INDIAN SPACE POLICY 2023 – SCI & TECH
News: Union Cabinet gives nod to Indian Space Policy 2023
What's in the news?
● The Union Cabinet approved the Indian Space Policy, 2023 under which roles and responsibilities of organisations such as ISRO, NewSpace India Limited and private sector entities have been laid down.
Key takeaways:
● The government had earlier opened up the space sector for the private sector to help boost development of the segment.
Indian Space Policy 2023:
Aim:
● It aims to enhance the role of the Department of Space, boost the activities of ISRO missions, and encourage participation from research, academia, startups, and industry.
Salient features:
1. Outlining roles and responsibilities:
● The Indian Space Policy, 2023 outlines the roles and responsibilities of various organizations in the space sector.
● The policy includes the responsibilities of ISRO, NewSpace India Limited, and private sector entities.
● It seeks to institutionalise the private sector participation in the space sector, with ISRO focusing on research and development of advanced space technologies.
2. Multi-stakeholder participation:
● It aims to boost the space sector by enhancing the role of the Department of Space and encouraging participation from research, academia, startups, and industry.
● This will help in the development of the space segment and create more opportunities for the private sector.
3. Boosting ISRO Missions:
● The Indian Space Policy, 2023 aims to boost the activities of ISRO missions.
● This will help ISRO achieve its objectives more efficiently and effectively.
● It will also help in the development of new technologies and innovative solutions.
4. Involvement of Private Sector:
● The Policy, 2023 recognizes the importance of the private sector in the development of the space sector.
● It encourages the involvement of private sector entities in various aspects of the space segment.
● The policy will allow the private sector to take part in end-to-end space activities that include building satellites, rockets and launch vehicles, data collection and dissemination.
● This will create more opportunities for the private sector and help in the growth of the Indian space industry.
5. Research and development:
● The policy aims to involve research, academia, and startups in the development of the space sector.
● This will help in the development of new technologies, innovative solutions, and talent pool.
● It will also help in the growth of the Indian space industry and create more opportunities for research and development in the sector.
6. NSIL and IN-SPACe:
● Strategic activities related to the space sector will be carried out by NSIL, a public sector undertaking under the Department of Space, which will work in a demand-driven mode.
● The IN-SPACe, created recently, will be the interface between Indian Space Research Organisation and non-governmental entities.
7. Mandate of NSIL:
● ISRO will not do any operational and production work for the space sector and focus its energies on developing new technologies, new systems and research and development.
● The operational part of ISRO’s missions will be moved to the NewSpace India Limited, a public sector undertaking under the Department of Space.
Government Initiatives:
1. National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe):
● It is an autonomous and single window nodal agency in the Department of Space for the promotion, encouragement and regulation of space activities of both government and private entities.
● Mandate and responsibilities:
○ It is mandated the task of promoting, authorising and licensing private players to carry out space activities.
○ It is responsible for devising mechanisms to offer sharing of technology, expertise facilities free of cost (if feasible) to promote non-government private entities (NGPEs).
2. ISRO facilities:
● ISRO shares its expertise in matters pertaining to quality and reliability protocols, documentation and testing procedure through IN-SPACe’s ‘interface mechanism’.
● It also facilitates the usage of ISRO facilities by private entities.
3. New Space India Ltd (NSIL):
● It is mandated to transfer the matured technologies developed by the ISRO to Indian industries.
Circumstances boosting private participation in the Indian space sector:
1. Increasing Demand:
● Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s annual budget has crossed ₹10,000 crore ($1.45 billion) and is growing steadily.
● However, demand for space-based services in India is far greater than what ISRO can provide. Therefore, private sector investment is critical, for which a suitable policy environment needs to be created.
2. Overall growth of the space sector:
● Private sector participation is needed to ensure overall growth of the space sector.
● ISRO has a strong association with the industry, particularly with Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and large private sector entities like Larsen and Toubro.
3. Country’s security:
● The most basic way to secure our space capabilities is to distribute them across many different satellites and spacecraft, so that continuity is unaffected even if an adversary manages to disable one or more of our satellites.
4. International trends and experience:
● Elon Musk’s “SpaceX” and its high profile projects have highlighted the increasing significance of the private players in the space sector.
