Editorial: Spaced out

In the backdrop of India observing National Space Day to commemorate the historic landing of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon a year ago, the Tamil Nadu-based startup Space Zone India launched its first reusable hybrid rocket, Mission RHUMI-2024, onboard a mobile platform last week. The idea was to pursue research on global warming and climate change. Touted to be the world’s first mobile launch of a hybrid rocket, the Mission was viewed as a leg-up for India’s private space exploration sector. Stakeholders are aware that advancement in this area requires cost-effective and sustainable (low-environmental impact) solutions.

The Moon landing was an exemplary achievement for India, considering our frugal engineering approach to space missions, which employs a fraction of the cost that advanced economies direct towards space missions. Experts believe that owing to the proliferation of private players and global enterprises seeking dominance in several areas encompassing lunar explorations, Mars missions, space tourism and more, it becomes imperative for India to rejig its annual budgetary allocation to the sector.

India’s space investments are minuscule compared to allocations earmarked by larger spacefaring powers. NASA bagged a budget of $24.875 billion for the fiscal year 2024, a 2% cut relative to 2023. To top it off, the US is also home to private space behemoths like Boeing and SpaceX that are now vying for a place at the top alongside NASA. China’s space budget stood at $14.15 bn last year. Our annual space development budget is $1.7 bn or roughly 2% of the US’s spending. India managed to invest nearly $13 bn in the space sector over the past decade, as per a report compiled by the global consulting firm Novaspace. The Socio-Economic Impact of the Indian Space Programme study highlighted that as the eighth-largest player in the world, India’s space investments have contributed $60 billion to the GDP through direct, indirect and induced benefits.

For 2024-2025, the government's allocation for the Department of Space was Rs 13,042.75 cr, an increase of Rs 498.84 cr from 2023-2024. The revised budget estimate for last year was Rs 11,070.07 crore. A boosted budget is a must for ISRO to be able to pursue research in new areas as well as build its own IPs. Just a few days back, the space agency threw open its scientific data gathered from the Chandrayaan-3 mission for researchers across the world for analyses. In line with the new comprehensive Space Policy, the government has expressed its intent to deploy a human spaceflight in Low Earth Orbit next year. It will be the first step in commissioning the indigenous space station — Bharatiya Antariksha Station (BAS) by 2035 and landing Indian astronauts on the Moon by 2040.

Encouragingly, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (INSPACe), an autonomous nodal agency acting as a medium between ISRO and the private space sector in India, has launched a seed fund scheme for start-ups, facilitated transfer of technology to the private sector and established a design lab with simulation softwares for budding space sector entrepreneurs. A venture capital fund to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore for space start-ups was also announced to help bridge the critical financing gaps faced by budding enterprises and ensure their growth and sustainability. However, in the absence of real, major-league domestic investments, backers of India’s private space sector fear being limited to a flash in the pan phenomenon.