Last updated on November 13th, 2024 at 01:29 pm
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the space sector in India is emerging as a major foreign exchange earner through the launch of a large number of foreign satellites.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, in an exclusive interview with SANSAD TV, informed that India has launched 385 foreign satellites so far, out of which 353 were launched in the last 8 years under this government; this is around 90 percent of all launches.
Out of the 220 million Euros generated by launching foreign satellites, 187 million Euros were earned in the last 8 years- this is around 85 percent of the foreign exchange earned by launching European Satellites.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said it is a matter of great pride that ISRO has successfully shot down foreign satellites belonging to advanced countries like the USA, France, Israel, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Colombia through its commercial weapon has been launched.
Finland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Switzerland onboard PSLV and GSLV-MkIII launchers under a commercial agreement.
“It is in the final stages,” Dr. Jitendra Singh said in reply to a question on the new space policy. He explained that the Department of Space is in the process of establishing a predictable, forward-looking, enabling regulatory regime for space activities in the country. This will be a comprehensive, well-defined policy for the entire gamut of such activities.
The Modi government has taken many steps since June 2020 to unlock the space sector for private participation, he said. “NSIL has been empowered to bring a commerce-oriented approach to space activities,” he said.
In addition, the creation of IN-SPACe as a single-window agency for the promotion and handholding of NGOs in conducting end-to-end space activities has resulted in remarkable interest from the start-up community with 111Space – As of date, startups are registered on the digital platform in space.
It may be recalled that the result of such revolutionary improvements is the heaviest commercial launch by India in the form of LVM3, carrying 36 OneWeb satellites on October 23, 2022, followed by India’s first private Vikram-suborbital satellite. (VKS) is a path-breaking and historic launch rocket developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) by M/s Skyroot Aerospace Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad on November 18, 2022.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in the last eight years, the government has taken several steps to strengthen the space program and take it to newer heights and has removed several bottlenecks.
Significant progress has been made in the development and realization of space systems for Earth observation, satellite communications, and space science.
This period saw the development, realization, and testing of key technology elements of future launch vehicles, as well as several successful flights of operational launch vehicles.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said today space technology has entered almost every household as it is being used in areas such as agriculture, soil, water resources, land use/land cover, rural development, earth and climate studies, geology, urban and infrastructure, disaster Space applications are increasingly being used. Management Support, Forestry.
He said space technology is also proving to be a boon to prevent rail accidents as it warns about possible obstructing objects on the track through high-resolution images.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, taking a cue from PM Modi’s out-of-the-box approach, in 2016 ISRO conducted brainstorming sessions with relevant ministries to understand their needs and provide applications and solutions to individual departments/ministries.
As a result of that visionary meeting, today we are seeing widespread applications of space technology in areas such as highways, buildings, and even smart city projects, he added.
The minister said satellite imaging, remote sensing from the Department of Space, genetic and agricultural production technologies from the Department of Biotechnology, radiation protection and shelf-life technologies from the Department of Atomic Energy, and food fortification research at CSIR laboratories will change the face of agriculture. With drones and geospatial data mapping in India.
