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Published 12:01 IST, July 14th 2023

As Chandrayaan-3 all set for liftoff, potential role of private sector in space explained

“Godrej has contributed to the hardware for the two engines, which are the second stage engines,” said the Godrej Aerospace spokesperson.

Reported by: Abhishek Raval
The critical hardware for the engines in the Chandrayaan-3 has been developed by Godrej Aerospace | Image: ISRO - Twitter | Image: self

In hours from now, India’s Chandrayaan-3 will lift off for a historic and ambitious mission towards its journey to the moon to become the fourth nation after USA, Russia and China to land on the moon and the first country to descend on the South pole of the lunar surface. Going with the ambition of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, most of the mission elements have been developed indigenously. The critical hardware for the engines in the Chandrayaan-3 has been developed by Godrej Aerospace.  

“Chandrayaan-3 being a very prestigious mission, Godrej has contributed to the hardware for the two engines, which are the second stage engines,” said Maneck Behramkamdin, Associate Vice President and Business Head at Godrej Aerospace, on the launch of Chandrayaan-3. 

‘Tribute to scientists with ISRO’: Godrej Aerospace 

The majority of the supplies in the Chandrayaan-3 mission have been sourced from India said Behramkamdin, “If our understanding is correct, almost 80-90 per cent of the mission (Chandrayaan-3) is indigenous. It's a tribute to our founders and hardworking scientists at ISRO.” 

‘Without private companies, NASA...’ 

Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan, who developed the Vikas engine, a mainstay of all Indian rockets and helped the country enter into the era of PSLV rockets pressed upon the importance of the participation of the private sector in the area of space in India, “The government of India has opened up the private sector, it is told they can make use of ISRO facilities and expertise to their advantage but I feel we must be explicit in telling what we really expect from the private Industries. We don’t want somebody to repeat what ISRO was doing. What we welcome is people who come with an innovative idea and come with a project, which can be useful to ISRO’s own missions. Most importantly, it can find a market in the international scenario,” he said speaking exclusively with Republic. 

Nambi Narayanan also gave an example of an Indian startup working on a two-stage vehicle, “I understand one of the startups trying to do a 2-stage vehicle, which is good. I feel that will take care of some small satellites launch. It will take the burden of launching small satellites from ISRO’s own vehicles. Similarly, we also need boosters. These are high-cost areas, which also has high returns,” He further added USA had many private companies to help NASA, “Without those companies, NASA wouldn’t have achieved half of its achievements. In India, ISRO is doing everything ourselves.” he said.

Updated 12:01 IST, July 14th 2023

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