FREEING UP SPACE

Private sector participation can only propel India’s space programme into a higher orbit, leaving ISRO to do the thinking

- RAJ CHENGAPPA

THE INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION (ISRO) has a record of achievements few public sector institutions in India can rival. Having completed 50 years in August last year, ISRO has propelled India into the small but exclusive club of spacefaring nations that can build sophisticated heavy-lift rockets and launch complex satellites laden with instruments whose uses range from communications to remote sensing to weather forecasting to military applications. ISRO has expanded its reach right up to the moon and even placed an orbiter around Mars in its first attempt in 2013. It is now developing India’s first manned mission designed to have three astronauts orbiting in space for a week. ISRO has made India truly self-reliant, but for it to become a world space power, reforms were needed to allow the private sector to participate. That reform is finally here, announced as part of the government’s stimulus package.

THE REFORMS

• Providing a predictable policy and regulatory environment to private players so that they can invest in developing their capabilities

• Giving a level playing field to private companies to build satellites, launches and space-based activities

• Allowing the private sector to use ISRO facilities and other relevant assets to enhance their capability

• Opening frontier projects like planetary exploration and outer space travel to the private sector

THE RATIONALE