ISRO responds to staff questions: Ecosystem expanding, pvt sector won’t shrink our role

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a statement on Sunday said that it will continue to remain India’s principal institution for advanced space research and that the participation of the private sector is not about reducing its role.

This comes after The Indian Express reported that key employee associations of the space agency wrote to its chairperson V Narayanan questioning the direction of the organisation’s privatisation drive and its implication for the existing workforce, and the agency’s future role.

ISRO in its statement said that the opening up of the space sector, the Indian Space Policy 2023, along with progressive FDI policy, is aimed towards creating a larger, stronger, and globally competitive Indian space ecosystem.

The space agency will focus on frontier technologies. The statement said: “ISRO’s role will progressively strengthen in areas where its scientific expertise matters most: frontier research and development, advanced technologies, human spaceflight, next-generation launch systems, deep-space and planetary missions and strategic national capabilities.” “Meanwhile, mature and routinely manufactured systems can increasingly be scaled through industry.

Production of mature launch vehicles, routine satellites and other established systems can increasingly be undertaken by industry or PSUs through appropriate competitive processes. This allows ISRO to devote more resources and scientific manpower to the next generation of technologies and missions,” the statement further read.

The space agency said India’s ambitions include establishing the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035, undertaking an Indian crewed mission to the Moon by 2040, developing next-generation and reusable launch systems, pursuing sustained lunar and planetary exploration, and establishing India as a major global space power.

“These are technologically demanding missions that require ISRO to remain focused on advanced research and capabilities that cannot simply be substituted by commercial activity.” It further added that India’s space economy is presently estimated at around $ 8.4 billion, still a relatively small share of the rapidly expanding global space economy.

India aims to increase its share of the global space market to $44 billion by 2033. “That scale cannot be achieved through government resources and ISRO’s manpower alone. It requires private capital, industrial capacity, entrepreneurship and global market access,” the statement read.