Government Eyes $447 Billion Space Economy Amid Isolation Of China, Russia: Report

The government is eyeing entry into $447 billion space economy sector amid growing geopolitical isolation of Russia and China and reliable competitor to Elon Musk-backed SpaceX, news agency Bloomberg reported.

Government-owned NewSpace India Ltd. launched 36 communications satellites last month from Odisha for Bharti Airtel and UK government-backed OneWeb. The move salvaged OneWeb's bid to create worldwide internet network and signaled India's ambition in the space sector.

According to Ernst & Young estimates, demand for high-speed internet is likely to expand at a fast pace and the space economy is expected to grow to $600 billion from $447 billion in 2020.

Apart from SpaceX, Russian and Chinese entities are the major providers of satellite launch pads. But after Russian invasion of Ukraine and tensions between US and China those entities are off-limit and that was one of the reasons why OneWeb turned to India after Russia cancelled the launch last year.

Meanwhile, developing space sector has been a key focus area of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India campaign, which aims to position India's space agency more business friendly and has been incubating start-ups in the space sector.

In 2020, the government eased norms for private companies to operate in space technologies and rocket companies by allowing them to carry out independent space activities instead of being suppliers to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

However, Indian has to go a long way to catch up with China as China owned 13.6 per cent of all earth orbiting satellites compared to 2.3 per cent from India, Bloomberg reported citing data from Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.

In 2022, China conducted 64 satellite launches, according to a report by Chinese newspaper Global Times while India managed five similar launches last year by and that too were done by government-backed ISRO or NewSpace.