Isro alone can’t get the Gaganaut in space. It will need a little help from Anant, Agnikul, Bellatrix, and Inox.

Isro alone can’t get the Gaganaut in space. It will need a little help from Anant, Agnikul, Bellatrix, and Inox.
As Isro starts work on human flight, its chairman is trying to re-engineer the organisation for speed and innovation. Private companies are the biggest beneficiaries here, writes Hari Pulakkat.


Subba Rao had been doing business with Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) since 1992. His Hyderabad-based Anant Technologies had started by analysing remote-sensing data before moving on to making rocket and satellite components. But business had not been brisk. Rao, who had cut his teeth with Isro, had to look beyond India to grow his company. Recently, things have begun to change. This year, he has invested INR150 crore in two facilities in Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram, sprucing up infrastructure in anticipation of increasing business from Isro. In Bengaluru alone, he has invested INR100 crore in a facility at the upcoming aerospace park to make satellite components. He has more investments planned over the next few years. Rao has based his decision on a few assumptions. First, Isro has so many programmes now that it will have no choice but to increase private-sector participation. Second, Isro is expected to launch several foreign satellites in the future. He stands a chance to build some of them. Isro was set up in 1969, seven years after India launched its space programme. Although it involved the private sector almost from the beginning, very few companies reached a turnover of INR50 crore in their business with Isro. Most of the 400-odd companies that work with it have revenues of a few crores of rupees, some less than even INR1 crore. But as the space agency gets ambitious, entrepreneurs like Rao see an opportunity. “Isro is launching more foreign satellites,” says Rao, adding, “some of the owners might like to make them in India itself instead of making them somewhere else and bringing here.” Here's why Rao thinks Isro is entering a golden age: Over the next one year, India’s space organisation is planning no less than 18 launches. This includes several prestigious missions: three GSATs, the remote-sensing satellite Hysis, the radar-imaging satellite Risat 2B, and Chandrayaan II. GSAT-29 and Chandrayaan II are being launched by the Geostationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, Isro’s fledgling heavylifter that is being developed to take humans into space. The government has sanctioned 40 launches for Isro over the next three years, including 30 launches for PSLV. In between these launches, the organisation is also trying to develop technology that can take it firmly into the 21stcentury. This hectic pace is expected to continue well into the future. “We are working at building capacity for the future,” says K Sivan, Isro chairman. Rao doesn't want to miss out on the spoils. With scale in sight, private sector joins in Projects like the human space flight would need the organisation to be at full stretch. Isro had given itself four years to be ready for the first human flight, a tough schedule that would require a large amount of development: a crew module, crew-escape system, a human-rated rocket, and several other related technologies. Isro needs a new reusable vehicle to repeatedly test the crew escape system. “I cannot waste INR200 crore on a PSLV for each test,” says S Somanath, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). New projects would require R&D, and wasting time on routine manufacturing would slow down futuristic programmes. “Earlier it was possible for Isro to do everything,” says Ajay Lele, senior fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis. “Now it has to focus on its core strength.” “Isro has been in serious dialogue with the private sector,” says JD Patil, director of Larsen and Toubro, adding, “[it is] trying to see whether the entire launch vehicle be made as a consortium.” The consortium could later be changed into a joint venture. We are working at building capacity for the future. K Sivan, chairman, Isro Isro had been launching five-six PSLV rockets a year in the last few years. The number will go up to 10 next year and later to over 20 a year. So far, low volumes prevented large companies from investing in space infrastructure. “They wanted assurance for a certain number of launches,” says Sivan. “But since our programmes depend on the government, we cannot give assurances.” But now that 40 launches have been cleared by the government, industry is prepared to invest. With improving trust and increasing urgency, Isro has also relaxed some of its intense supervision into what private companies do. Going beyond the Isro campus The interest of private players such as Inox Group in a tender for rocket-fuel tanks best illustrates their enthusiasm. “They would need 20 sets of fuel tanks right away,” says Siddharth Jain, director, Inox Group. “This is a fantastic new opportunity for