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Astronautics
step in closing the gap between state-led initiatives in
areas of use of geospatial data, navigational services
and telecommunications.
While such measures are a welcome step in
satisfying the current requirements, there are new
services that are emerging across the world that are
not charted into the current roadmap of the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
These include providing low-latency, high-
bandwidth internet using LEO satellites, integration
of a wide array of communications services including
AIS, ADS-B, IoT, etc. and small satellite constellations
in EO for bringing in the four Vs of satellite big data.
These services are already being planned by several
NewSpace players around the world and, given the
demand and the growth trajectory of India, such
services would play a meaningful role if integrated
into the Indian consumer and industry ecosystems.
The question really is about approach. There is no
doubt that a successful space agency such as ISRO
can plan and provide all of these services over the
course of time. However, it would require thorough
planning, appraisal for budgets by the Government
of India and effective execution. Given that ISRO has
already charted a roadmap up to 2021 to develop
over 70 satellites to meet the current demands, any
additional requirements of satellite services may
not fit in the execution plan within timelines of the
next three to five years (unless there is a substantial
commitment by the Indian government to expand
the budget of the space programme).
Therefore, while there is substantial movement
towards production of more launch vehicles and
expansion of services driven by ISRO, there is
enough room for NewSpace to act via development
of complementary products and services.
We now see a beginning of NewSpace in India
where entrepreneurs are for the first time risking
the development of space-based products and
services which are primarily targeted at B2B and B2C
markets. The space landscape in India is now moving
in both upstream and downstream, and has the
potential to expand over the next few years.
Several of these NewSpace companies, backed
by private capital at various stages, have now been
operating for up to five years. The emergence of
NewSpace in India is occurring despite the absence
of any dedicated or formal start-up incubation/
acceleration programmes in the country with
entrepreneurs mainly looking for support in terms
of consultancy and access to facilities based on the
heritage established within the space programme
(both in terms of manpower and infrastructure).
New landscape
It should also be noted that there are no institutional
risk capital investment cases in India for any of
the NewSpace companies. Most of the NewSpace
companies have been primarily funded by grants
and high net-worth individuals (HNIs), who can
relate to synergies created in technology sectors like
information technology (IT) and bio-technology (BT)
to be replicated in the space sector and would like to
be a part of the ecosystem creation in the nation.
Therefore, there are significant differences in the
nature of the ecosystem when one compares the
NewSpace entrepreneurial dynamic in India with
that from across different geographies. Despite
the inherent challenges in the foundation of a
commercial space ecosystem, India’s NewSpace
entrepreneurs have identified possible commercial
opportunities to create a niche for themselves by
creating proprietary technologies that they can
possibly scale to users across the world.
Policy framework
NewSpace in India brings along challenges in the
governance of the private sector that is attempting
to create independent capacities in both upstream
and downstream. The current framework for
administration of space is mostly government-
to-government, where most of the regulatory
requirements for licensing, launch, operation and
distribution of spacecraft and space-based services
are performed within the realm of organisations in the
Government of India.
For example, frequency allocation and coordination
is done by theWireless Planning Commission of the
Department of Telecommunications for ISRO. Similarly,
EO data distribution to Indian users is performed by
the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), an arm
A transparent
regulatory
framework has
a strong effect
on attracting
large scale
investments
especially from
private risk
capital
