There is an obvious euphoria in the country after Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) showcased world class technology to launch its Mars and Moon missions. The successful missions, and ISRO’s anti-satellite capabilities have catapulted India into the league of ‘space-faring’ nations. It goes to prove the technological prowess of Indian scientists and national structural strength to explore the space for human development and also war efforts whenever needed.

ISRO has proven its enviable technological capabilities and its contribution in taking the gross national power to the next level. Having achieved an optimal threshold, enlarging the scope of national space mission is a logical step to further national geo-political interests. It prompts us to gradually open up the space industry and make it inclusive to private enterprise for wider reach with primacy of in-house innovations for strategic reasons.

ISRO is mandated to handle planning, R&D, technology acquisition, fabrication, testing, and launching of space missions. It is also entrusted with the training of scientists and work force, HR, infrastructure, logistics and management issues. Whereas, looking at the capabilities of the aeronautical industry in private sector, a large percentage of R&D, manufacturing, logistics and management can easily be outsourced to them. It would leave ISRO to concentrate on building core competencies and execute space missions to enhance national strategic outreach. Yes, the core technologies and processes of strategic value certainly need appropriate secrecy cover confining to the folds of ISRO.

In the West the R&D is entrusted to multiple agencies as partners of the industry including strategic domain. Similarly, the private enterprise in India may also be involved in contributing toward space exploration so as to tap potential of larger scientist community and infuse more efficiency. Therefore, it would be a pragmatic idea that this field is thrown open to non-government R&D establishments, technical universities and individual scientists.

Such an approach would help in creating redundancies in our national power mechanism instead of relying only on single organisation such as the ISRO. The inclusion of private enterprise gets further highlighted as time is at premium due to ever increasing competition in the race for space. Moreover, the momentum achieved by the ISRO needs to be maintained, lest we miss out on the much-needed strategic edge of being a space power. In the proposed format, ISRO would continue as the central spine of national space mission with private enterprise as a support system, thereby maximising the national technological synergies.




The US is a pioneer in space technology with NASA as their government sponsored establishment. The US has always encouraged private enterprises to contribute to their national effort right from the beginning of their space explorations. Private companies like Space X, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have become increasingly important in American space exploration missions. The NASA is known to have paid USD6.8 billion to private companies to develop launch systems. They also have plans to send astronauts into space soon. It is due to the structural strength of private industry that a parallel space enterprise is thriving in the US providing almost all services on commercial terms.