By Girish Linganna
Feb 1: This year, India's space program doesn't have any big missions planned, which is shown by a small 4% increase in its budget. However, over 200 spaceflight startups might get a boost from a new fund worth ?1 lakh crore aimed at encouraging private investment in research and development.
In 2024, since there are no significant space missions planned, the Department of Space has been given a slight budget increase of 4% in the 2024-25 Interim Union Budget, raising its funding from ?12,545 crore to ?13,043 crore. During this year, the Indian space program will focus largely on preparing for the moon exploration (Chandrayaan) and manned spaceflight (Gaganyaan) missions, along with a few other projects, by conducting pre-launch tests and reaching important milestones.
In 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out the much-anticipated Chandrayaan-3 mission, achieving a soft landing of a robot on the moon. Additionally, ISRO initiated the Aditya-L1 mission, aimed at solar observation, and the XPoSat (X-ray Polarimetry Satellite) mission, which focuses on observing neutron stars and black holes from space. Furthermore, India joined the Artemis Accords, aligning with the United States' collaborative effort to send humans back to the moon by 2025.
For 2024, the key scheduled launches are an unmanned test flight for the Gaganyaan mission, the third trial launch of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), and the joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission. Additionally, ISRO's scientists and engineers are focusing on developing propellants, satellite propulsion technologies, new launch vehicles, and facilitating the transfer of these technologies to the industry.
During her budget announcement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a ?1 lakh crore fund to encourage private sector investment in research and development, offering interest-free loans for fifty years. Although specifics were not fully detailed, it's anticipated that the emerging private spaceflight industry in India, including approximately 200 startups, will greatly benefit from this financial boost. Additionally, the budget for IN-SPACe, the central agency established in 2020 to regulate this industry, saw a 24% increase in revenue expenditure.
The funding allocated for space technology projects, which include the Gaganyaan manned space mission and the development of new launch vehicles and other spaceflight missions, saw an increase of 27%. This means there is more financial support this year for these specific space endeavors compared to the previous year.
(The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach out to him at: girishlinganna@gmail.com)