Context: Saudi Arabia and Luxemburg plans for Outer space which demonstrates that outer space need not be the playing ground for big powers alone.

Space programmes have for long been viewed as either strategic or symbols of national prestige for big countries that are prepared to invest significant resources in the pursuit of a credible presence in outer space.

UAE:

• A country with a population of barely one million plans to launch its Mars mission, “Hope”, in 2020 in partnership with a range of organisations across the world — including three universities in the US. 
• Japan is scheduled to launch the UAE Mars probe this year.
• India’s own ISRO is also working with the UAE on its Mars mission. 
• In 2019, the first Emirati Astronaut, Hazza al-Mansouri spent more than a week in the US-Russian space station.
• UAE’s space strategy–  is about cornering a slice of the rapidly growing commercial space industry — part of a major effort to diversify the UAE economy away from its reliance on hydrocarbons

Luxembourg

• It too entered the space sector only in the middle of the last decade. 
• It is also driven by the need for economic diversification, the space sector accounts for nearly 2% of Luxembourg’s GDP.
• Over the years, Luxembourg moved away from its past reliance on the steel industry to become a centre of European banking and finance. It is now looking at commercial space as a major opportunity. 
• Luxembourg has taken a number of regulatory steps to create a vibrant ecosystem for space companies ranging from satellite operations to future extraction of resources from asteroids and other space objects
• There are more than 50 companies and two public research organisations that are driving the expansion of space sector in Luxembourg.

Structural changes that are reshaping the global space activity.

• Through the second half of the 20th century, outer space was the sole preserve of national space programmes driven by government-funding, direction and management
• As military uses of space and prestige projects like Moon-landing emerged, major private sector entities already in the aviation industry won space contracts in the US but under overall guidance & control of NASA & Pentagon
• The last decades of the 20th century saw significant expansion of satellite-based telecommunication, navigation, broadcasting and mapping, and lent a significant commercial dimension to the space sector. 
• As a result, private sector companies (Ex: Space X) started playing major role in the sector like independent Space launches. Hired for a resupply mission for the space station, Space X now launches more rockets every year than NASA
• The entry of private sector has begun to drive down the cost-per-launch through innovations such as reusable rockets.
• As the digital revolution in the 21st century transformed the world economy, the commercial space sector has begun to grow in leaps and bounds. 
• The global space business is now estimated to be around $ 400 billion and is expected easily rise to at least trillion dollars by 2040. This has made private sector participation attractive and inevitable.

India’s Space Sector:

• India, however, is quite some distance away from adapting to the unfolding changes in the global space business.

• Although the ISRO encourages private sector participation in the national space programme, its model is still very 20th century — in terms of governmental domination

• As it looks at the growing role of the private sector and the effort by nations like the UAE and Luxembourg, Delhi needs to move quickly towards a new model for India’s space activity.

Conclusion

India needs a regulatory environment that encourages a more dynamic role for the private sector and promotes innovation. It will be a pity if India squanders the many advantages of its early start in space by delaying the much-needed reform and reorganisation of its space sector.

Do You Know?

• Startlink project of SpaceX aims to launch thousands of satellites into the low-earth orbit to provide internet services. 
• Amazon also has plans to build a network of more than 3,000 satellites in the low-earth orbit
• Companies also have plans to develop space tourism and build human settlements on the Moon and on Mars.

Connecting the dots:

• Project Loon of Google uses high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere to provide connectivity to people in unserved and underserved communities around the world.
• LiFi – is a mobile wireless technology that uses light rather than radio frequencies to transmit data.