Indian Space Association (ISpA)

Context: At the virtual event,  Prime Minister of India launch the ‘Indian Space Association’ (ISpA) on October 11, 2021.
About Indian Space Association (ISpA) 

• It is the premier industry association of space and satellite companies.
• It is represented by leading home grown and global corporations having advanced capabilities in space & satellite technologies.
• Founding members of ISpA include Nelco (Tata group), Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Mapmyindia, OneWeb, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited.
• Core members include BEL, Godrej, Hughes India, Centum Electronics, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited and Maxar India.

Function of ISpA

• In line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, ISpA aspires become the collective voice of Indian Space industry. 
• It will undertake Policy Advocacy as well as engage with all the stakeholders in Indian Space sector. 
• It will also engage with the Government and its Agencies for making India self-reliant, technologically advanced and a leading player in space sector.

Why is satellite internet important?

• Industry experts suggest that satellite internet will be essential for broadband inclusion in remote areas and sparsely populated locations where terrestrial networks have not reached.
• As of now, however, satellite communications remains limited to use by corporates and institutions that use it for emergency use, critical trans-continental communications and for connecting to remote areas with no connectivity.
• As of August this year, India had only 3 lakh satellite communications customers, compared with 45 lakh in the US and 21 lakh in the European Union.

India’s space industry

• Space industry of India is driven by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 
• Space industry comprise of more than 500 private suppliers and other various bodies from Department of Space. 
• There are comparatively low independent private agencies. '
• However, private sector has been gaining an increased role since 21st century. 
• Space industry of India accounted for $7 billion in 2019 that is 2% of the world’s space industry(i.e. $440 Billion).

Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe)

• IN-SPACE will be a separate vertical within the Department of Space (DoS) that will make independent decisions for permitting and regulating activities of the private sector.
• It will have its own legal, technological, activity promotion and monitoring directorates and its Board will comprise members from the private industry, academia and government of India
• It will act as a national nodal agency for hand-holding and promoting private industry in the space sector and will even help private players build facilities within DoS premises.

New Space India Limited

• NSIL is a Central Public Sector Enterprise of the Government of India.
• It was established in 2019 under the administrative control of the Department of Space.
• Headquarter: Bengaluru
• NSIL is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the space industry.
• The new company will also look after the production and marketing of space-based products and services, including launch and application, developed by ISRO centres and the constituent units of the Department of Space and marketing spin-off technologies and products and services both in India and abroad.

The functions of NSIL will involve:

• small satellite technology transfer to industry,
• manufacturing of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) — a product which is being developed by the ISRO — in collaboration with the private sector and
• production of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• NSIL differs from ISRO’s existing commercial arm Antrix Corporation:
• Antrix will handle ISRO’s commercial deals for satellites and launch vehicles with foreign customers.
• NSIL will deal with capacity building of local industry for space manufacturing.