By Chathushka Perera
NEW DELHI, India (CWBN)_ After decades grinding forward, the Indian Government decided on enabling private sector companies to get involved in the national space industry. Signing the reforms into law, PM Narendra Modi said, “Possibly for the first time in the history on independent India, future projects for planetary exploration, outer space travel, etc. will be open for the private sector.”
India’s ambitions in space have long since been constrained to the government funded, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which has been working with other space agencies, since its inception in 1962 as the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR).
In its most recent ventures, ISRO is due to conduct its first manned space flight, Gaganyaan, in which the crew will be expected to spend five to seven days in lower orbit, and it is scheduled to take off in December next year. Achieving this target has cost the Indian Government 1.5 billion USD.
Although, the space programme has offered much over the years, the satellite systems deployed by IRSO possess considerably poor linkage of around 2 Gbps, which was perhaps the standard two decades ago. Modern day satellites permit a bandwidth of around 500 Gbps, which would be developed in the coming years to support up to 2000 Gbps.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Bharti Global, owned by Airtel founder Sunil Mittal, has purchased several states in the multinational company, OneWeb, based in Britain, which plans on operating a wireless, global internet service, using satellites placed in lower orbit, competing with Elon Musk’s Starlink project under the SpaceX. The shares were purchased after the original company, OneWeb Global Limited and 18 of its affiliates filed for bankruptcy. Together with the British Government, Bharti Global is expected to invest roughly 1 billion USD into the company’s future.
Moreover, the Indian Government would also be taking steps to implement a neutral regulatory authority to oversee space sector development and industrial fairness.
Edited by Elishya Perera
