IN-SPACe

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

IN-SPACe, the government body for dealing with the private sector space industry, has received 125 proposals from start-ups since last June.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) is meant to act as “the agency to promote, handhold and authorise private sector activities in the sector, besides enabling sharing of technical facilities and expertise from ISRO.

IN-SPACe

• IN-SPACe is an independent nodal agency under Department of Space for allowing space activities and usage of DOS owned facilities by NGPEs as well as to prioritise the launch manifest.
• It assesses the needs and demands of private players, including educational and research institutions, and, explore ways to accommodate these requirements in consultation with ISRO. 
• IN-SPACe has been established as a single window nodal agency, with its own cadre, which permits and oversees the following activities:
• Space activities including building of launch vehicles and satellites and providing space based services as per the definition of space activities.
• Sharing of space infrastructure and premises under the control of ISRO with due considerations to on-going activities.
• Establishment of temporary facilities within premises under ISRO control based on safety norms and feasibility assessment.
• IN-SPACe will have a Chairman, technical experts for space activities, Safety experts, experts from Academia and Industries, Legal and Strategic experts from other departments, members from PMO and MEA of Government of India.
• It’s headquarters located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. 

New Space India Limited

• New Space India Limited (NSIL), incorporated in March 2019 (under the Companies Act, 2013) is a wholly owned Government of India company, under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS).
• NSIL is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the Indian space programme.

Draft National Space Policy 2020

• The Draft National Space Policy 2020 was thus unveiled with the aim to increase public-private partnerships in space research and exploration activities.
• Instead of only partnering on the manufacturing and logistical side of operations earlier, private players were now given access to ISRO’s infrastructure, technical resources and data to grow.

Private startups in Indian Space Industry

• Indian Space Association (ISpA), an association of Indian space companies, said that there were 102 space start-ups in India.
• Several Indian startups have started their operations. Some of the startups include:
• Digantara: It is an Indian private company working to secure long-term space flight safety by developing space debris tracking and monitoring services.
• Bellatrix Aerospace: Headquartered in Bangalore, it is an Indian private aerospace manufacturer and small satellite company.
• Tathya Earth: The company leverages deep learning algorithms for satellite imagery and maritime data to identify important real-time trends in the global economy.
• Skyroot, another Startup founded by two former ISRO scientists. The company is building “Vikram” rockets from scratch, which are the first brand of rockets made by the private sector in India.
• Agnikul Cosmos, a Startup founded by two 21-year-old college students became the world’s first company to successfully test a 3D-sprinted rocket engine, which is a new and upcoming tech in the space industry and is predicted to replace conventional assembly models.
• For the Indian space industry to grow and have many SpaceX-like companies, it has to meet only a key challenge — an assured market. All along the Indian space industry had two players — the government as a provider of demand and ISRO as the supplier of space services— but now, with the private sector getting into both demand and supply, the market is uncertain.

Challenges in the development of the Space Economy

• Budgetary Constraints: The CDS and IIST study noticed a decline in the budget for space-related activities. 
• Lack of Data: The current CDS and IIST paper was a first-time attempt at scientifically measuring the size of the space economy. Further even this was unable to establish the size of the space-based remote sensing industry.
• Space Debris: Since the market is open, more corporations can send their vehicles and satellites up into space, which is already crowded. By some estimates, there are over 15,000 traceable and over 200,000 1-10 cm pieces.
• Absence of a Legislative Framework
• Brain Drain: India produces the best brains of the world but is unable to retain them. People emigrate from the country for better opportunities and careers that might hamper development of the space sector.
• Lack of robust Dispute Settlement Mechanism: This discourages private investment in the space sector e.g., the cancellation of Antrix-Devas deal has impacted investor confidence and hurt India’s reputation as investment destination internationally.