Cabinet opens space assets for all, OKs new space board In-Space to provide level-playing field to private companies

NEW DELHI: In a historic decision, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to open the country’s space assets for all and approved setting up of a new space board called Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation (IN-SPACE).
Union minister Prakash Javadekar, while announcing a series of cabinet decisions, said the “Modi government has decided to open up space assets for all. It is a big decision”. Union minister of state for department of space Jitendra Singh said, “The new board IN-SPACE will provide a level-playing field to provide private companies to use India’s space infrastructure and it will also guide the private industry in space activities through encouraging policies and friendly regulatory environment.”
While explaining the new changes in the space sector, Jitendra Singh said the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will continue to function and another recently formed public enterprise New Space India Ltd (NSIL) will see its role extended. “This is being done with an endeavour to reorient space activitIes from a supply-driven model to a demand-driven model,” he said. The proposed reforms, cleared by the Union Cabinet, “will enhance socio-economic use of space assets and activities, including those approved access to space assets, data and facilities”.
“India has made tremendous progress in space technology as the country is at the frontier of the space sector. It has launched a record 104 satellites in one go, our Mars mission (MOM) completed six years of operation, our Gaganyaan mission will be launched and Chandrayaan-3 is also due. In the last 3-4 years, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, space applications have been extended to various other ministries and departments.
Space applications have, in fact, entered every household of the country. However, the PM felt that these initiatives are not enough. Therefore, the decision has been taken to open the space sector for all,” Jitendra Singh said.
The new reforms will also prevent brain-drain from the sector, he said. “Our Trivandrum space centre produces real talents in the space sector and therefore job placement there is 100%. A new curiosity has developed in the space sector in the country in recent years. But as interested youths and entrepreneurs are not nurtured well in India, they seek new opportunities abroad in the space sector. We have, therefore, decided to prevent this brain drain from these reforms.”
On the manned mission to space, Jitendra Singh said the training of four astronauts in Russia was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “However, the training has now resumed and the Gaganyaan mission will be launched.”