Industry Odisha Bureau, Sep 27: India’s private space sector is taking on more rocket and satellite work. ISRO employees want clarity on protecting decades of engineering capability. Industry must match that depth to serve India’s commercial space ambitions.
India’s space sector is undergoing an orbital shift that goes beyond startups and capital. The harder question is where critical engineering knowledge will reside.
For decades, ISRO did not simply build rockets. It designed, manufactured and integrated launch vehicles in-house. That work created a large reservoir of engineering capability. The Indian Space Policy 2023 now opens more of this work to industry.
Knowledge Built Over Decades
Some ISRO employees worry that transferring such activities could erode capability over time. Their concern centres on knowledge built through hands-on work. It remains a concern, not an established outcome.
Technology transfer can expand India’s industrial capability. Poorly managed, it could also thin the expertise held within ISRO. Which outcome prevails depends on how the transition is handled.
Industry Inherits Responsibility
A larger role brings heavier obligations for private companies. Jayaraj Rajapandian heads aerospace and defence at Tata Elxsi. He argues a bigger industry role demands matching responsibility.
Firms must invest in advanced tools and machinery. They must build specialised talent and work with global manufacturing partners. Quality assurance, risk management, certification and lifecycle support also need strengthening. Serious space manufacturing needs far more than capital.
He says space technology has a multiplier effect on industry. Solving exacting space problems could lift aerospace, defence, railways, automotive and healthcare. These sectors share safety and mission-critical engineering demands. Such spillovers are possible, not guaranteed.
An Ecosystem Beyond Rockets
Indian space startups are broadening the industry across the value chain. Skyroot Aerospace develops the Vikram series of launch vehicles. Pixxel builds hyperspectral imaging satellites that track changes on Earth.
Digantara tracks satellites and orbital debris to support safer operations. Bellatrix Aerospace makes propulsion systems and orbital transfer vehicles. PierSight combines radar satellites with vessel data to monitor maritime activity.
Not every company builds rockets, and that breadth matters commercially.
Employees Seek Clarity
Unions want the transition explained directly to the workforce. Their letter says serving employees have “an earned right to be informed, consulted and protected”. A senior ecosystem figure agrees internal communication must improve.
The ISRO Pensioners Association will hold a “Future of ISRO” conference on October 7. It takes place in Thiruvananthapuram, with several former officials expected. People linked to the event aim to put their concerns before the prime minister.
An association official cites insufficient staff strength and recruitment. The official also describes relations and communication as strained. Queries sent to ISRO by The Economic Times went unanswered at press time.
Keeping Capability, Expanding Scale
India’s space economy needs a more ambitious commercial footprint. Private firms can widen manufacturing capacity and specialised services. That could free ISRO to focus on frontier science.
Supporters stress that commercial activity, not ISRO itself, is being opened up. Yet those ambitions rest on knowledge ISRO built over decades. The test is expanding industrial capability without hollowing out that knowledge.
