Startups have Pivotal Role to Play in Space Sector: ISRO Chairman

Thiruvananthapuram: ISRO Chairman S Somanath said on Friday that the private sector and startups are crucial in helping India expand its space endeavors and capture a larger portion of the global market.

He was addressing the topic 'ISRO's Vision and the Growth of India's Space Tech Companies' at Huddle Global 2024, the nation's premier startup festival organized by Kerala Startup Mission.

"Despite being an acknowledged space power, India's share of global business is just two per cent at USD 386 billion. India plans to raise it to USD 500 billion by 2030 and hit USD 1.5 trillion by 2047," Somanath said during his address on the second day of the startup festival in Kovalam.

Highlighting the potential for private sector involvement, he noted that India currently has only 15 operational space satellites, a figure that is comparatively low.

Considering the nation's expertise in space technology and the growing number of satellite manufacturing companies, India has the potential to have at least 500 satellites in space, Somanath said.

"Now many private players are emerging in the market who have the capability to manufacture and place satellites in the orbit and even private launchpads are coming up," he said.

While there was only one space-related startup in 2014, this number has grown to over 250 by 2024. In 2023 alone, space startups attracted investments worth Rs 1,000 crore. Over 450 MSMEs and more than 50 large companies are now actively contributing to the space sector, Somanath is quoted as saying in a statement issued by the KSUM.

With India expanding its activities in space to inter-planetary exploration, future projects like India's human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan and the Indian Space Station will also be collaborative efforts between ISRO and private-sector.

There is immense potential for private sector involvement in designing and launching small satellites, geospatial solutions, communication systems, orbital transfer vehicles, and more, he said.

The chairman said ISRO has identified hundreds of different sectors which will benefit from research done for space missions and talks with some selected industries have already started to transfer the technology to them.

India has made significant strides in the space domain, having launched 431 foreign satellites to date, Somanath noted.

ISRO collaborates with 61 countries on various projects. Current joint missions include NISAR with NASA, TRISHNA with CNES (France), the G20 Satellite, and the Lunar Polar Exploration mission with JAXA (Japan).

Answering a question from the audience, Somanath said he appreciated Elon Musk's vision of inter-planetary habitation in the years to come, saying that it was in the nature of human beings to explore.

"We started out from one place and spread to different continents. So, it has been human nature to travel and explore from the very beginning," he added.

(with agency inputs)