'India targets 5-fold increase in share of global space economy by 2030'

Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the Centre has set the target of increasing the share of the Indian space sector five-fold by 2030 - from the current 2 per cent to 10 per cent.

Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, made the statement after inaugurating "IN-SPACe Technical Centre' at the headquarters of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) in Bopal area of Ahmedabad city.

Addressing a gathering after the inauguration, he said there was a time when the world did not take India very seriously in the space sector, while it is the other way round now.

"Our target is to take the space economy from 2 per cent to 10 per cent by 2030, a five-fold increase. And as per our vision document, we have mentioned 15 per cent by 2047. That is 15 per cent share in the global space economy," he said.

"India's space economy today stands at a modest USD 8 billion, but our own projection is that by 2040 it will multiply manifold. But a more interesting thing is that according to some international observers, for example the recent ADL (Arthur D Little) Report mentions that we have the potential of USD 100 billion by 2040," he said.

The report suggests that the Indian space sector can grab 20 per cent share by 2030, much higher than what has been projected by the government. "They now know that we can beat them in their own game," Singh said.

The newly-inaugurated facility is equipped with resources to support non-government entities (NGEs) in designing, development, simulation and testing of space technologies, said an official release. These facilities are designed to rigorously test and validate space technology under conditions replicating the harsh environment of space.

It also houses the Space Systems Design Lab (SSDL), offering access to simulation tools essential for mission planning and design analysis, it added. The Centre features a range of facilities, including the Climate Simulation Test Facility (CSTF), the Thermal and Vacuum Environment Simulation Facility (TVAC), the Vibration Test Facility (VTF), the Space Systems Assembly Integration Testing & Checkout Laboratory, the RF and Opto-Electronics Laboratory and Clean Rooms for AIT activities.

Dr Singh said that even though India's space research programme started in 1969, the year when the US landed first man on the moon, the country caught up fast with the spacefaring nations and "last year Chandrayaan-3 made a historic touchdown on the virgin lunar south polar region where nobody has landed before".

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave us the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, when India will reach that pedestal. But India's ascent to that pedestal has already begun and the space sector is the medium of the initiation of that ascent," he said. The minister said PM Modi has hiked the space budget manifold and opened up the space sector.

"If you see the space budget alone, there is a 142 per cent increase in the last nine years," Singh said, adding that this is possibly the best time for Innovators, R&D and Startups. Addressing the gathering, chairman of IN-SPACe, Pawan Goenka, said the Technical Centre will provide a solution to the challenges faced by the NGEs in the space sector and help them in transforming their ideas into reality.

In the Phase-II of this project, a larger technical centre will come up in the same campus on five acres of land near this existing centre, so that private players and innovators can conduct various tests on their prototypes and products using the latest machines and equipment.

On the occasion, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath urged private investors and start-ups to take up space technology and use this centre to develop their instruments, payloads or even entire satellites.

He expressed confidence that in the future, this centre will help in developing even rockets.