The New Indian Express ·
Politics
ISRO refutes privatisation claim, terms it baseless
BENGALURU: Amid widespread reports and speculation of a possible privatisation of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country’s premier space research body released a public statement on Sunday, refuting the claims and deeming them to be “completely baseless and incorrect”.
The statement follows reports of a section of employees writing to ISRO Chairman V Narayanan, seeking clarification about the Union government’s intent, given Narayanan’s position as Secretary of the Department of Space (DoS) and the growing enthusiasm with which the Centre has welcomed private stakeholders into the country’s space sector.
“We wish to categorically state that ISRO will neither be privatised nor will its importance be diminished. ISRO will continue to remain India’s principal institution for advanced space research and technology development, national and strategic missions, space science and exploration, and critical and frontier space capabilities.
Participation of the private sector in space is not about reducing ISRO’s role. It is about enabling ISRO to focus even more strongly on the next generation of India’s space programme, while industry scales mature technologies and capabilities. What is changing is not the importance of ISRO, but the scale and structure of India’s space ecosystem,” conveyed the statement from the organisation.
The statement further acknowledged the introduction of private players, adding that the space-sector reforms initiated since 2020 and institutionalised through the Indian Space Policy 2023, along with progressive liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) policy, “aim to create a larger, stronger and globally competitive Indian space ecosystem.
Industry, startups and academia are being enabled to participate across the space value chain, complementing and multiplying ISRO’s capabilities. The reforms should, therefore, be seen as ecosystem expansion and capability multiplication, not privatisation”.
The organisation went on to state that its workforce would be focusing on frontier research and development, advanced technologies, human spaceflight, next-generation launch systems, deep-space and planetary missions and strategic national capabilities.
“Meanwhile, mature and routinely manufactured systems can increasingly be scaled through industry. Production of mature launch vehicles, routine satellites and other established systems can increasingly be undertaken by industry or public sector undertakings (PSUs) through appropriate competitive processes,” the statement read.
Providing updates on the organisation’s existing objectives, the statement reaffirmed its plans to establish the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (space station) by 2035, undertake an Indian crewed mission to the Moon by 2040, develop next-generation and reusable launch systems, and pursue sustained lunar and planetary exploration.
“At the same time, ownership and control of critical national space infrastructure and strategic capabilities will continue to remain with the (Union) government.
Private participation in operations and services will be enabled where appropriate and will remain subject to national security, safety and other regulatory requirements. Strategic and nationally critical capabilities will continue to be governed by security, safety, quality and national-interest considerations (sic),” the statement read.
The explainer concluded with an overarching picture of the country’s current space sector. According to ISRO’s data, India today has more than 450 space-based startups, and its space economy is presently estimated at around USD 8.4billion.