New commercial company set up to sell Isro’s low-cost technologies: Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget speech

NEW DELHI: To commercialise the low-cost space technologies and products developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, as part of her 2019 Union Budget speech on Friday, said a new public sector enterprise has been set up.
The finance minister said, "India has emerged as a major space power with the technology and ability to launch satellites and other space products globally in a low-cost level . Time has come to harness this ability commercially. News Space India Ltd (NSIL) has been incorporated as a new commercial arm of the Department of Space to tap the benefits of research and development carried out by Isro. The company will spearhead the commercialisation of various space products, including the production of launch vehicles, transfer of technologies and marketing of space products."

NSIL will be in addition to Isro's other commercial enterprise, Antrix Corporation Ltd, whose primary job is to commercially exploit the additional space in Isro's launch vehicles like Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) by selling this space to countries or foreign companies interested in sending their small satellites to space. The setting up of NSIL will facilitate the commercialisation of various space technologies as of late Isro has been engaging private companies in the development of satellites and launch vehicles.
In July last year, Isro had signed a deal allowing three industries -- two private and one government-run firm -- to build as many as 27 satellites in three years. Till last year, only two satellites - IRNSS-1H and IRNSS-1l - had been assembled on a select basis. The two satellites were assembled by Bengaluru-headquartered consortium led by Alpha Design Technologies.
This month, Isro is also gearing up to launch its small satellite launch Vehicle (SSLV), a mini-PSLV rocket that can be assembled in 3-5 days as compared to 40 days for a normal rocket. The SSLV will be a key platform for Isro's commercial satellite-launching services. NSIL's role will come into play in the commercial exploitation of the SSLV programme. Giving the prominence to the space sector by mentioning it twice during her Budget speech, Sitharaman also talked of the upcoming human spaceflight programme or Gaganyaan, India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 and satellite missions.
The Modi government-1 had already earmarked approximately Rs 10,000 crore for the Gayanyaan project, scheduled to be launched by 2022, under which Isro plans to send at least three astronauts to space for 5 to 7 days. Besides Gaganyaan, Isro chairman K Sivan, along with Union minister of state for space Jitendra Singh, had recently announced the space agency's plan to set up the country's own space station in 5-7 years. However, the work on the space station will only start after the launch of the Gaganyaan mission.
This month, Isro is gearing up to launch its Chandrayaan-2 mission, the second moon mission, on July 15, which cost the space agency Rs 978 crore.
Besides various crucial satellite missions, the space agency has also lined up a slew of interplanetary missions like Aditya L1 sun mission (launch next year) and Venu programme (launch in 2023). However, the finance minister has not announced any budgetary allocations for these interplanetary missions.