The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the leading force in the Indian space sector, represents the aspiration of around 1.42 billion people, and has taken the country very far since its establishment in 1969. That’s 53 years and counting.
However, to quote official sources, despite being one of the few spacefaring nations in the world, India accounts for only about 2% of the space economy, even as it accounts for close to 18% of the world’s population. While the private sector has gained prominence in many spacefaring countries, till recently, India’s private space companies had a limited role as vendors and suppliers to the government. The need to enable private entities within the Indian space sector to establish themselves as independent players capable of end-to-end space activities was strongly felt
over the years.
It is against this backdrop that the announcement of space reforms by the government in 2020, which opened the sector up to private participation, has given a new fillip to the space programme. It was a paradigm shift in policy and has the potential to have a multiplier effect and contribute 5x growth in India’s share of the global space market in the next few years. Going by the signs, it has indeed started.
On November 18, 2022, Vikram-S, India’s first private rocket was successfully launched by Skyroot Aerospace from the ISRO spaceport in Sriharikota. And on November 26, ISRO’s PSLV-C54 successfully placed Anand, the hyperspectral satellite of Pixxel, and Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2, two radio communication nanosatellites of Dhruva Space, in low-earth orbit.
The space sector also saw more than $100 million of capital flowing into startup companies in 2022 alone. These developments are significant enough to convince one that a clear path has been laid out and that the right ecosystem is being built that covers capability, policy and capital to facilitate the next phase of growth.
It is amid this exciting landscape that 2022 gives way to an even more exciting 2023. The year gone by was a transformative one for Skyroot Aerospace as well. It was the year we achieved two important milestones that proved our capabilities in the domain and our potential to be globally competitive — the highly successful suborbital space launch of Vikram-S as part of the Prarambh mission, which demonstrated to the world our core capabilities in space launch; and the raising of $51 million growth capital from a renowned institutional investor, GIC Singapore. These are significant achievements not just for Skyroot, but also for the Indian space startup ecosystem.
Global geopolitical dynamics also presented opportunities for the Indian space sector, and one such opportunity led to the first commercial launch of 36 OneWeb satellites by ISRO, using its largest ever launch vehicle, LVM3. It was the grand opener for ISRO’s commercial arm, NSIL with LVM3, and the two launches procured at the cost of Rs 1,000 crore demonstrated to the world the commercial heavy-lift launch capability of India. The success of this launch would open up India’s prospects in a global market that has so far been dominated by the US, Europe and Russia.
The capabilities being built by the private space sector complement the leadership that India already has. Our nation is already acclaimed as the most cost-efficient ecosystem in the space sector globally. The cutting-edge innovation, agility and scalability of the private sector will underpin the momentum that the sector will achieve in 2023, and add impetus to the quantum leap that the space sector would take in the next decade.
The dynamics of the private space landscape speaks for itself. There are over a hundred startups building space products and services which would help the domain grow exponentially in the near future. Agnikul Cosmos plans to launch its first rocket and Bellatrix Aerospace plans to launch its orbital transfer vehicle, a space taxi of sorts for satellites.
There are multiple private satellite companies readying their launches for 2023. A few notable startups like Digantara, GalaxEye, Manastu Space, SatSure, etc., have been quite busy with their projects covering a range of products and services from space situational awareness, unique satellite data sets and green propulsion to satellite-based decision analytics using AI and machine learning.
Based on market indicators, around $300 million capital inflows would come to private space startups during the year. It is very exciting to note that in all likelihood, in 2023, there will be two launch vehicle companies offering satellite launch services, more than five operational satellite companies and over 200 space startups building products and services from India for the world.
Commercial side aside, the real differentiator for the success of the private space industry lies in the incremental value it delivers to the lives of people. We cannot even think of life without GPS, direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasts, satellite communications, weather forecasting, disaster management, urban planning, etc.
If steel built modern civilisation, space will build future civilisations. There are exciting times ahead, and the synergy of vision and capabilities between the private sector and the government are readying India for a quantum leap in the space sector.