For ISRO, expanding ecosystem is way forward

Why in the News

The chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the nodal agency that promotes and guides private participation in space, has said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would eventually not manufacture any launch vehicles, and that the work would be done by private companies. The remark widened a dispute that had begun when ISRO tightened its norms for resignation and voluntary retirement of senior scientific personnel. Employee associations wrote to the ISRO leadership asking whether the remark represented official policy. The ISRO chairman then stated categorically that there was no move to privatise the agency. The same statement welcomed an increasing role for private companies. The contest is between an agency being restructured towards exploration and science, and the commercial launch revenue it would give up to get there.

What triggered the dispute inside ISRO?

1. The starting point was a personnel rule: ISRO tightened its norms for resignation and voluntary retirement of senior scientific personnel, which is what opened the wider debate.
2. The dispute then changed subject: It expanded into questions about the role of the private sector in space and about the future of the space agency itself.
3. The staff sought a policy ruling: Employee associations asked the leadership whether a public remark by the head of the promotion agency represented official policy, which the ISRO chairman answered by ruling out privatisation.

What model is the government moving towards?

1. The reference model is NASA: ISRO is being prepared to focus primarily on big-ticket space projects, scientific missions and exploration missions, with routine launches passing to private industry.
2. The agency is also the mentor: ISRO is being asked to handhold private industry and help it reach a level of maturity.
3. Personnel already move that way: Most private space companies carry retired ISRO scientists as advisors or mentors.
4. Infrastructure is already shared: ISRO offers its launch pads and related services to these companies.
5. A launch vehicle has already left the agency: ISRO developed the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) over the years and has transferred the technology to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a public-sector undertaking.

What does an expanded ecosystem deliver?

1. Launch volume and revenue: A private space ecosystem can carry a large number of commercial launches and bring in much-needed revenue.
2. People and jobs: It can develop a large talent pool and generate fresh employment opportunities.
3. Diplomatic weight: Capabilities in space products and services are becoming a powerful diplomatic good.

Where does the model cut against ISRO?

1. Provider or beneficiary: The concern within sections of the ISRO staff is that the agency should not merely be a provider to the ecosystem but also a beneficiary of it.
2. The revenue it steps away from: By moving out of commercial launches, ISRO forgoes an important source of income it currently earns.
3. Budget dependence constrains ambition: Becoming entirely dependent on government budgets limits capability, since neither research and development nor ambitious exploration projects are cheap.
4. Talent has a price: An agency doing frontier work has to attract and retain top-tier talent, which is also what the tightened exit norms were reaching for.

Why is institutional independence part of the argument?

1. Political attention has helped: Sustained interest at the highest political level in the space sector has brought ISRO steady government support for its plans and projects.
2. The success has a stated cause: ISRO’s record is often attributed to its relative immunity from government interference.
3. The staff concern is about that autonomy: The apprehension within the agency is that a restructuring driven from outside erodes the independence the agency has enjoyed so far, at the point when its missions become more ambitious.

Challenges to India’s expanding space ecosystem

1. Demand does not yet match the launch capacity being built: A commercial launch business depends on a payload pipeline that Indian startups do not control, and the global small satellite launch market is already crowded with subsidised incumbents. Eg. Skyroot Aerospace flew the Vikram-S suborbital demonstration in November 2022 and Agnikul Cosmos flew a single-stage vehicle with a 3D-printed engine in May 2024, and neither has since established a regular commercial orbital cadence.
   The Fix: Anchor private launch demand with a committed government payload order book, on the model of NASA’s block procurement of commercial launches.
2. Deep-technology capital is scarce and short in tenure: Space hardware takes years to reach revenue, which sits badly with venture funds that need an exit inside a fund life. Eg. The Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund for the space sector announced in 2024 is small against the capital a single launch vehicle programme absorbs.
   The Fix: Convert a share of that fund into milestone-linked, non-dilutive grants for qualification testing, which is the stage where hardware companies stall.
3. The regulator promotes and authorises the same firms it helps: IN-SPACe both promotes private participation and authorises the activity, so the body encouraging an entrant also clears its safety and liability case. Eg. The Indian Space Policy, 2023 assigned both functions to the same agency.
   The Fix: Separate the authorisation function into a distinct decision-making arm with its own record of reasons, keeping promotion and clearance in different hands.
4. Liability for damage rests with the government whoever launches: Under the Outer Space Treaty, 1967 and the Liability Convention, 1972, the launching State is internationally liable for damage caused by an object launched from its territory. Eg. A private Indian operator’s failure abroad becomes a claim against the Union of India, not against the company.
   The Fix: Enact a domestic space activities law fixing indemnity ceilings and compulsory third-party insurance for authorised private operators.

Conclusion

The two halves of the plan pull in opposite directions. An agency told to concentrate on science and exploration is also being told to release the commercial work that would part-fund it, which leaves the exploration mandate resting entirely on an annual budget line. The unresolved question is whether the government intends to replace the forgone earnings with an assured allocation, or whether the restructuring is a transfer of revenue without a transfer of cost. The marker over the next Budget cycle is the direction of the Department of Space’s allocation once commercial launch work has moved out, since a flat allocation would settle the question the agency’s staff are actually asking.

Back2Basics: IN-SPACe

1. What it is: The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre is an autonomous body under the Department of Space, created in 2020 as the single-window agency for private participation in space activities.
2. What it authorises: It grants authorisation to non-government entities for launches, satellite operations, ground stations and space-based services.
3. What it enables: It permits private entities to use ISRO’s facilities and to obtain transfer of ISRO-developed technology.
4. Where it sits in policy: The Indian Space Policy, 2023 assigns it the promotion and authorisation functions, keeps ISRO on research, development and exploration, and leaves NewSpace India Limited to commercialise ISRO’s technologies.

[2026] Consider the following statements about involvement of private entities in India’s space programme:

1. IN-SPACe is an autonomous agency formed to facilitate participation of private entities.

2. Agnikul Cosmos launched the world’s first flight using 3D-printed rocket engine.

3. Skyroot Aerospace has developed liquid fuel for GSLV.

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3