Chandrayaan-3’s success has encouraged startups to tap into space sector: Nambi

The historic success of Chandrayaan-3’s lunar mission has caught the attention of several startups looking to tap into the Indian space sector, said former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan.

Tamil Nadu Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said the achievements of space scientists and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) should be celebrated. Rajaa and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan attended the launch of the space technology accelerator ‘Vaanam’ (a Tamil word for sky) backed by its co-founders Sameer Bharat Ram and Hariharan Vedamurthy on Wednesday.

The space technology company aims to support startups in the space sector by offering its expertise, including seed funding, among other things. “We are evaluating around 6 startups this year (to offer their expertise),” Ram said. According to him, India’s space economy, estimated at $13 billion, is expected to reach $44 billion in 10 years. Ram said Nambi Narayanan and actor Madhavan, who played Narayanan himself in the multilingual film “Rocketry”, have been inducted on the board of the Vaanam Space Tech accelerator. Narayanan, in a ‘Fireside Chat’ organised at the event, noted that while there are around 189 startups in space technology, “most” of them were involved in what ISRO was doing 50 years ago.

“Why do you want to do something that ISRO did 50 years ago? You have to do what ISRO needs today and that will allow you to compete globally, especially with other countries,” he said.

Narayanan expressed his long-standing desire to establish an Asian Aeronautics and Space Administration (AASA) encompassing Asian countries, modelled on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States.

“You can include countries like Maldives, Mayanmar if they are interested (in setting up the Asian Space Agency),” he said. Welcoming Narayan’s view, Rajaa said the achievements of ISRO and space scientists should be celebrated and showcased to the world.

“We need to celebrate these victories, rather than presenting them as one event. The achievements of ISRO and space scientists like Narayanan should be told (to the world),” he said.

Chennai has the third highest number of startups involved in the space sector, while most of such startups are based in Bengaluru, he added. Narayanan said academic institutions should tie up with space agencies like ISRO to help educate students about space technologies. He said it was Princeton University that tied up with NASA to tap the space sector, allowing students to explore opportunities in space technologies.

“We need to talk to children, schools about space technology. It should be included in the curriculum,” he said, expressing the opinion that a space exploration center should be established to encourage children.

“Maybe the space exploration center will accommodate about 100 students who will have the opportunity to see and feel what it will be like in space and what other planets will look like from Earth. It can be like a simulation. That will encourage them,” Narayanan said.