by Prasad Ganti

Initially, space was the exclusive domain of the governments. Even now, it is for most of the countries in the world except three. SpaceX started the efforts in the US. And now it plays a major role in democratizing access to space. Low cost launches, very frequent launches, reusable first stage of the rocket etc. The next step for SpaceX is to make the second stage reusable as well.  

The Chinese private sector then entered the race. LandSpace started with launches. Recently it was able to recover the first stage, which returned upright to a platform at sea. The reusable technology has entered the Chinese space program. 

The third country is India. Skyroot Aviation, founded in 2018 by former ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization)  employees, recently launched a four stage rocket with payload into low earth orbit. Following an earlier successful suborbital flight. The private sector is more involved in the entire spectrum of space related activities. Efforts are also on to reuse the first stage.  

The four stage rocket, named Vikram-1, is about seven storeys tall. It is made of all-carbon composites. It can carry payloads of up to 350 kgs into low earth orbit. The rocket engines propelling the rocket were developed in-house using 3D printing. The high-performance solid rocket motors were also developed in-house. 

Space programs need the private sector participation. For optimizing the operations and design. To make space more affordable and reliable. There is a lot of demand for launching small satellites. Governments alone cannot meet this demand. Nor are the governments nimble enough to speed up adoption with lower costs. Besides, rocket launches are a commercial business now. There are profits to be made. The private sector has enough incentive to make the investments and reap the accruing benefits.    

While the government can still continue with their basic research and exploration.Once their research yields fruits and becomes a repeatable process, the private sector can take over and bring optimization and efficiencies to the process. The private-public combination can achieve optimal gains. It is said that the government is like a thumb, very powerful but not as nimble, while the private sector is nimble but not as powerful as the thumb. As we know from our experience, we need both the thumb and the fingers to grip anything or to get any useful work done.   

Vikram-I was not just an experimental flight. It did carry commercial payloads. The mission carried SCOPE, Skyroot’s Earth observation satellite; SOLARAS, a CubeSat developed by Grahaa Space to study solar activity; Embrace, an orbital robotic arm demonstration by Cosmoserve Space for space debris capture; and two technology demonstration payloads, uD3PP and mD3RN, built by Germany-based DCubed. 

Another unique payload, called Micro-Art, featured an 18-karat gold micro-sculpture carrying microscopic portraits of Indian space pioneers Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Sir C.V. Raman.

Hopefully, other major players like ESA and Japan will get their private sectors to participate in their respective space programs and get good benefits and achieve faster progress.