Prime Minister launches Indian Space Association
- Indian Space Association (ISpA) was formally launched by Prime Minister as an industry body representing the various stakeholders in the Indian space domain.
- It includes members comprising the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bharti Airtel, OneWeb, Tata Group’s Nelco, L&T, MapMyIndia among others.
- This comes in the backdrop of the government opening up the space sector for private sector participation.
Significance of move
- While India has made progress in the space sector over the years, ISRO has primarily been at the centre of this progress.
- Along the lines of the US, now several private sector companies both global and domestic have taken interest in India’s space domain.
- The move will help active engagement of the stakeholders very soon leading to a better Spacecom =and Remote Sensing Policy.
- Earlier, government cleared the creation of a new entity, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), to encourage private companies to use India’s space infrastructure.
Government's approach to space reforms
- Prime Minister remarked that the Government's approach to space reforms is based on 4 pillars.
- Freedom of innovation to the private sector
- Role of the government as an enabler
- Preparing youth for the future
- To see the space sector as a resource for the progress of the common man