● In India, despite the various strategic, security and regulatory constraints, a limited private ecosystem has evolved around the ISRO.
● It will enable Indian Industry to be an important player in the global space economy.
● With this, there is an opportunity for large-scale employment in the technology sector and India becoming a Global technology powerhouse.
5. Greater pool of resources:
● Public resources - land, labour, capital are limited. Private sector participation will open a new pool of resources and talent.
● It will bring more funding, and experience into space exploration activities.
6. Human Capital:
● Restricting space activities to ISRO, limits proper utilisation of talent all over the country.
● With demographic dividend, private sector participation can exploit the talent across the nation contributing a lot to space explorations in India.
7. Technological advancement:
● Commercialisation will also develop better technologies which are important.
● It will allow integration of many other technologies like artificial intelligence into space exploration activities.
● With experience from space activities, the private sector can increase the role of technology in other areas.
8. Risk Sharing:
● Every launch consists of various risks. Private sector helps in sharing the risk of cost factors.
● Failure costs will be distributed. Also with increased private participation, failures will reduce due to increased available human capital and mind.
9. Commercial demand:
● There is a need to enhance internet connectivity for the masses, which is another demand pull factor for increased commercial interest in space.
● Asteroid mining is also another potential area that looks promising, with scope for monetisation and disrupting commodity markets.
10. Research and Development Activities:
● These reforms will allow ISRO to focus more on new technologies, exploration missions and human spaceflight programmes.
● Some of the planetary exploration missions will also be opened up to the private sector through an ‘announcement of opportunity’ mechanism.
Challenges faced by private sector in space industry:
Despite this achievement, though the space economy is a $440 billion global sector, India has less than 2% share in the sector.
1. Brain drain:
● In India, brain drain has increased by 85% since 2005 and thereby low private participation.
2. Investor confidence:
● The hindrances faced by private space ventures to attract investors, making it virtually non-feasible to operate in India.
3. Lack of clarity in laws:
● The absence of a framework to provide transparency and clarity in laws is the reason for the lack of independent private participation in space.
4. Timelines not fixed:
● Due to the technicalities involved in the space business, timelines on licensing, issuance of authorisation, and continuous supervision mechanism need to be defined into phases.
5. Lack of insurance and indemnification clarity in space law:
● The lack of indemnity clarification, particularly about who or which entity undertakes the liability in case of a mishap, creates challenges for a smooth rollout.
6. Licensing issues:
● The private entities in this sector currently work on leased licenses from ISRO rather than having their own IP for a product.
7. Data Risk:
● Though space gives an opportunity to entrepreneurs, raw data of ISRO in the hands of the public is sensitive and consists of danger of misuse or improper utilisation of data.
8. Regulation:
● Though it is a profitable investment, regulation of private sector participation is not easy.
● The time taken for regulatory clearances and unstable political institutions can cause delays and hurdles in decision making of investors.
9. Revenue loss:
● ISRO will lose a fair amount of money it is earning through its space activities. This will reduce government revenue.
10. Unfair commercial practices:
● Allowing the private sector may lead to lobbying and unfair means to get space projects or launch of any satellite for their own profit.
● It may also lead to leakage of sensitive information by private players to other countries and companies to make profit.
Significance:
● India’s share in the global space economy was less than two percent at present and the space policy will help it increase substantially to 10 percent in the future.
● It will pave the way forward with much-required clarity in space reforms and augment private industry participation to drive the space economy opportunity for the country.
● The Indian Space Policy 2023 is a significant step towards enhancing India’s capabilities in the space sector and achieving self-reliance in space technology.
● The Indian Space Policy, 2023 is a comprehensive policy that provides clarity in the roles and responsibilities of various organizations in the space sector.
● The policy aims to boost the space segment, encourage private sector involvement, and involve research, academia, and startups in the development of the sector.
● The policy will help in achieving the objectives of ISRO more efficiently and effectively, and create more opportunities for the private sector and research and development in the space sector.
The space sector can play a vital role in realising the dream of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and fully the potential of India’s youth and entrepreneurs. Both government and private entities need to work in tandem, and an effective long-term stable policy will be fruitful in the longer run.