IN-SPACe to ease processes for private players, startups in space activities: Pawan Goenka

Pawan K Goenka, IN-SPACe chairperson

Space activity-related processes will soon be simplified for private players like startups, Chairperson of the Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) Pawan Kumar Goenka has assured.

Activities in India's space ecosystem were largely concentrated around the government until the last few years which saw a number of space startups cropping up.

The inter-ministerial and inter-departmental processes required for securing permissions, making sure all technologies are in place and so on can be a very daunting maze for a space startup to navigate.

IN-SPACe has been playing a key role in this regard by working with startups and other private players for easing communication, integration, and permission-related complexities between government and private space players.

Also read: India’s space startup ecosystem needs one or two big hits: Pawan K Goenka, IN-SPACe

"Before IN-SPACe was brought in, there was a certain process in place. Now, IN-SPACe is kind of getting parachuted in to ensure that all the different processes do not become a burden on the private sector. So, right now, we don't want to change any process," Goenka told Moneycontrol in an interview.

"As we move along, we will start simplifying the processes, but we don't want to take away the authority of any department. So, if MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) has a certain authority for satellite broadcasting, that will remain with them," he added.

Also read: Indian space regulator needs legal sanction: IN-SPACe’s Pawan Goenka

"But we have to ensure that the information flow is uniform, so that there is no need to struggle with different kinds of documents for different departments and knock on different doors," he said.

IN-SPACe recently played a significant role in helping Digantara navigate through the foreign direct investment maze in its run-up to landing a $10-million funding in a round led by Peak XV Partners.

Earlier, Chennai-based space tech startup Agnikul (expected to launch their maiden rocket soon), also noted how the regulator had helped them during their rocket engine test last year at an ISRO facility.

"To conduct any test with and at ISRO, a lot of interfaces have to be figured out. There is a lot of effort involved in making sure that an engine which has been made in some other place can interface with ISRO's test facilities," Srinath Ravichandran, CEO of Agnikul, had said.

"So, there is no framework that's available for taking some engineering hardware that has not been built at ISRO to test at an ISRO facility. So there needs to be a lot of interfacing and In-SPACE has become that face interfacing for us. We are not running and talking around to 10 different entities within ISRO," he added.