Amid Chandrayaan-3, ISRO out to establish India as low-cost satellite launch service provider

Private sector seeks cheaper satellites for communications and agriculture

While Chandrayaan-3’s lander Vikram prepares for deboosting, India has been eyeing its entry into the $447 billion space economy with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The space agency is all out to establish the country as a low-cost yet reliable satellite launch services provider.

Apart from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Russia and China have always been the main providers of satellite launches. But the Ukraine war and China’s tensions with the US have made it difficult for other nations to procure satellites from them.

Meanwhile, the Indian Cabinet has approved the Indian Space Policy 2023 to institutionalise the participation of private companies in the space sector. The move was aimed at helping ISRO channelise its focus on the development of advanced space technologies.

Reuters recently reported that India’s bid to privatise part of its space programme by opening bids to build its small satellite launch rocket has attracted initial interest from 20 companies. According to a BQ Prime report, India's new space policy will allow companies such as Larsen & Toubro to fully manufacture launch vehicles and satellites. Recently, the British satellite company OneWeb, for example, partnered with ISRO for a launch after Russia cancelled its launches. The private space sector seeks cheaper and smaller satellites for applications in areas such as communications and agriculture.

According to reports, ISRO has planned to completely transfer its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to the private sector. The space agency stated that small rockets such as the SSLV target nanosatellites that weigh less than 10 kg and micro-satellites which weigh less than 100 kg. These small rockets offer on-demand launch services. The clients do not need to wait for larger rockets to carry them as co-passengers.

Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal had earlier told the Hindu Businessline that ISRO has great potential to become one of the premier commercial space launch centres in the world. This March ISRO’s LVM-3 put 36 OneWeb satellites in orbit, completing OneWeb’s LEO constellation. It now has 618 satellites to provide broadband from space around the world,” according to the report.

According to Mint, there are three Indian companies in the space race now. While Agnikul and Skyroot Aerospace are building launch vehicles, Pixxel wants to put a constellation of more than 30 earth observation micro-satellites in space. Meanwhile, Tata Elxsi has partnered with ISRO for the upcoming Gaganyaan Mission. The project plans to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching the crew into a 400-kilometre orbit for a three-day mission.

While the project marked Tata Elxsi’s foray into the mechanical design for space, ISRO, in a first, outsourced such  work for a critical system to an external partner.