BENGALURU: The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) on Tuesday announced that an exclusive spaceport to launch Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs) is set to come up by 2025 at Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu.
Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, said 2,000 acres have been acquired for the centre and handed over to ISRO. “The project team is in place and the budget has been set. The spaceport will be used only for private commercial purposes. No ISRO rockets will be launched from here,” he added.
Indian space sector targets 8% of global share
The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) on Tuesday announced that the Indian space economy has the potential to reach $44 billion by 2033, covering 8 per cent of the global share from its current share of just 2 per cent.
IN-SPACe is a single-window, independent, nodal agency that functions as an autonomous agency in the Department of Space (DOS) as part of the space sector reforms to enable and facilitate the participation of private players. It acts as an interface between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and non-governmental entities to utilise India’s space resources better, increase space-based activities, and assess the needs and demands of private players, in consultation with ISRO.
The recently released decadal vision (till 2033) will address the creation of demand, local manufacturing capabilities, and infrastructure and provide a clear and comprehensive regulatory framework that will encourage and facilitate the participation of private players in the growth of the space sector.
Over the next decade, IN-SPACe has envisioned increasing the domestic market to $33 billion and expects $11 billion from exports to meet the goal of $44 billion. The agency said over $22 billion will be invested in the next 10 years.
Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, said, “As we unveil the decadal vision for Indian space economy, we emphasise that the future of the Indian space sector is a shared endeavour. Hence, our strategy fosters an era of collaboration between all stakeholders to accelerate growth. ISRO is opening its doors wider than ever to private sector participation so that together, we can successfully boost the space economy for a resurgent Atmanirbhar Bharat.”
The space ecosystem is broadly divided into three groups – Space-for-Earth, Access-to-Space and Space-for-Space. These will include investments in navigation systems, launch vehicles, establishing a long-term Earth Observation platform, initiatives to become a global hub for small satellites and developing space consciousness.
Goenka added, “Transfer of Tech (ToT) will be a major focus which includes the Polar Satellite Launch vehicle (PSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) that will completely be handed over to IN-SPACe for the private sector by ISRO.” He also informed that recently 19 ToTs have been approved.