The ISRO chairman is seeking more investment from the industry in the space sector

On Friday (May 24), Indian Space Research Organization chairman S. Somanath urged the industry to invest more in the space sector.

While delivering the keynote address at the US-India Space Cooperation Conference, it was said: “Our big industrial houses need to put more effort into the space sector. They are doing great work in building infrastructure, industrial ecosystems and the defense sector. But no major industry has yet made much progress in space.”

Somanath cited the example of ISRO’s commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd, inviting Indian industrial partners to produce the space agency’s heaviest launch vehicle, the Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3).

“This is exactly the approach to building such an investment-intensive rocket, because the cost of producing such rockets is also very, very high. However, if we build capacity in India through industrial and public partnerships, we should be able to produce large quantities of satellites, break down the cost of production and then make them available to the global launch services community,” Somanath said.

Somanath also stressed the need for international space cooperation as India undertakes multiple missions, including sending an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station, establishing India’s own space station by 2035 and landing on the Moon.

“As you all know, in order to achieve these very, very critical goals, I think we need partners and the participation of many, many people who are legendary leaders in this space field,” Mr. Somanath said.

US envoy visits ISRO headquarters

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti visited ISRO headquarters on Friday (May 24) and discussed with Mr. Somanath various issues regarding space cooperation between the two countries.

“The discussions highlighted the mutual interests of both countries and common goals in the development of science, technology and space economy. Ongoing associations under various joint working groups, Artemis Accord, NISAR and the use of the laser reflectometer array on Chandrayaan-3 were also discussed,” ISRO said.

ISRO added that other relevant discussions included NASA’s participation in India’s proposal for a G-20 environment and climate change satellite, an advanced imaging spectrometer satellite as a follow-up to the NISAR mission, encouraging cooperation between commercial enterprises from both countries for faster and effective results and the use of the Gaganyaan cargo module as an option for transporting cargo to the International Space Station. The US ambassador also proposed the QUAD satellite, ISRO said.