Budget 2019: New Space India will complement Antrix, another commercial arm of ISRO

New Space India (NSIL), the new commercial arm of India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that found mention in Union Budget 2019, will cater to a growing demand the agency has seen for its services in the recent times, say experts.

A spokesperson of the Space agency told Moneycontrol that as ISRO is expanding its research and commercialisation capabilities, to meet the growing demand, the organisation needs NSIL for aspects like production of satellite launch vehicles.

In her maiden Budget, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “India has emerged as a major space power with the technology and ability to launch satellites and other space products at globally low cost. Time has come to harness this ability commercially.”

She added that a public sector enterprise NSIL has been incorporated as a new commercial arm of Department of Space to tap the benefits of the Research & Development carried out by ISRO. The Company will spearhead commercialisation of various space products including the production of launch vehicles, transfer to technologies and marketing of space products, she added.

Different from Antrix

ISRO already has a commercialization arm Antrix Corporation that looks at foreign markets. For instance, it is Antrix that facilitates satellite launch vehicles such as Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) for foreign markets. Countries such as Israel use ISRO’s satellite launch vehicles. Chandrayaan-2 that will be launched on July 15 will have a NASA payload.

But as ISRO’s capabilities expand and collaboration with industries increase, there is a need to expand the commercialisation activities as well domestically.

That is probably what NSIL aims to address, said Sridhara Murthi, former Managing Director, Antrix Corporation Ltd.

NSIL was kickstarted in May 2019 to monetise ISRO’s research, products and services in space technology. While Antrix focuses on foreign markets, Murthi said the NSIL will focus on the domestic market.

“In the domestic space, there is a huge demand in earth observation, communication and navigation space. Geospacial information will play a huge part in the coming year,” Murthi said.

According to him, there is a huge opportunity for infrastructure management such as tracking urban problems and smart city projects. All these would need a huge amount of geospatial information that would make informed decisions.

“NSIL would probably address this space,” he added.