ISRO Assures Key Role Amid Space Privatisation
India’s space agency ISRO has sought to ease concerns over the government’s push to expand private-sector participation in the space industry. The agency said it will remain the country’s principal institution for advanced space research, national missions, space science and critical space technologies, stressing that it will neither be privatised nor lose its importance.
The statement came after an ISRO staff association sought clarification over reports that some manufacturing and operational activities could be transferred to private and state-run companies. The government has been encouraging greater private participation in the sector since opening it to private firms in 2020, with companies increasingly taking on rocket manufacturing and other activities previously led by ISRO.
Space regulator IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka also said ISRO’s role is not diminishing and that it will remain the foundation of India’s space sector. He said the reforms are aimed at expanding the country’s overall space ecosystem while allowing private companies to play a larger role.
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