Riding on Narendra Modi's space ambitions and the government's $1.5 billion space budget, India has opened the doors for its space startups to attempt their first orbital launch later this year. That impending milestone may serve the prime minister at the voting booth, but do the country's private space players have a real shot at catching up to the likes of SpaceX?

Hyderabad

India's space industry is witnessing significant momentum, bolstered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious space agenda and the government's substantial investment of $1.5 billion in the sector. With policies aimed at encouraging private and foreign involvement, India is positioning itself to compete in the global space market. This strategic focus is anticipated to benefit Modi in upcoming elections and is facilitating the entry of Indian space startups into the arena, with the first orbital launch by a private company scheduled for later this year.

Among these emerging space companies is Sky Route Aerospace, led by co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana. Sky Route, with a workforce of 300 and backed by $100 million in venture funding, aims to launch a satellite this year. The company has ambitious plans for growth, targeting a monthly launch schedule by 2026. This development comes in a decade marked by significant achievements for India's space program, including a Mars orbiter, moon landing, and the establishment of a solar observatory. India's vibrant ecosystem of nearly 200 space startups has been inspired by the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) legacy of frugal engineering and a supportive national space policy.

India, currently ranked fifth worldwide in orbital launches, trails behind leaders like the US and China. However, through government policies designed to enhance private participation and international investment, industry experts like Chandana believe that India could close this gap within a decade. The foundational infrastructure for space exploration, developed over six decades by ISRO, coupled with the country’s advantageous geographical location for launches, and a strong manufacturing ecosystem, are seen as key assets for India's space aspirations.

Despite the global competition and the challenges of talent acquisition highlighted by Chandana, there is optimism about the growth and resilience of India's space sector. The sector's expansion is viewed as relatively insulated from political changes, benefiting from consistent growth in government funding across different administrations. This stability is crucial for nurturing the talent required for India’s ambitious space goals and positions the country as a burgeoning hub for space engineering expertise.

India’s path to becoming a prominent player in the global space market is juxtaposed against the backdrop of SpaceX, the largest private space company worldwide, which achieved significant milestones, including a high volume of launches and substantial revenue. Although India's space endeavors are gaining ground, comparisons with China's rapidly advancing private space achievements highlight the challenges ahead. China's private space sector has already accomplished its first privately developed orbital rocket launch, emphasizing the urgency and effort required for India to realize its space ambitions.



Are India's space ambitions election-proof?

A Mars orbiter, a moon landing and a solar observatory. It has been a landmark decade for India's space program. This story of big national dreams, ISRO's frugal engineering and now a holistic space policy has inspired close to 200 start-ups. Meet Pawan Kumar Chandana, co-founder of Sky Route Aerospace, the first private company in the country to launch a rocket. With 300 employees and a hundred million dollars in venture funding, Sky Route is targeting a satellite launch this year and one launch every month by 2026. Standing where you are today, yeah, against what is the actual Vikram one, yeah, yeah, how long will it take for you to get to let's say even 10% of the satellite launch market globally? Yeah, so it's too early to judge the numbers but three to five years is doable. India ranks fifth worldwide in orbital launches, far behind US and China. To narrow the gap, the government has rolled out policies to boost private participation and foreign investment. Chandana says India could catch up in under a decade. Because we have essentially all the ingredients in India to build like world-class companies, like one is infrastructure, you know, we have like a phenomenal manufacturing ecosystem in India, like even like launch pads, you know, we have very important infrastructure, our geography for launching is very good from India, right, and we have like several huge manufacturing ecosystem, like several hundreds of, thanks to ISRO, because they have developed it for last 60 years, six decades or so, yeah, and today we are able to do what we are doing because ISRO built an ecosystem for the last 60 years. Do you think that at this point, given where the private space sector is in India, that, you know, every successive government, irrespective of which party is in power, can only help it grow? Yeah, I think. Are you concerned that, you know, there might be very big policy shifts? No, I don't, I'm not concerned about that because, you know, it's a space sector has traditionally been quite immune to politics and, you know, whatever the government is, in fact, the space budget has been, like, you know, doing really well, it's been growing, you know, so whether it is sufficient or not is a different debate, but it's been, like, decently, you know, growing. Elon Musk's SpaceX, the world's largest private space company, did about two launches a week and close to five billion dollars in revenue last year. That scale takes money and talent. I think talent is a very big challenge, right? So because it's very difficult tech, very, you know, very core, deep tech, I would say. So it needs, like, various engineering streams to work towards it and talent is a very big challenge for us. I think we have trained, like, a lot of fresh talent from the colleges, you know, become, like, wonderful rocket scientists over the last five years. I think that's a really good amount of talent pool which we have built ourselves. So you're sitting in an entire generation of space engineers. Absolutely, right. Even if SkyRoute was to successfully launch India's first private orbital mission this year, the country will be at least five years behind China, which sent its first privately developed rocket into orbit in 2019 and ramped up to 12 launches last year. It's going to take more than rocket science for India to get there.

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