India has announced that the space department is developing a comprehensive and integrated space policy. This is the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) which is working on developing capacity for space tourism. Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced the news on Sunday.
Image credits – India Today
The space department is developing a comprehensive and integrated space policy. It will provide direction to the activities of India’s private space industry, the minister said. He made the statement while answering questions from the Upper House of Parliament on July 21.
He said India’s National Space Promotion and Authorization Center, also known as IN-SPACe, seeks to promote the active participation of the private sector in carrying out end-to-end space activities. , including space tourism. In-SPACe is an autonomous body under the Space Department to promote, manage and authorize private sector activities in the space domain. In the West, three billionaire entrepreneurs, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, are vying to usher in a new era of commercial space tourism. The three have invested billions of dollars in their space ventures, each promising to carry paying customers into space.
Other space agencies
This month, Musk’s SpaceX broke its own record for the number of rockets launched in a year, surpassing last year’s total of 31 missions as part of a campaign to launch its own internet satellites into orbit. In April, Bezos’ Amazon secured rocket launches with three companies in a bid to set up a constellation of satellites to deliver high-speed internet that will rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
Branson’s space tourism company, Virgin Galactic Holdings, plans its next commercial flight in the first quarter of 2023, after completing a structural overhaul of its existing carrier aircraft, VMS Eve. According to Wio News, for indigenous space tourism to become a reality in India (as suggested by the Minister), it would take all of the following – unrelenting success of the Gaganyaan program, multiple repetitions of the same, development and successful flights of a usable re-rocket intended for the transport of tourists, ensuring that all systems are reliable and inexpensive to be feasible as a business, etc. All of this takes time (decades), large-scale investment, and genuine dedication to the cause of space tourism, as seen in private sector examples from the Western world.
However, ISRO has gone through many milestones over the years. Although progress is slow, India is placing increasing emphasis on promoting local manufacturing and local businesses.
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