Isro Seeks Private Sector Support in Spacecraft Systems Realisation

Inaugurating the conference on Enabling Spacecraft Systems Realisation through Industries (ESSRI-2016) in Bengaluru, Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar said it was imperative that the space research organisation joined hands with industry in its effort towards enhancing its capacity in order to meet the increased demand for space based services.

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He also impressed upon delegates about India's potential to capture a sizeable portion of business in the international space market.

Kumar, who is also Secretary, Department of Space, said almost all government departments and ministries had evinced keen interest in applying space technology for carrying out their mandates.

The conference was organised to elicit industry support for spacecraft realisation on an end-to-end basis to meet the rapidly increasing national demand for space based services and to realise Prime Minister's objective of 'Make in India'.

Isro said over the years, a number of Indian industries have actively participated in realising various subsystems of spacecraft and a variety of models have been adopted by Isro in outsourcing jobs to these vendors.

However, it felt end-to-end realisation of spacecraft has not yet been realised and the conference was aimed at filling this gap.

In his address, M Annadurai, director of ISAC (Isro Satellite Centre) spoke about the need for launching at least 10-12 satellites every year.

He stressed that this goal would necessarily have to be driven by a synergetic collaboration between Isro and Industry since such a partnership would be a win-win situation for both.

He also announced that the Expression of Interest (EoI) for realising spacecraft on an end-to-end basis has been hosted on Isro/ISAC websites and invited industry to respond.

During the Conference, senior executives of ISAC/Isro gave an insight into the requirements of Isro with respect to hardware, technologies, quality and delivery schedule and what was essential for them to be qualified vendors of Isro.

Around 110 industries in aerospace business participated in the Conference, who presented their capabilities and expressed their commitment to partner with Isro for the realisation of satellites on end-to-end basis. They also expressed their readiness for gearing-up to venture into global space market.