New Delhi, June 28 (IANS): Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Friday announced its first-ever space accelerator programme in India, selecting 24 startups from the country, providing a big boost to the space startup sector.

The selected startups operate in a range of space segments such as spacecraft propulsion, orbital and launch vehicles, satellite imagery, geospatial applications, weather analysis, and space tourism, among others.

These include a launch vehicle and sustainable satellite startup from Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu; an advanced geospatial analysis startup from Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and a satellite technology-based precision farming startup from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, among others.

“This is the fourth consecutive year that AWS has run a Space Accelerator programme, but the first one we’ve tied to one specific country”, Clint Crosier, Director of the Aerospace and Satellite business at AWS

The programme is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement signed between AWS and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) in 2023.

Crosier said AWS chose India for the accelerator programme “because of extraordinary growth opportunities in the Indian space sector.” Besides a “record number of new Indian space startups forming, there is strong support from the government,” Crosier added.

The 14-week programme will provide startups with dedicated technical expertise, specialised AWS training, and mentoring from space domain and technical experts.

In addition, the shortlisted startups will also receive up to $100,000 cumulatively in AWS credits and support to build and scale their solutions.