Opinion India’s first private rocket signals a foray into a field dominated by governments

When space emerged as an important endeavour in the second half of the 20th century, governments were in the lead. The cost, complexity and research-intensity of the space effort meant the space programmes everywhere became a government monopoly.

But in the 21st century, the role of the private sector has dramatically expanded. Satellites were once owned only by governments but today private companies lead the satellite business. Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system is now a major player with more than 2,300 satellites in low earth orbit — they deliver a variety of space services including useful military information to the armed forces of Ukraine in their fight against Russian forces.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper plans to launch more than 3,000 satellites in the coming years to offer a range of services, including broadband internet. This will involve making at least three satellites a day. Airtel in India is a partner in the OneWeb corporation that offers connectivity through its system of nearly 500 satellites.

The business of launch vehicles — the most demanding of space activities — remained a state monopoly until recently. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has broken through that launch monopoly and Amazon’s Blue Origin rocket will soon be in the market too.

The private sector’s rise has been complemented by growing international cooperation to realise the new commercial possibilities in space. The idea of international cooperation in outer space was indeed codified in the early multilateral treaties. But it was the intense geopolitical competition that shaped the space programmes of the major powers during the Cold War. As the military uses of space expanded, the role of the state in the space programmes became even more significant in the second half of the 20th century.

The US and Soviet space programmes became very important elements of the all-encompassing competition between Washington and Moscow – ideological, political, economic, and military. Both sides engaged in space cooperation with other countries as part of the Cold War strategy of winning friends and influencing nations.

The Cold War rivals – US and the Soviet Union – had also developed bilateral cooperation in space as a demonstration of their desire for peace. Some of that endured until recently, despite the persistent friction between Washington and Moscow.

As the Europeans brought their continent together, they joined hands to develop the European Space Agency that now is a major force in outer space. Many other countries, including India, embarked on national space programmes. Delhi’s main objective was to leverage outer space to accelerate national development. Eventually, military and commercial dimensions began to envelop the Indian space programme. India’s space programme began with intensive cooperation with the Western countries and later with the Soviet Union. Delhi also offered space cooperation to other developing countries within the rubric of engagement with friendly governments.

The non-proliferation sanctions on India after its first nuclear test in 1974 severely constricted the space for the country in international space cooperation. It was only after the historic civil nuclear initiative that the sanctions regime began to ease. India is now part of the Missile Technology Control Regime that regulates commerce in space related commodities and technologies. India is also part of the Wassenaar Arrangement that controls trade in dual use technologies that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

As India emerged out of its past technological isolation, four new imperatives have presented themselves. One is the growing range of new space possibilities – from using satellites for delivering broadband internet to the mining of the Moon and from space manufacturing to deep space exploration. Put simply, the scale of the global economy is rapidly growing — its value is expected to more than double from about $450 billion in 2022 to nearly one trillion dollars within a decade.

For India, outer space can no longer be about narrowly framed ideas of “development” and “national prestige”. It must be about business and economy. The current Indian share of the global space economy is barely 2 per cent. PM Modi has been demanding that India rapidly increase its share to 8 per cent in the coming years.

Second, raising the Indian share of the global space economy can only be done by drawing in the private sector companies to play a larger role. Consider, for example, the large number of private companies involved in the US Artemis project of returning to the Moon. The Artemis 1 rocket was launched last week and the programme involves a number of leading aerospace companies like Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Airbus and Space X.

It is not that the Indian private sector had no role in the evolution of India’s space programme. Godrej & Boyce, Larsen & Toubro, and Walchandnagar Industries are among the many private sector companies that have contributed to the Indian space programme.

The trick for the government is to activate their full mobilisation into the Indian space effort. While startups like Skyroot can bring much needed innovation into space activity, it is only the large corporations that can bring much needed scale to make India an economic powerhouse in space.

Third is the growing weight of international cooperation in national space programmes. If Apollo was a purely national project of the United States, the Artemis programme is a multinational endeavour between the US and its partners, including France, Canada, and Japan.

Meanwhile Russia and China are coming together to collaborate not only on their space programmes, but also on building a joint base on the Moon that will establish long term human presence there.

The US Artemis programme — being developed in partnership with allies and friends — is complemented by an American effort to put together a coalition that will develop principles for peaceful exploration of the Moon and other celestial objects. Cooperation in space has already emerged as an important theme in the discussions among the Quad partners — Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.

India has just about embarked on a programme to enhance the contribution of its private sector in outer space. India is also drawing on foreign capital to support its startups. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, for example, is a major investor in Skyroot Aerospace that launched the Vikram S rocket.

Many Western aerospace companies will be eager to invest in India’s space programme as it begins to open up. Delhi is also coming to terms with the fact that international cooperation is not just an “add-on” to the national space programme, but must be an integral part of India’s space strategy.

The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, Delhi and a contributing editor on international affairs for The Indian Express