New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that many big feats related to the space sector have been accomplished in the country in the past few years.
“Today, when our country is touching the sky of success in so many fields, how can the skies or space remain untouched by it. In the past few years, many big feats related to the space sector have been accomplished,” the Prime Minister said in his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ address.
One of the achievements has been the creation of an agency named the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), an agency promoting new opportunities in the space sector for the private sector of India, Modi said.
This beginning has especially attracted the youth of the country, he said.
On June 10, the PM inaugurated the headquarters of IN-SPACe in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad.
“A few days ago, when I had gone to dedicate to the people the headquarters of IN-SPACe, I saw the ideas and enthusiasm of many young start-ups,” he said.
The PM further said, “Till a few years ago, in our country, in the space sector, no one even thought about start-ups. Today, their number is more than a hundred. All these start-ups are working on ideas, which were either not thought about earlier, or were considered impossible for the private sector.”
Citing Chennai and Hyderabad-based start-ups – Agnikul and Skyroot, Modi said, ” These start-ups are developing launch vehicles that will take small payloads into space. Through this, the cost of Space launching is estimated to come down significantly. “
Similarly, Dhruva space, another start-up in Hyderabad, is working on high-technology solar panels for satellite deployers and satellites, he added.
Recalling his meeting with Tanveer Ahmed of Digantara, another space start-up that is trying to map waste in space, Modi said he gave him a challenge that they should evolve work technology, which can solve the problem of waste in space.
Both Digantara and Dhruva space are going to make their first launch from ISRO’s launch vehicle on June 30, he informed.
The PM also said he met Neha, founder of Astrome, a space start-up based in Bangalore, which is also working on an amazing idea.
He further said the space sector was like a secret mission a few years ago, but the country undertook space reforms, and the youth were now launching their own satellites.
