The global Race for Space dominance

The new space economy has burst to the scene over the last 2 decades. This is fuelled by the rise of start-ups who are looking to bring the disruptive technologies across mainly four space sectors, namely:

1.????Re-usable launch vehicles & propulsion technologies

2.????Space based data observation

3.????Space situational awareness

4.????Space exploration domains of in-space manufacturing, mining and deep space travel.?

The global One Trillion dollar ($) opportunity is open to capture. However, private players cannot succeed without support from the government and state-backed companies. Most space start-up contracts are related to

1) Launches

2) Satellites

3) Research

Adherence to contractual timelines are critical to the survival of space start-ups during initial years from the perspective of:

i)??????????????Raising capital for up-rounds for research and scale

ii)?????????????Collections from customers to have a healthy operating cashflow growth

iii)????????????Growth for future wins and diversification

Worldwide, governments have moved to infuse more capital and support to enable the ecosystem for space sector. In 2021, global government spending for the space sector stood at $92B, with 58% of total spending going to civilian space budgets. US led the drive, investing $55B in government funds for the space sector, with China allocating $10B. India stood 7th globally, with a government budget of $1.9B.?

NASA is a good sample blueprint to drive public-private partnerships. But quite recently US government (2019) created the U.S. Space Force, a new service, to ensure that military and national security capabilities and interests could be pursued aggressively.?Immediately after that alongside Space Force two more entities were created –

A)???U.S. Space Command in August 2019

B)????Space Development Agency, which was created in March 2019

NASA continues to lead the pathway to empower and support disruptive founders especially in technology validation and its commercialization. A recent example is in April 2022 where NASA awarded $278M to 6 companies to build near earth communication capabilities. Their consistency is remarkable for example in Dec 2021, NASA doled out $415M to Blue Origin ($130 million), Nanoracks LLC ($160 million) and Northrop Grumman Systems to support private space station development. Below illustration describes the NASA's plan for the Lower Earth Economy:

ISRO's accomplishments have put India on the global space sector and established our credibility in the sector. The below illustrations from the New York times articulate how India's accomplishments have accelerated our ability to deliver globally:

ISRO has had more than 203 missions since their inception with Launch Vehicles being their most prominent achievements:

Some of ISRO’s noteworthy accomplishments include:

??? Aryabhatta SLV launch:?The Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV), Aryabhatta, was built entirely in India and launched in the 1970s under Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's able guidance.

??? Indian National Satellite System (INSAT):?In 1983, ISRO launched INSAT, a series of multi-purpose geostationary satellites. It helped with telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue operations. The satellites built a communication system across the Asia Pacific region.

??? Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM):?In 2014, India became the first country to reach Mars in its first attempt successfully. ISRO also became one of the only four space organizations to reach Mars, apart from NASA, the Soviet Space Programme, and the European Space Programme. MOM also had a budget of just Rs. 450 crores, making this Mars mission the most economical. The goal of the mission was to collect more data on the atmosphere of the planet.

??? Launching 104 satellites in a single mission:?On February 15, 2017, ISRO created history by lifting off 104 satellites using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and successfully managed to put these satellites into their desired orbit in one go.

India truly opened up to space entrepreneurship wholeheartedly only in 2020. ISRO created new agencies that will help it’s practical progression toward participation in start-up ecosystem as a leading light and the torchbearer. ISRO & government of India nurtured organisational re-structuring to push space entrepreneurship. NewSpace India (NSIL) was setup to represent the commercial arm of ISRO. The organisation is today solely responsible for driving commercialisation for ISRO’s technological capabilities and identify opportunities for the private sector with special focus on start-ups. NSIL has established itself as a ISRO's commercial space arm to manufacture smallsats and CubeSats. ?IN-SPACe, is an autonomous body that has been setup to act as the regulator and facilitor for space activities in India. IN-SPACe has already been working on developing policies that will allow start-ups and private sector to also participate and build services in the domain. IN–SPACe today acts as a link between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and private sector companies, assessing "how best to utilise India's space resources and increase space-based activities. Large Indian corporates are also sensing the opportunity with space based communication as a focal area.

The early shoots of the capabilities of Indian founders and engineers has already been showing – with over 150+ space startups, Indian space entrepreneurs are already competing with global counterparts (and in some cases are the only ones) to lead the race. Modi government after assuming office in 2014, increased the budget to 6000 crores, 50% more than the 2013-14 budget. Every passing year the budget is being increased, this year’s budget is almost 14000 crore. Significant increase in budget over the last 7 years, augmented payload capacity with improved reliability, better launch frequency and many “firsts” in this decade have made the Indian space program far more evident to the world with substantial coverage from global media. The last launch of the decade marked the accomplishment of 50 launches of PSLV rocket. In last 7 years, 58 satellites have been launched by ISRO out of total 128 satellites (8 failed) launched in 50 years, the highest ever. The plan is even bigger. Though NASA is far ahead of us in space exploration, a big pool of Indian engineers and scientists’ contributions in their programs cannot be ignored. Future can be India's game and dominance in following playgrounds -

Private players increased subcontracting across India's enhanced launch frequency by a factor of more than two. India was able to fix glitches and operationalise its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle with an indigenous upper stage and operationalise next-generation launch vehicle GSLV Mk III with nearly double payload capacity, enabled the country to launch nearly all of its communication satellites.?India launched its delayed Moon mission Chandrayaan-2 in 2019 which was however unsuccessful to conduct a soft landing on the lunar surface. India also established and demonstrated the capability to destroy “enemy” satellites in orbit. Increased application of India’s space capabilities in consolidation to its national security was witnessed. ISRO aims to conduct 50 launches by 2024. Besides increasing the launch frequency to 12+ a year, a number of extraterrestrial exploration missions including Aditya L1, Chandrayaan-3, Lunar Polar Exploration Mission, Shukrayaan-1 and Mars Orbiter Mission 2 are planned for this decade. A mission to Jupiter after Shukrayaan and a mission to explore beyond Solar System have also been proposed … and many more can’t be achieved without an active participation of remarkable Indian space entrepreneurs and their expectational start-ups.

At Kalaari Connect, we brought together all these stakeholders to create a melting pot that will define the way forward for the Indian space sector. Padma Shri & former ISRO chairman Kiran Kumar,?who is the leading mind in remote sensing, spoke of the need to create the right ecosystem to empower the start-ups to realise India’s ambition of capturing atleast 10% of the global space economy. I wish success for the entire team of ISRO and related agencies for the success of upcoming space missions. Let our programs unite nations for the betterment of society, nation, world, and environment.?