PSLV-C37 First Stage integrated at Vehicle Assembly Building
Source: ISRO
Commercial Space Activities: A Wider Perspective
Commercial Space efforts the world over have evolved on the foundations of government expenditures, particularly on military space programmes that created technological muscle in an industry used for spinning off commercial products and services. It was the deregulation drive for telecommunications that created, for the first time, a major opportunity for a competition-driven commercial space industry. This industry thrived on an enterprising private sector with the support of government policies. Integration of space infrastructure into the larger telecommunication industry, which is globally worth US $5 trillion annually, has enabled the creation of a large value chain for space telecommunication services. Comparatively, the size of the entire space economy, including all government budgets and commercial revenues, is US $330 billion annually. A revolutionary space-based capability, seen in the more recent past, had been the phenomenal growth of positioning and navigation services. Extension of satellite services in positioning and telecommunication to the mobile environments and the provision of direct consumer services through satellites are the twin opportunities that offer a great potential for expanding the markets, especially in emerging economies around the globe. It is in these markets that infrastructure is yet to fully develop to serve the underserved populations, and there are opportunities for manifesting several downstream value-building activities using space technology. Particularly for India, the consumption propensity of a strong middle-class population and the preferences of youth-dominated demography offer unique opportunities for market development.
There are, however, many challenges unique to space technologies. These include limited access to technologies, huge risks, and excessive government interventions. It is no secret that today’s dominant space industrial companies evolved and grew due to the huge military expenditure during the Cold War era. Industry consolidation over the decades, the technology-transfer constraints and the dual-use nature of space systems had led to concentrated markets and islands of capabilities on a global landscape. The metamorphosis came in the post-Cold War era, with the privatisation of intergovernmental systems, such as Intelsat and Inmarsat, and the segmentation of space activities to facilitate orientation towards free markets for space-based services, on the one hand, and tighter controls on dual-use technologies, on the other. The growth rate of commercial space had invariably been influenced and preceded by the policy drives in major markets, such as the United States. Until now, transformations in global space commerce had remained more policy driven than market driven. Therefore, when it comes to the review of India’s commercial space, the seminal role of policy dimensions cannot be undermined.
India’s Space Industry
The historical backdrop of industrial setting in India and the objectives for the origins of Indian space endeavours, which were non-military unlike those of advanced economies, did not facilitate India’s early entry into commercial space efforts. The priority for the Indian Space Programme, in its initial decades, was to achieve self-reliance and to develop a robust national industry to support the government-funded national programme, which had been conceived and executed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Further, the existence of well-developed national space industrial capabilities in key segments of space activities is a strength to rely upon for sustaining and growing commercial space efforts. ISRO’s forward-looking and well-thought strategies helped in building India’s space industry. As a result, India’s space industry is now extensive, though not fully integrated.
Indeed, the quest for industry partners for ISRO’s space projects began as early as when the developments of India’s maiden satellite launch vehicle, SLV-3, and the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, were taken up in the early 1970s. Pioneering policies for technology transfer and industry development introduced in the mid-1970s resulted in multifarious initiatives, such as the creation of space divisions in industry, production of several components of space systems, building of specialised test equipment and ground facilities by the industry, and support for innovative space applications. The range of manufacturing and service rendering capabilities of the Indian space industry is illustrated in Fig. 1. The opportunities for space industry growth as well as policy renewal needs are illustrated in Fig. 2.
Leading Commercial Space Activities: ISRO’s Corporate Front
It was ISRO’s technology-transfer and industry-cooperation programme that sowed the seeds for India’s commercial space initiatives. During visioning exercises for the 1990s, the idea for formation of a corporate front for ISRO was mooted, to assist in the management of the rapidly expanding ISRO’s industry interface activities for its operational era. The concept for Antrix Corporation as a marketing arm of ISRO was concretised from the above idea. Considering the international dimensions of space activities, including the nature of space industry and commerce, authorities realised, even during that time, that Indian space industry should be globally relevant and should not lose sight of international opportunities and developing competitive strengths.
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