BEST COVER STORY Space – The final frontier
ISRO has been a major source of inspiration for entrepreneurs to finally have a little space on the space of their own and get a little closer to the mysteries that lies beyond. Here, we have the ‘space entrepreneurs’ talking about how they ventured into space, what they think about their mentor ‘ISRO’ and home ‘Indian aerospace industry’.
India’s GSLV MkIII-M1, successfully launched the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft into an Earth’s orbit on July 22, 2019. This ‘Bahubali’ moment India awaited since almost a decade; a source of inspiration to all the eyes, physical and digital.The stars, the skies, the Sun, the moon and what lies beyond them has always caught the eye. When the whole world was wondering what lies in the sky, few people have succeeded in reaching the sky; they found openings in space. A new wave of space technology startups is skyrocketing in India, catching the world’s eye, keen to join the space race.
Startups of the space
Manufacturing for the aerospace sector is a difficult task for various reasons. Some of the said complexities are capital intensive and require extensive technical equipment and facilities for prolonged gestation. Few of the start-ups have been dedicatedly catering to the demands of the aerospace manufacturing.
Astrome Technologies – Dr. Prasad H L Bhat, Chairman and CTO
When we started Astrome, my colleague Neha and I, were firm on making profound use of space technology to uplift the life in emerging nations. On understanding the delinquencies, we realised that there’s a dire requirement of high speed internet infrastructure. Particularly in developing countries, because when the concerns will be resorted from space, it would profoundly thrive the economies of rural and semi-urban geographies.
Manastu Space – Ashtesh Kumar, Co-founder, CTO and Tushar Jadhav, Co-founder, CEO
We were finishing final integration of our satellite on to the Indian rocket PSLV, when during a discussion, the staff, there, mentioned how people have lost their lives while handling highly toxic and carcinogenic fuel hydrazine for the satellite. They were not astronauts who had glorious deaths. It became clear to us that if the world got to realise the full potential of the space, it has to be in a safe and sustainable way; for that we decided to create the world’s safest satellite fuel and propulsion system.
Skyroot Aerospace – Pawan Kumar Chandana, Founder, CEO and Bharath Daka, Co-founder, COO
Skyroot is building India’s first private space launch vehicle and as founders we were part of this sector before. Hence, we know there is a gap in supply, and therefore a great opportunity too owing to increase in demand for space-based services. Our start-up is different because we were founded by former ISRO scientists, have a team with strong domain expertise, and also, we do not operate on conventional rules resulting in accelerated progress. Indian aerospace ecosystem is mostly subsystem suppliers and lacks OEM’s building world class products. We believe aerospace sector has the potential to be on the likes of IT revolution in India in the years to come.
Xovian – Raghav Sharma, Founder
Well, we started this during our college days in 2012-13. During that time, my 1st publication of research paper on rocket propulsion made me create an online platform for aerospace innovation. Later on, we formed our venture Xovian in 2015 with a vision to provide sustainable solutions in satellite technologies. Currently, we are working on innovative remote sensing technology which can cut down the cost of factor by 100 compared to the current remote sensing technologies. This is one such thing that distinguishes us from the other start-ups.
ISRO’s role in propelling the growth of Indian aerospace industry
The aerospace industry in India has grown significantly in the last 5 years. This has been, in large, possible, thanks to ISRO. The organisation’s technology transfer program and private industry contract program have helped new private players evolve in the industry. The aerospace industry also has a heavy dependency on other industries like manufacturing and electronics industries. ISRO has shown cognizance of this with their methodical interaction with those industries and development of their capabilities. Bhat, speaking about Astrome’s focus on internet delivery from space, has distinguished ISRO scientists like Dr P S Goel, Dr. B N Suresh as their key advisors. He further adds, “ISRO is responsible for some key leaps in India’s space technology, including the launch of Chandrayaan-II, and the work-horse standard launcher of PSLV.”
Ensuring product integrity in the aerospace industry
Safeguarding a product’s integrity is highly essential, especially in aerospace industry. Daka says, “Matured engineering and quality assurance thought process, is the Holy Grail to ensure product integrity in the aerospace industry. He further adds, “As the cost and lead time to manufacture and test aerospace products is high, it is imperative to follow a streamlined process in both design and testing and also ensure no corners are cut in the process. However, this should not lead to unnecessary delay at times when things get stuck, where matured engineering judgment to move forward in the right direction with calculated risk plays a very important role.”
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