PARLIAMENT QUESTION: SUPPORT TO STATES FOR THEIR INITIATIVES IN THE SPACE SECTOR

PARLIAMENT QUESTION: SUPPORT TO STATES FOR THEIR INITIATIVES IN THE SPACE SECTOR

Government of India through IN-SPACe, Department of Space, has sought willingness from state governments to establish spacemanufacturing clusters in their respective states. IN-SPACe will establish Common Technical Facilities within the space manufacturingclusters which will have capital intensive infrastructure required for realising the space systems.

With respect to support for state run universities, the followingschemes/initiatives have been introduced:

1.    IN-SPACe has developed curriculum for B.Tech. Minor Degree in SpaceTechnology. This curriculum is approved by AICTE for adoption bystates or central universities. Presently, 08 colleges affiliated withstates have adopted the space tech minor/major at various levels.

2.    IN-SPACe in association with ASI and ISRO has introduced CANSAT andModel Rocketry India Student competitions from 2023 onwards. For the IN-SPACe CANSAT /Model Rocketry India Student Competition 2024-25 atotal of 138 student teams from across various Indian states haveapplied. Eighty student teams from various states and centraluniversities are participating in the finals planned from October28-30, 2025 at Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.

The Government of India has earmarked Rs. 500 Crores, out of which up to Rs. 100 Crores per state can be provided for establishment of Common Technical Facilities.  The States need to approach to IN-SPACe with the detailed project proposal.

The type of space-related projects or initiative that states canpropose can be either Upstream (spacecraft/space systems and launchvehicle systems) or Midstream (Ground Stations/Hub) or Downstream (space applications/user terminals). However, states can opt to work with IN-SPACe for establishing space manufacturing cluster, Centre ofExcellence and adoption of Space Tech Education in the stateuniversities.

A Selection Committee, chaired by the Secretary, DoS, with representatives from IN-SPACe and the Office of Member (Finance), will evaluate the proposals received from the State Governments vis-à-vis the following pre-requisites:

IN-SPACe will identify, design, procure, install and commission the equipment at the respective common technical facilities. IN-SPACe will initially retain the ownership of the facilities and subsequently transfer to the State Government at a mutually agreed timeline. 

After the ownership transfer, the State Government shall assume full responsibility and bear all the expenses for Operation & Maintenance (O&M) of the common technical facilities. The mode of operations and maintenance of the facilities shall be decided by the respective state governments.

The expected outcomes of these initiatives on space development at the state level is given below:

IN-SPACe has established a Technical Centre wherein, the Indian industry venturing in space sector can have access to design tools, space system assembly, integration and testing facilities including climatic chambers, thermovac chambers, vibration test facility for testing and validating the space hardware.

This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, MoS Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.