PRIVATE SPACE ODYSSEY

Sunita Williams' return in a SpaceX capsule has put the focus back on the role of private sector in space journeys

- SHINE JACOB

After 286 days of uncertainty and orbiting Earth 4,576 times, astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have finally splashed down off the coast of Florida. The crew landed in a SpaceX capsule, after traveling to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's new Starliner, underscoring the growing dominance of the private sector in the space industry.

In India too, the need for a faster evolution of the private sector in space is being felt especially in the upstream sector, against the backdrop of the 'Bharatiya Antriksh Station' planned by 2035, and dreams of an Indian landing on the Moon by 2040. There's a closer target as well with India's crewed orbital spacecraft readying to take off in 2026.

The upstream segment refers to all activities, products, and infrastructure ensuring the development, testing, launching, operations, and monitoring (including space situational awareness) of space assets. And, the downstream segment is about all applications, services, and devices relying on satellites to create business value. At present, some 250 odd startups are at the forefront of the private sector space initiative in India across upstream and downstream segments.

"Upstream contributions are beginning to happen, whereas application sector companies are reasonably well established. When you link the human space life mission to the private sector in India, we must have a profitable and economically viable space sector attractive for private players. Only then, the real significant growth in private sector will be possible," said S Somanath, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and Vikram Sarabhai professor at ISRO.

New initiatives