“In the next five years, the growth in space will be mind-boggling,” says Rakesh Sasibhushan, Antrix’s chairman and managing director. “It will change the way we do things and the kind of technology we will be able to put in space.”
India’s space business is ready for lift-off

New Space industry in India
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Traditional space entities are dependent on taxpayer funding, are risk-averse and slow in building capacity. This has left lacuna of unserved markets. India's top-down approach has been very successful. ISRO has built a very good name for India and continues to evolve new homegrown technologies. It has developed 500+ SME ecosystem and is in the process of delegating more tasks under AIT (assembly, integration, testing). On the other hand, ISRO approach has stymied the growth of end-to-end private space enterprises that are adept at own design and other holistic solutions. Private sector enterprises are more likely to grow exports through effective collaborations (with other private sector enterprises) and fully exploit opportunities through risk-taking.

Space is a huge $300+B industry. New Space industry is expected to grow rapidly. It's a sector that markets directly to customers and is being led by private enterprises. It addresses new markets, reduces costs, adds value, provides specialist expertise and creates new technologies. New Space requires huge amounts of private capital. India doesn't have this. India's best bet is to go for cluster approach, focus on niche markets, use ISRO or govt to support innovative cells within it and market Indian manpower, capacities and capabilities to global companies. Indian companies should be able to exploit domestic opportunities as they emerge. Experts have asked for a long-term perspective plan for developing private space enterprises of sufficient scale to benefit from economies and be globally competitive. They have suggested growing space industry along lines of the IT industry.

Examples of business activities: Low-cost launch vehicles, launch operations, services arising from higher density nano-satellite coverage, space tourism, space mining, design projects like space capsule & space rover, space internet services, analysis and forecast based on space data, etc.

Private operators: Space X, One Web, Planet Labs; Blue Origin, Larry Page, Virgin Galactic. Indian private enterprises: Team Indus, Earth2Orbit, Astrome Technologies, SatSure, Bellatrix Aerospace.

India's Strategic Space programme
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India has a needs-based programme. It started with socio-economic uses like weather mapping, communication, earth observations and navigation. Indian scientists innovated and matured the space programme in a technological vacuum due to international sanctions that lasted 3 decades from the mid-1970s. As the space programme matured, India added strategic space capability on a needs basis. India's weaponry and delivery platforms were designed for compatibility with these space-based systems. Following the Gulf war of 1991, countries began to give importance to space. Modern roles for space include location identification with pinpoint accuracy, target acquisition, ID & firing control, real-time intelligence incl all-weather surveillance and secure communications.

India has formidable security challenges, not least:
1. Varied and difficult topography, terrains and climatic conditions of Indian sub-continent (incl South Asia, Indian Ocean, East Asia)
2. Huge landmass with undefined borders beset with intrusions and asymmetric warfare
3. Large expense of Indian ocean, detached island chain, off-shore installations and important maritime sea lanes
4. Widely dispersed, sizeable diaspora
5. Military engagement in internal conflicts and disaster rescue
6. Nuclear weapons in neighbourhood incl. tactical weapons & ICBM
7. Cross-border movement of people, smuggling and fake currency.

Space technologies are important for all arms of the military. Its importance has grown manifold. It particularly helps the Indian Navy to assert a leadership role in the Indian Ocean region and secure 90% of Indian trade that takes place overseas.

Way ahead
Experts feel Indian forces are not cognizant of the full scope of benefits that space systems can provide. In a needs-based system, a separate space command will be better able to garner resources and push for relevant capability. Also, they feel that design, development and manufacture of military space systems should be left to a separate (strategic) agency.

Evolution of India's strategic space capability
Initially, India disguised its strategic ambitions under the cloak of dual-use capability. This was to prevent an adverse impact on civilian space programme and subsequent denial of technology transfer. The Indo-US nuclear deal (2005) and complete lifting of sanctions in 2011 changed this paradigm.

✿ Meteorological satellites: Information from civilian sats is used in planning for land, ship/submarine and air operations.

✿ Indian Remote Sensing satellite: Earth observation sats have been launched since 1980s. India has the largest number of such satellites, which are among the best in the world.

✿ Cartostat (topographic mapping) satellites: There are valuable civilian uses (land use, change in the geographical feature, road network, urban planning, utility laying, etc) but the precision lends itself to military use in surveillance and reconnaissance. So, they are used for real-time intelligence gathering and 24 x 7 monitoring over tactical battlefield area.

Cartostat-1 (2005, 2.5m resolution) || Cartostat-2 (2005, 1m) || Cartostat-2A (2008, 0.8m) || Cartostat-2B (2010) || Cartostat-2C (2016, 25cm) || Cartostat-2D & 2E (2017, 0.6m)

Cartostat-2C uses adaptive optical and acoustic-optical devices. These micro EM systems can correct for distortions in medium and offer better visibility.

✿ RISAT (radar imaging) satellites: All-weather earth observation sat which is not affected by clouds or nightfall. They use SAR (synthetic aperture radar) tech. They are capable of determining crop yield estimates and damage assessment. In the military, they would be used for continuous surveillance and reconnaissance.

RISAT-2 (2009, Israeli, 1m resolution in X-band, multiple resolutions) || RISAT-1 (2012, Indian, up to 1m in C-band).

✿ GSAT-7 communication satellite: Dedicated Indian Navy satellite launched in 2013.

GSAT-7 has 3500-4000 km footprint over the Indian Ocean (from the Persian Gulf to Malacca Strait). It has a 7-year life-span. It has enough power to be accessible on small mobile devices (ie no amplifier).

GSAT-7 enables network-centric workings (real-time networking of all operational assets). UHF band is useful over water, for communication and to gather electronic intelligence. Ku-band allows high-density data transmission (video and voice). Other bands are S-band & C-band.

✿ GSAT-6 communication satellite: Dedicated Indian Army satellite launched in 2015. It can effectively operate in all topographic conditions. It has enough power to be accessible on small, lightweight devices. So, it frees a soldier from carrying bulky hardware.

✿ IRNSS (regional navigation) satellites: A constellation of 7-11 sats for providing PNT (position, navigation & timing). Its India's version of GPS or GLONASS. Seven satellites have been launched to a mix of geosynchronous orbit (GSO) and non-GSO. Thus the system is operational.

IRNSS has an accuracy of 20m over India and surrounds of 1500-2000 km. The resolution is improved by GAGAN system to assist civilian and military aviation. The military has access to encrypted/ restricted service.

Space and Digital India
GDP has grown twelvefold since 1991 when India opened up its economy to international trade and investment. IT sector has seen metamorphic growth. IT and ITeS exports account for about 2/3rd of global trade. India is home to many global R & D centres. IT startups have also come up, offering a variety of services from digital wallets to the Internet of Thing. Internet users have mushroomed. E-commerce is reaching out to larger numbers of customers and has the potential to integrate urban and rural economies.
Govt's Digital India is about bringing fruits of the digital revolution to all Indian citizens. It is necessary to:
┼ Build robust digital infra to reach all corners and habitations;
┼ Promote quality, affordability & widespread use of the internet;
┼ Charge Govt to switch to digital working; put all govt tasks and services on digital platforms and create conveniently located customer service centres;
┼ Make it easier and viable for private and public sectors to purvey digital, purpose-made services and solutions; and
┼ Reach every citizen or organisation that desires or needs them.

Space India 2.0 Commerce, Policy, Security and Governance Perspectives 2017