Private space agency in India:
In the last few years India has witnessed a boom and more than a dozen space focused
startups have emerged.
Bangalore in India has emerged as India‟s space startup hub. As we all know India is
recognized for its cheapest space missions across the world, thus, once we master
reusing Rockets we will be having a strong competitor to SpaceX from India
India‟s space startups are:
Skyroot Aerospace
Pixxel
Bellatrix Aerospace
Agnikul
Team Indus
Dhruva Space
Earth2orbit
ARDL
Astrome
Skyroot Aerospace:
Skyroot Aerospace Private Limited is an Indian private aerospace manufacturer and
commercial launch service provider located in Hyderabad, Telangana. The company
was founded by former engineers and scientists from ISRO, DRDO, and various
aerospace companies and it aims to develop and launch its own series of small lift
launch vehicles.
Business Model- B2G
Pixxel:
Pixxel is building a constellation of earth-imaging small satellites to provide entirely new
kind of dataset that today‟s satellites are not capable of. The planned constellation of
satellites will provide global coverage every 24 hours enabling organizations around the
globe to detect, monitor and predict global phenomena in near real time. Pixxel has also
worked with JPL, NASA, US Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Science Applications
International Corporation (SAIC) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) among other
major space organizations.
It has announced a partnership with Italy‟s Leaf Space to launch the first of its 24 Earth
observation imaging satellites. Notably, Leaf Space offers ground segment support for
microsatellite launches.
Bellatrix Aerospace:
This one's an Indian aerospace R&D company that specializes in satellite propulsion.
It's based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and was founded by Rohan M Ganapathy and
Yashas Karanam. Bellatrix is working on a rocket named 'Chetak', and it could be the
first rocket with engines that use Methan and liquid oxygen. They're planning to use a
'Mobile launcher' to launch their rocket, although it remains to be seen how it works out.
Agnikul:
Agnikul is a company that is based out of the National Center for Combustion R&D at
IIT-Madras. Started by Srinath Ravichandran and Moin SPM in 2017, the start-up
provides a dedicated launch vehicle for smaller satellites at a lower cost. Agnikul is also
using 3D printing to build most of its launch vehicles thereby cutting costs. The start-up
has raised INR 3 cores in seed funding from Vishesh Rajaram and Arjun Rao from
Speciale Invest.
Team Indus:
Team Indus is a Bangalore based startup led by Rahul Narayan and is the only Indian
team participating in the Google Lunar X Prize mission. The company raised Rs 9 Crore
until mid 2015 from a clutch of investors that includes Nandan Nilekani (Co-Founder of
Infosys Technologies), Rajiv Mody (Co-Founder of Sasken Technologies) and Ajai
Choudhary (Co-Founder of HCL Technologies). The company has built a lunar rover
and expects to launch in the third quarter of 2016 to win the Google Lunar X Prize.
Dhruva Space:
A new entrant to this league, the firm was founded by Narayan Prasad and Sanjay
Nekkanti in 2012. The team at Dhruva space is currently developing an indigenous
small satellite platform. The company's technologies are used to build small satellites
and ground sensors, enabling governments, multinational businesses, universities and
research institutions to track and measure data.
Earth2orbit:
Founded by Sushmita Mohanty , the company claims to be India‟s first private space
firm. The firm raised an undisclosed amount of money from Mumbai angels and other
investors. The company currently offers launch advisory and consulting services. They
have spent the 1st seven years providing Launch Advisory and Launch Procurement
Services to satellite makers. Main focus was the Indian PSLV rocket and international
clients seeking launch opportunities to SSO (Sun-Synchronous Orbit) and LEO (Low
Earth Orbit).
ARDL:
Founded at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) , the team of ARDL comprises of
Sidhant Dhall, Triyambak Tripathy, Gaurav Achha and Ayush Patawari. The company
currently fabricates Mini CANSAT modules and other related space hardware.
Astrome:
Another Space Startup with it‟s roots in IISc is Astrome, which has Prasad HL and Neha
Satak as it‟s founder. The startup is fairly new to this league and aims to develop
products and services which aid in space exploration.
Astrome develops innovative products that can deliver fibre-like bandwidth at a fraction
of the cost of fibre, helping telecom operators provide reliable internet services in rural
areas. Astrome's world first Multiple-Point-to-Point E-band wireless radio, GigaMesh,
distributes the core fibre capacity in cities to towers in nearby villages, enabling telecom
and internet services.
Private Sector Participation in Space:
India is among a handful of countries with advanced capabilities in the space sector.
India will be providing level playing field to Private Space players and ISRO will focus on
building technologies-
India has set up a new organization named Indian National Space Promotion and
Authorisation Centre (In-Space) to provide private enterprises a level playing field in
building satellites and rockets and launch them using its space agency‟s infrastructure.
IN-SPACe:
It will act as a single-point interface between Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO), and everyone who wants to participate in space-related
activities, or use India‟s space resources.
It will also hand-hold, promote and guide the private industries in space activities
through encouraging policies and a friendly regulatory environment.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will focus more on building new
technologies, human spaceflight programmes and deep space missions. New Space
India Ltd (NSIL), the commercial arm of Isro, will engage with startups and private
companies for new applications and use the space infrastructure to build them.
Private industry is already involved in 80% of the production of satellites and rockets in
India, largely as suppliers of systems. Isro is engaging the industry to manufacture its
small satellite launch vehicle and polar satellite launch vehicle.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States also
opened up to the private industry in stages and it has taken several decades for a
competitive private sector to emerge there.
Recently:
India‟s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that India‟s private sector will
play a key role in augmenting India‟s space programme, and that the government
intends to share the facilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with
the private sector. This announcement was part of the Narendra Modi government‟s call
for new and bold reforms in an effort to promote its „self-reliant India‟ mission.
Sitharaman‟s announcement entails a role for the private sector, possibly with the goal
of greater investments in technology development and acquisition, capacity-building and
space exploration, including planetary exploration. The minister, while announcing these
reforms, appeared to understand that the private sector can help augment India‟s space
capability and is also doing a lot of work in developing space technology.
To level the playing field, the government “will make a provision for the private sector to
benefit from the assets which are available to ISRO and for India (in general) to benefit
from.”
The new reforms would allow the private sector to play an active role in “satellites,
launches and space-based services”, it will allow private sector players to use ISRO
facilities is a big deal.
Advantages:
Low-cost operations-
The private sector, especially the NewSpace industry and start-ups, have an advantage
in terms of low-cost operations, which itself should be a big incentive for the government
to make it an active stakeholder. A certain amount of democratization of space
technology with the participation of the private sector can ensure costs are kept low.
Transparency and Accountability-
Expanding the number of stakeholders will also ensure more transparency and better
accountability and regulatory practices.
This has been missing in India‟s space sector. The same agency has undertaken
promotion, commercialization and regulatory functions – which is not healthy.