Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit Day 2: ISRO chairperson Somnath urges industry to better utilise data collected by space dept
“...India is a huge country where the user segments are still not explored to an extent, which we need to do. Here there is a huge potential... How do you bring the data available through our remote sensing satellites for commercial activity,” he added.
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ISRO Chairman S Somnath speaks during the International Space Conference in Gandhinagar on Thursday. ANI Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Thursday implored industry players to better utilise data collected by the department of space over the years, which in turn will create a greater demand for spacecrafts and launchers.
Speaking at a conference on space at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, Somanath said: “We want to make sure that this data really comes to the use of all who want to convert it to value added products and services. The downstream data utilisation, its commercialisation has to become one of the important drivers of creating the need and once this need is created, we will be in a position to build more spacecrafts and when more spacecrafts are to be launched, there will be more launchers built and this is a chain of activity that has to take place…”
“…India is a huge country where the user segments are still not explored to an extent, which we need to do. Here there is a huge potential… How do you bring the data available through our remote sensing satellites for commercial activity,” he added.
To that effect, indicating an uptick in satellite data utilisation, Prakash Chauhan – director at National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO – said that in last month alone (December 2023), the centre saw a 30 per cent increase in use of its data portal.
Hailing the Centre’s space policy, which was released last April, as a “watershed moment”, Indian Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) Chairman Pawan Goenka highlighted other developments that he expects will propel the space sector forward.
“The new FDI policy, which is around the corner, will change a lot of investment opportunities in the space sector… We have quickly seen an increase in the number of start-ups, almost 200 (189 as of 2023)… The private sector is now making the PSLV rocket in a consortium, it will be ready perhaps later this year. Technology transfer for SSLV perhaps would be happening hopefully by end of this financial year… In financial year 2024-25, we expect 25 launches, which is more than what we have ever done… a combination of what ISRO will do, what NSIL will do and what the private sector will do…,” he said.
“Gujarat was the first state to sign MoU with IN-SPACe to set up a space manufacturing cluster, especially focusing on satellites and payloads,” he said, adding that the state is formulating a new space policy that should come out very soon.
Last October, the Gujarat government had signed a MoU with IN-SPACe to set up a space manufacturing cluster. Last February, in the state’s 2023-24 budget, Rs 12 crore was allocated for a “space manufacturing cluster”, which is to be developed in association with IN-SPACe and ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad.
Meanwhile, a MoU was signed on Thursday between ISRO’s Space Applications Centre and Gujarat Knowledge Society. It will help with collaboration in the semiconductor design ecosystem and development of space and commercial technology in Gujarat.
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