INDIA’S SPACE REFORMS: THE FINAL FRONTIER AWAITS

In the past three years, all those associated with the Indian space industry ecosystem have celebrated the Indian government’s space sector reforms. The reason for celebrating it has been three-fold.

• The private ecosystem likes that the current Indian government has faith in their abilities and is confident that the ecosystem if equipped well, can deliver, which was not the case earlier.

• ISRO is no longer multitasking, and many tasks have been delegated to newer entities with whom the private sector can iron out policy-level creases, which ISRO couldn’t do before the reforms.

• Not everyone who wishes to make a career in the space sector in India need to be an employee of ISRO; the career opportunities are well-spread across industries, MSMEs, startups, academia, as well as with the defence sector.

Now with the reforms settling in and things moving in the right direction, it is time that the Indian government looks at the next steps, and one of them is to enable India’s space industry to go global.

A New Direction

The Indian space programme is no more ISRO-centric. In the government’s mandate, there are three space programme verticals in the country today: -

The Indian space programme is no more ISRO-centric. In the government’s mandate, there are three space programme verticals in the country today

• Led by the defence- and intelligence-gathering mandate.

• Another exploratory research and development mandate led by ISRO.

• The space commerce mandate that includes the private and public space sector.

In the more significant interest, these three need not work in silos or compete with each other. Gladly, that has begun to happen. For instance, the 75 Defence Space Challenges, initiated by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), supports startups and small companies that can innovate by providing a comprehensive and holistic view of space, software and ground systems, payloads and communication systems, satellite and buses, and launch systems.

Various arms of MoD will exclusively procure these innovations for national security requirements, and a substantial sum is being offered under the Make-1 category, where the government will fund 90 per cent of the ‘challenge’ project in a phase-wise manner.

The other Make-2 category aims for the import substitution of certain space technologies, where the technology prototype needs to be financed by the government and where no funding would be provided. In both cases, there is no option for companies apart from going global; only then would they be able to achieve business sustenance and continuity.

A Universal Use Case

Likewise, outside the ambits of the enumerated challenges catering to mission-critical requirements both of MoD and the Department of Space (DoS), there are many requirements that the companies might be able to deliver but are only waiting for the government to enumerate them. Secondly, many ministries within the Indian government - road and highways, shipping, civil aviation, agriculture, coal, mining, oil and natural gas - would have numerous use cases where satellite-based communication and remote sensing solu tions will be crucial. However, none of these ministries or their agencies have ever used a satellite or deployed a payload until recently.

first satellite built in partnership with the Ministry of Earth Sciences and ISRO. The satellite has payloads monitoring ocean colour, sea-surface temperature, and wind modelling - all of exclusive end-use to the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Similar satellites could be built by India’s private sector for other minis tries to serve fundamental operational needs. For example, the Minis of Home Affairs, the parent of the National Disaster Management Authority - could have a satellite exclusive for itself with payloads spe cifically catering to disaster moni toring, preparedness, and recovery. So be it Himalayas, cyclones along the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, or HADR support to distant countries as we did in Madagascar or Turkey, such a satellite would serve a great purpose.

Every ministry should contemplate operating a satellite of its own apart from serving a national cause. The government could be well-equipped to use these satellites to assist countries in distress. This is how we create global use cases for the Indian space sector. At this point in time, Indian space companies can well build satellites, and soon private industry will be able to operate launch vehicles. We must innovate with use cases so the Indian commercial space sector flourishes and serves the nation’s civilian and non-civilian needs.

Post Reforms Ecosphere

The space reforms and the subsequent narrative around it have established the government’s perception as that of a ‘sector-liberator’ and ‘hand-holder’. INSPACe was raised exactly for ‘hand-holding’ the private companies in these early and unsure years. Unsure because, unlike the U.S., another large-economy democracy like us, the Indian commercial space sector does not have solid backing by national legislation. The draft

Space Activities Bill is currently in the works, and it may appear on the table of the new parliament building in the subsequent few sessions. However, would one Bill suffice? No.

At this point in time, when most of us are enamoured by technology and entrepreneurs who pursue them, we must realise that the real heft that India’s commercial space sector would require to go global would be strong legislation. India needs strong national legislation for orbital slots, space debris, satellite communications interference, space situational awareness, cislunar operations, extra-terrestrial resource utilisation, biological planetary protection, planetary defence

There is a high probability that Indian space companies could migrate to countries with voluminous business opportunities, predictable laws and policies, enabling infrastructure and growth prospects. To avoid such migration and ensure that Indian space companies base their headquarters on Indian soil, the Indian government must continue incessantly with the next steps in the space reforms, which include comprehensive legislation, ensuring business sustenance with contracts, assisting them with testing infrastructure, offering them innovation tax benefits, securing their supply chains, and offering them the yet untapped domestic capital - be it the sovereign funds or equity markets.

Conclusion

Indian space reforms are the first positive steps in the long line of constructive tasks that lay ahead of us. But we must all remember that despite commercialisation, India’s space sector remains a ‘strategic programme’, and all measures must be taken to continue to be India’s crown jewel - not only in narratives but also for real.