all of us. Look at what SpaceX is doing in the US. Costs have come down. We are at the cusp of something equally big.” Two years ago, Isro started allowing private companies to set up facilities on some of its campuses. These facilities were owned by Isro but operated by the private entities. It is taking this model further ahead, letting companies set up development facilities on their own campuses in some key areas. VSSC, which develops launch vehicles, is allowing Hyderabad-based Premier Explosives (PEL) to make solid motors. PEL is investing INR300 crore in manufacturing plants near Hyderabad and in Nellore. One of its motors has already been tested successfully by VSSC, which is set to order seven more, six of which will go in one PSLV. “It is a first in Isro’s history,” says VSSC director Somanath. “We have never made a solid motor outside Isro.” Like PEL and Anant Technologies, several private companies are preparing to invest in infrastructure to manufacture components for Isro: Pune-based Bharat Forge is investing INR150 crore in a facility to make metallic cases, using a difficult and state-of-the-art technology called flow forming. L&T Aerospace and Lakshmi Machine Works are investing in advanced composite-manufacturing facilities in Coimbatore. Inox specialises in vacuum-test facilities and cryogenic technology, and is creating engine-test facilities in Vadodara and working with Isro in Mahendragiri near Trivandrum. Startups too are in the fray Involving companies in research and development is a part of a new trend at Isro. So far, the model was different – develop technologies and transfer the process to private companies for manufacturing. But Isro is now working on so many programmes that it is hard to do everything by itself. “We have to develop new models,” says former Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan. “We cannot depend on models that were used in the last five decades.” Startups like Agnikul are at the forefront of this trend. This is a fantastic new opportunity for all of us. Look at what SpaceX is doing in the US. Costs have come down. We are at the cusp of something equally big. Siddharth Jain, director, Inox Group The IIT-Madras startup was set up to develop a rocket that can take a 100-kg payload to a low-earth orbit. The launcher is being developed as a three-stage rocket with a semi-cryogenic engine. It will use technologies like artificial intelligence and 3D printing. While Agnikul develops the rocket, it is also working on a project to 3D print a liquid engine for Isro. “It aligns with our vision,” says its co-founder Srinath Ravichandran. Apart from Karnataka, other states are pitching in to house startups, too. The Kerala government is developing a 20-acre space park in Thiruvananthapuram for private aerospace companies, of which 5 acres are for Isro-funded, private player-operated companies. One of its main components is a facility for acoustic, vibration and vacuum testing. The space park is expected to be teeming with startups. Launch vehicles have standard components that can be manufactured by private companies in advance. Satellites, on the other hand, are more hand-crafted. “Each satellite is different,” says P Kunhikrishnan, director, Isro Satellite Centre. “The components are harder to standardise.” Indian satellites have not had as much private-sector participation as launch vehicles. However, one startup has found a way to get involved in the development of electric propulsion. Bellatrix Aerospace was incubated in the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 2015. One of its founders, Rohan Ganapathy, had developed microwave plasma thrusters as a student at Anna University. He met former Isro chairman Kiran Kumar during an event, which led to a long conversation and eventually a project with ISRO. We have to develop new models. We cannot depend on models that were used in the last five decades. K Radhakrishnan, former chairman, Isro Bellatrix Aerospace, with generous help from former Isro directors P S Goel and BN Suresh, is developing electrical propulsion in a project with the Liquid Propulsions Systems Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The technology involves supplying electricity from solar panels to ionise the propellant and eject at high velocities. Isro expects electric propulsion to significantly reduce the weight of its satellites in the future. “This is not a commercial contract,” says Bellatrix co-founder Yashash Karanam. “Isro is supporting the project.” The bottom line Previous chairman Kumar had set the tone for this fast-paced change at Isro, which is hard to maintain. Recent failures – a PSLV launch, GSAT-11, the redesign of Chandrayaan spacecraft – have sent enough warning signs about the dangers of stretching too much. However, current chairman Sivan is confident. He wants to continue with the pace and pick up more ambitious projects. Around 400 companies now work with Isro. Over the next decade, as private-sector participation creates a large industry, observers expect this number to cross 1,000.