Lt Gen. Rameshwar Yadav (retd)

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-