June 25,2020: IN-SPACe, the newly-announced body under the Department of Space, will be the nodal national entity to drive building of satellites, rockets, or launch services through Indian industry.
IN-SPACe is the acronym for Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, which was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, as part of reforms in the sector that is growing fast in the world.
The new vertical with its own chairman and board will function autonomously and parallel to ISRO “without taking away anything from it,” according to K.Sivan, Secretary, Department of Space and ISRO Chairman.
It will be powerful enough to promote and regulate all space-related activities of private industries. The year-old NSIL NewSpace India Ltd will have a larger role and be the industry front of IN-SPACe, he said.
ISRO and its centres will focus on developing advanced technologies, human space flights, and the like. It will share its technical expertise with IN-SPACe.
IN-SPACe will be in place in three to six months. Meanwhile DoS will immediately start receiving and processing applications from private sector industries.
In a televised address on Thursday, Dr. Sivan outlined some of these major reforms in the national space sector.
The aim is to tap the potential in the Indian industry, startups and non-government players and put them on the global map, he said.
