Express view on SSLV launch: India’s space

On August 16, a 120-tonne rocket, about five times smaller than India’s largest satellite launch vehicle, took off from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Centre in Sriharikota, heralding a major milestone in the country’s space research. The Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) can carry payloads weighing up to 500 kg. These space capsules had to earlier wait for months, even years, to hitch a ride on vehicles designed for large satellites. But in the past decade, the miniaturisation of satellites has enabled the entry of universities, corporates and even individual innovators in a field once dominated by large enterprises and state institutions such as ISRO and NASA. The SSLV can prove to be a game changer for these micro and nano space stations. The launch vehicle can be assembled in less than a week by a much smaller team. With ISRO planning to transfer technology to private players, the country’s space sector is poised for a significant expansion.

The utility of small satellites is increasingly expanding in a variety of sectors, including weather forecasting, communications, defence, urban planning and disaster management. They are also crucial enablers in the growing Internet of Things. There is near unanimity that the market for space tech is set to increase in the next five years. US and EU companies are currently the biggest players, while China, Australia and Russia are beginning to expand their footprint. China plans to launch more than 13,000 satellites by 2030 to establish a network supporting high-speed 6G communications. India currently is a relatively smaller participant — its current share in the space economy is about 2 per cent. With the SSLV and related endeavours, the government aims at a four-fold scale-up in the country’s stakes by 2033. In the past two years, start-ups such as those by the Hyderabad-based Skyroot and the Chennai-based Agnikul have ticked several boxes, including working closely with ISRO. Agnikul, for instance, has built its own launch pad inside the Sriharikota range with ISRO’s help. The IIT-Madras incubated company is working on a launch vehicle to carry payloads smaller than ISRO’s SSLV and it has ambitious plans to launch one rocket every week.

India’s space policy, introduced in April last year, recognised the country’s need to transition from the ISRO-dominated ecosystem. At the same time, the policy took care to underline the premier agency’s enabling role in expanding the country’s footprint in the space economy. ISRO’s work remains crucial to diverse social objectives of the government — education, healthcare, agriculture, climate-change mitigation and environment protection. Space tech is also critical to the country’s security objectives. The challenge now is to frame a regulatory mechanism that complements ISRO’s work, enables manufacturers of small satellites and rockets to unlock their potential while also making sure that the country’s welfare imperatives are not crowded out. The SSLV’s launch should be a prelude to conversations on such a mechanism.