be $100 billion by 2040. However, once you throw open a sector to entrepreneurs, then there are often unexpected leaps because of the energies and ideas they bring in. The government seems committed to it but it will need to make the road still easier for private participa­tion. A 2022 paper by Ernst & Young, along with the Indian Space Association, spoke of what the approach should be to cultivate this ecosystem. Its executive summary noted, “Ultimately, a platform that promotes the development of the entire space ecosystem— design and manufacturing of satellites and payloads, launch vehicles and launch services, ground and space segments, space communications, satellite communication, space-based services, spectrum management and operations, space applications, naviga­tion applications and navigation equipment design and supply—is the need of the hour.” Few doubt that launchpad has been laid. Now, it is time to create the right conditions for take-off.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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