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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going to set up a ‘Space Technology Incubation Centre’ at the National Institute of Technology Rourkela to help startups in the emerging area apart from encouraging research and product development in space technology and applications.

It will offer an opportunity for academia to collaborate with industry and contribute in this Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in the space technology sector initiated by ISRO.

The global space market is estimated at $360 billion and India accounts a mere 3% of it.

ISRO and NIT authorities stated on March 19 that they hoped to incubate space start-ups and `business ventures related to space. Other objectives were research & innovation in space technology, product development, IPR and prototype development.

The Centre would also enable startups to build applications and products that could be used in future space missions.

The cooperation is seen as another step in the opening up of the space sector for private sector participation by the Centre.

On January 4, 2021 Union minister of state for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said that the decision to create Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre will provide a level playing field for private companies and startups. The range of space activities includes small satellite launch vehicle, geospatial services, satellite constellation and application products.

The aim is to make India competitive in the space market.

ISRO is already a major player in this market using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. So far, international customers satellites from as many as 20 countries such as Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, the UK and the US have been launched by ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

ISRO stepped into the commercial market by launching KITSAT-3 of Republic of Korea and DLR-TUBSAT of Germany on May 26, 1999.

NIT Rourkela is a national level institution for technical education. It is funded by the government of India. It secured the 16th position in NIRF Ranking 2020 (Engineering Category).

The MoU between the two organisations for setting up the facility was signed on March 18, 2021 virtually.

This centre is expected to serve the people of Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand besides the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

ISRO takes into the space a range of rockets and payloads from 30-70 kg to 4 tonnes.

ISRO will provide an annual grant of Rs 2 crore for two years to NIT Rourkela to set up the facility. The funds would be used for upgradation of facilities to carry out research projects and product development taken from ISRO. NIT will provide the infrastructure.