BENGALURU: With the space sector privatised, the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) hosted a national conference on developing the startup economy in the Indian space sector. Speaking at the Development of Space Start-Up Ecosystem in India (DeSSEI), ISRO chairman and ASI president S Somanath said there was a need to strengthen private players in the space sector in India.
“ASI should spearhead the idea related to reforms in the space sector and it must be taken as a very important agenda in our aerospace sector to look at how ASI can bring in more actors who are in the sector to a single platform,” he told reporters on Friday, on why DeSSEI is the need of the hour.
The conference brought together over 60 startups within the space sector. In addition, the conference was held in association with virtually all government entities involved in the space sector, including ISRO, New Space India Limited (NSIL), Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
ASI has also been involved in mandating courses related to the space sector, particularly for those taking a minor in space technology. These would pertain to launch vehicles and propulsion systems, spaceflight mechanics and altitude dynamics, spacecraft systems engineering, and space data product engineering.