Industries hold key to achieving India's Space Vision: Isro chief Somanath

ISRO Chairman S Somanath said on Friday that industries have a phenomenal role to play in achieving India's Space Vision 2047, rolled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ISRO chairman-designate V Narayanan also echoed the same view.

In his pre-recorded inaugural speech, at the biennial National Aerospace Manufacturing Seminar (NAMS) 2025, Somanath said that the industries will face significant challenges as their collaboration with the space programme is going to increase substantially.

One of the challenges would be the regular production of rockets, satellites and other systems required for the space programme and the other would be engineering, manufacturing and supplying items like new space crafts and systems, miniature electronics, large propulsion tanks and engines, he said.

 

"They have to be produced in numbers to meet the tight schedules," he added.

He said the task was a huge one as the strength of the space community in the public sector was not increasing substantially.

Somanath further said that while there was growth in the private sector, manufacturing, supplying and managing the supply chain were also going to be substantial challenges.

Narayanan was also not present in person and a pre-recorded speech by him was played at the seminar where he said that material and manufacturing teams have a crucial role to play in the space programme.

He said that without them, "satellites and rockets will only be in paper form".

Narayanan further said that in the last 44 years, India has successfully accomplished 99 launch vehicle missions and placed a number of satellites in orbit.

"The demand for launch vehicles and satellites has gone up. Presently we have around 54 satellites and next in 3-4 years, more than 100 satellites will have to be placed in orbit.

"To accomplish this, the role of industries in manufacturing is phenomenal. It is not just the design team, the materials and manufacturing teams also have to play a crucial role as without them, the satellites and rockets will only be in paper form," he said.

Earlier the demand for rocket launches was low, but now as the requirements increase, there is a need to improve the launch vehicles' payload capability, Narayanan said.

For this the country was developing the cryogenic and semi-cryogenic propulsion systems, he said.

"However, even though the semi-cryogenic project was approved almost 15 years back, our hands are tied only because of the challenges we are facing in manufacturing as the industry capability was less," he said.

He said that till today the country was unable to bring out a single semi-cryogenic engine successfully, "due to the technological challenges".

There are a lot of programmes, like Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4 and the Indian space station, as part of the Space Vision 2047 and for that, many launch vehicles will be required every year, he said.

"Therefore, the manufacturing requirements through the industries have gone up. I am sure the people who are here will really put the best of your efforts to meet the needs of Space Vision 2047," he said.

He also said that, earlier, the number of rockets launched was much less than now and therefore, the cost of production and the time taken for manufacturing has to come down.

The NAMS 2025 was organised here by the National Governing Council of the Society of Aerospace Manufacturing Engineers (SAME).