ISRO chief K Sivan

ISRO chief K Sivan on Thursday hailed the Cabinet’s decision to allow private industry in the space sector, stating that they can carry out space activities like building of rockets, providing launch services as well as be a part of the inter-planetary missions of the space agency

“If the space sector is opened for private parties, the potential of the entire country can be utilised to scale up benefits from space technology. It’ll not only result in the accelerated growth of sector but also enable Indian industry to be an important player in the global space economy,” Sivan said adding that the move will help India in becoming a global technology powerhouse and will open up large-scale employment opportunities.

The government on Wednesday approved the creation of a new body that will work towards greater involvement of private industry, academic institutions and research organisations in India’s space sector. The proposed Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, or IN-SPACe, will act as a single-point interface between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and everyone who wants to participate in space-related activities, or use India’s space resources.

Sivan added that ISRO will share its technical expertise as well as facilities with IN-SPACe. He also added that ISRO’s activities are not going to reduce and it will continue to carry our space-based activities including advanced research and development, inter-planetary and human space flight missions.

An official source said the overall idea was to let ISRO concentrate on essential activities like research and development, planetary exploration, and strategic use of space, while freeing itself from ancillary or routine work which could easily be done by private industry. At the same time, allowing industries and others like students, researchers or academic bodies greater access to space assets would lead to a much better utilisation of India space resources, and more fruitful dissemination of space technologies.