New Space industries are emerging at fast pace after space sector reforms : Dr Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of State-Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, India is the fifth among spacefaring nations having end-to-end capabilities in space research and development, including the capability to launch from our own land and operate programs of earth observation, satellite communication, meteorology, space science & navigation and ground infrastructure.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Dr. Jitendra Singh informed that right now NewSpace industries are also emerging at a fast pace after space sector reforms.

The Minister also listed significant progress made by ISRO during the last five years. Some of the major achievements are listed below:

- 27 satellites and 22 Launch Vehicle missions have been successfully accomplished during the period (July 2018 – July 2023), besides the successful Pad Abort Test (PAT) to qualify the Crew Escape System (CES) in July 2018 and the Reusable Launch Vehicle autonomous landing mission in April 2023.

- In June 2018, India announced a capacity-building training program UNNATI (UNispace Nanosatellite Assembly & Training by ISRO) on Nanosatellites development through a combination of theoretical coursework and hands-on training on Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT). A total of 90 participants from 45 countries benefitted from the program across three batches. (Two in 2019 and 1 in 2022). - 

- India’s second mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully launched on July 22, 2019, on board GSLV Mk III-M1. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter is providing valuable scientific data for the research community.

- The launch of PSLV-C48/ RISAT-2BR1 in December 2019 marked the 50th launch of PSLV, the workhorse launch vehicle.

- In 2019, ISRO launched an annual special programme called "Young Scientist Programme" or the "YUva VIgyani KAryakram" (YUVIKA), in line with the Government's vision "Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan”. A total of 603 students have attended the YUVIKA program spread over 3 years – 2019, 2022 and 2023.

- In 2019, the NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) got incorporated, as a wholly owned Government of India Undertaking/ Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE), under the administrative control of the Department of Space (DOS).

- On June 26, 2020, the Government of India announced Space Sector Reforms – a major transformation of the Indian Space Sector with enhanced participation of private players in the Indian space program and playing key roles to boost India’s market share in the Global Space Economy.

- Setting up of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and enhancing the role of New Space India Limited (NSIL) are the two major thrust areas in the Reform.

- The establishment of IN-SPACe was announced in June 2020 by the Government of India, as an autonomous agency under the Department of Space, to create an eco-system of industry, academia, and start-ups and to attract a major share in the global space economy, by authorizing and regulating activities of NGEs in space sector through detailed guidelines and procedures. IN-SPACe Headquarters at Ahmedabad was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in June 2022.

- The Hon’ble Minister of State (Department of Space) dedicated ISRO System for Safe & Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) to the nation in July 2022.

- LVM3 (GSLV MkIII) M2/OneWeb India-1 Mission was successfully accomplished on 23rd October 2022.

- Launch of Vikram-S (Prarambh mission), a suborbital launch vehicle from M/s Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, was accomplished successfully on 18th November 2022.

- First private launchpad & mission control center established by M/s Agnikul Cosmos Pvt. Ltd., Chennai in ISRO campus at SDSC, SHAR on 25th November 2022.

- On Feb 10th, 2023, the successful flight of a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV – D2) took place, launching three satellites – EOS-07, Janus-1, and AzaadiSAT-2 (a combined effort of about 750 girl students across India guided by Space Kidz India, Chennai).

- On March 7th, 2023, a controlled re-entry experiment for the decommissioned Megha-Tropiques-1 (MT-1) satellite was carried out successfully, with a final impact in the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating the nation’s continued efforts towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

- LVM3 M3/OneWeb India-2 Mission was successfully accomplished on 26th March 2023, placing 36 OneWeb satellites into their intended orbit. With this, NSIL successfully executed its contract to launch 72 satellites of OneWeb to Low Earth Orbit.

- Reusable Launch Vehicle Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV LEX) was successfully demonstrated at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, Karnataka on 2nd April, 2023.

- GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission was successfully accomplished on 29th May 2023. GSLV deployed the NVS-01 navigation satellite, the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) service, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

- LVM3-M4 successfully launched the Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft on 14th July 2023. Lunar orbit insertion activities are in progress and Moon landing is scheduled on 23rd August, 2023.