ISRO’s love-hate relationship with private sector

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ISRO’s love-hate relationship with private sector – A look back at history
Why does the private sector love and hate ISRO?

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By Pallava Bagla
The surprising announcement by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman that ‘Indian private sector will be a co-traveller in India’s space journey’ was jarring at one level and music at another.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has had a love-hate relationship with the private sector.
Since ISRO is both the judge and jury by owning technologies and being the regulator for space activities, it is reluctant to give up control.
In a statement, ISRO said ‘Department of Space will follow government guidelines and enable private players to carry out space activities in the country.’ This is music to many new space start-up initiatives, but there can be many a slip between the cup and the lip.
Space is known to be a risky business and no fainthearted can survive in this sector.
The last time another private player, then a start-up, tried to make use of ISRO resources, it went belly up—it was TeamIndus.
The other case where a private entity wanted to utilise resources of ISRO was TeamIndus—a group of Bengaluru-based starry-eyed entrepreneurs who dreamt of landing a satellite on the moon and bagging the Google Lunar X Prize.
But again a private entity that had an infatuation with ISRO literally retired hurt.
In all, 27 satellites are to be integrated with help from the private sector.
This is not the same as private sector owning the PSLV launch.
Today, there is not even a ‘space Bill’, only a ‘draft’ was circulated in which the big red rag for the private industry was the fact that it stated that ‘any form of intellectual property right developed, generated or created on board a space object in outer space shall be deemed to be the property of the central government.’ Many small new-age space start-ups have been mastering satellite technology and some even attempted but failed to successfully orbit an Indian made satellite.
Who takes responsibility and who pays for ensuing liabilities are a big issue for private partners

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