Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will turn its focus on science experiments in 2023 with dedicated missions to the Sun, Aditya and the moon, Chandrayaan-3, even as the nascent start-up sector is set to soar in the space applications segment.
The upcoming year will also witness a series of experiments on India’s maiden human space flight, the Gaganyaan project with the first uncrew mission expect in the last quarter of 2023 aim at validating the performance of the human-rated launch vehicle, orbital module propulsion system and recovery operations.
ISRO further plans to conduct the first runway landing experiment (RLV-LEX) of the reusable launch vehicle early next year from Aeronautical Test Range in Karnataka’s Chitradurga, Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh said in Parliament earlier.
Indian start-ups that mark their arrival with the sub-orbital flight by Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-S rocket, the first by a private sector company and the launch of Pixxel’s hyperspectral satellites Shakuntala, on SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket in April and Anand onboard ISRO’s PSLV in November.
Skyroot Aerospace, which launch India’s first privately develop rocket in November, plans to put a client satellite in orbit sometime next year, while Agnikul Cosmos, a start-up incubated on the IIT-Madras campus, has also line up the test flight of its highly customisable Agnibaan rocket.
Awais Ahmed, Pixxel co-founder and CEO, Said :
“We are developing six commercial hyperspectral imagery satellites which will be ready for launch next year,”.
Awais Ahmed said many more rocket companies around the globe will see their first orbital launches come to fruition which will lead to a rocket-theme game of thrones as they vie for the same set of customers sending satellites into space.
These start-ups are eyeing the huge space applications market in India, which was earlier the sole domain of ISRO, carving a niche for themselves in the earth imaging sector, developing rockets to launch small satellites, designing cheaper fuels for satellites and even planning to take tourists on a space journey.
Chief Financial Officer, DhruvaSpace Said :
“The potential for innovative space applications is immense, especially if established aerospace companies form partnerships with businesses that traditionally haven’t ventured into orbit, e.g. pharmaceutical, agriculture companies,” Chaitanya Dora Surapureddy”.
DhruvaSpace had launch two satellites Thybolt 1 & 2 onboard ISRO’s PSLV C-54 mission that demonstrate the ability to conduct amateur satellite communication which will help ham radio operations.
Surapureddy said DhurvaSpace has already bag its first commercial contract worth Rs 20 crore to build satellites.
Lt Gen A K Bhatt (retd.), Director General, Indian Space Association (ISpA) Said :
“The number of space startups in India has already crossed 100 and these startups have raised funding of more than $245.35 million (approx. Rs. 2,000 crore),”.
Agnikul also inaugurate its first launchpad and mission control centre at ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
In 2022, the industry witness some major milestones with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) authorising the space conglomerate form by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited a Rs. 860-crore contract for the commercial development of the next five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs).
OneWeb also sign up the services of ISRO’s launch vehicle to put 36 satellites in low earth orbit from Sriharikota.
A follow-up launch of another 36 satellites is expect in 2024.
The OneWeb contract for ISRO is learnt to be an outcome of some aggressive bidding by the Indians after the Ukraine conflict knock off the Russian space launch capabilities off the market.
Chaitanya Giri, space consultant with Research and Information System for Developing Countries likens the aggression in the Indian space sector to the one display by Sourav Ganguly’s cricket team.
Chaitanya Giri Said :
“Our earlier approach was like Mohammad Azharuddin-led cricket team – very mellow and gentlemanly. The newfound aggression is because of India’s rising geopolitical stature. Also, the Russian market has become a no go due to the Ukraine conflict. So is the Chinese market. Now, it is Advantage India,”.
He said Indian start-ups should also vie for international contracts and not look at ISRO for business.
Chaitanya Giri Said :
“ISRO is not an entity that will sustain business for them. Indian space start-ups, MSMEs and big corporates will have to strike business arrangements amongst each other. These B-2-B arrangements need to grow,”.
