Big industrial houses need to enter space sector, says Isro chief Somanath

ISRO chairman S Somanath on Tuesday urged industry houses to invest in the space sector in a big way to build rockets and allied systems for India to emerge as a space power by 2047.

Addressing the Indian Space Conclave here, Somanath voiced concern over the "elusive" investments in the upstream sector of the space industry comprising launch vehicles, hardware and software for ground-based stations, telemetry, tracking and command stations.

He said the share of the Indian space economy in the global market was very low and there was a need to encourage and inspire the next generation of leaders to come into the sector and create a vibrant activity.

 

India's space economy is pegged at $8.4 billion and is projected to grow to $45 billion in the next ten years.

Somanath said investments were not forthcoming from big industry houses within the country for the upstream side of the business despite pursuing the matter with them.

"India is not devoid of big (industry) houses having enough capability to invest and create as much as others in the world. But, they need to take the plunge, possibly alone or in a very cooperative mode with others," the ISRO chairman said addressing the conclave organised by the Indian Space Association.

He acknowledged the risks involved in the space sector where a longer time is required to develop complex systems which could prove to be unsuitable as technologies tend to change fast.

"There are industries and start-ups happening, but their ability to scale up to a level, become competitive enough to challenge established players remains to be seen," Somanath said.

"It is here that the role of bigger industrial houses needs to come in. If you want to really scale up this domain, it has to be through a very high level of risk-sharing capability that has to be taken only by bigger industry houses," Somanath said.

He said there was a need to create leading space companies in India, not just service-providing companies.

"Companies who have the capability to conceive, design, manufacture and put up cost competitive products in front of the world," he said.

Last year, ISRO's commercial arm NewSpace India Limited awarded a contract to a consortium of L&T and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to build five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles.

The space agency has also offered to transfer its latest Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to the industry for mass production.

The company or a consortium identified for the transfer of technology for the SSLV can continue to build the rocket at ISRO facilities till it develops its own campus for manufacturing the launch vehicles.