Lok Sabha Question No. 624 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-23
Subject: India's Space Technology Collaborations
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: Dr. K Sudhakar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 624 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2025 INDIA'S SPACE TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATIONS

## 624. DR. K SUDHAKAR:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a)
- the details of India's space technology collaborations;
- (b) the  details  of  support  given  to  the  Private  Sector  to  launch large scale missions in space;
- (c)
- the details and status of India's human spaceflight programme;
- (d) the extent to which indigenous technologies in exploration can be used;
- space
- (e) whether there are exported components used in space missions and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the details of extent to which the complete indigenisation in space technologies, especially with respect to the latest and emerging space technologies has been achieved?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

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- (a) Space  cooperative  documents  have  been  signed  with  61 countries and five multilateral bodies. The major areas of collaborations  are  satellite  remote  sensing,  satellite  navigation, satellite  communication,  space  science  and  planetary  exploration and capacity building.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is already working with the  space  agency  of  USA  (NASA)  for  realising  a  joint  satellite mission,  named  'NISAR  (NASA  ISRO  Synthetic  Aperture  Radar)' which is in the advanced stages of realisation. ISRO is working with CNES (French National Space Agency) for realising a joint satellite mission  named  'TRISHNA  (Thermal  Infrared  Imaging  Satellite  for High  Resolution  Natural  Resource  Assessment)',  which  is  in  the initial stages. ISRO and JAXA  (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have carried out a feasibility study to realise a joint lunar polar  exploration  mission.  ISRO  also  collaborated  with  NASA  and Axiom  Space  for  sending  its  astronaut  to  the  International  Space

Station.

- (b) The  details  of  support  given  to  private  sector  to  launch  large scale missions in space is as detailed below:
- i. The  space  sector  is  liberalized  to  allow  Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) to engage in full space activities.
- ii. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe)  is  established  to  promote,  enable,  authorize  and supervise the activities of NGEs.
- iii. The Indian Space Policy, 2023 is formulated along with Norms, Guidelines  &  Procedures  (NGP)  and  FDI  policy  to  ensure regulatory clarity and foster a thriving space ecosystem.
- iv.
- Various  schemes  were  introduced  like  Technology  Adoption Fund,  Venture  Capital  Fund  for  Space  sector,  Seed  Fund Scheme,  Pricing  Support,  Mentorship  and  Technical  Labs  to support start-ups and NGEs in Space Sector, signed 79 MoUs with NGEs and issued 77 authorizations as of 31.03.2025.
- v. Announcement of Opportunity was made for making available Indian  Orbital  Resources  to  the  NGEs  in  which  1  entity  is selected as successful bidder.
- vi. IN-SPACe has facilitated 2 successful sub-orbital flights from Indian  Space  startups  in  November,  2022  and  May,  2024 respectively.  In  addition  to  this,  6  NGEs  have  launched  14 satellites into orbit, demonstrating their capabilities.
- (c) As part of approval received by the Government for Gaganyaan Follow-on  Missions  leading  to  Precursor  for  Bhartiya  Space Station  (BAS)  -  Revision  in  Gaganyaan  Programme  on  9 th October 2024, the integrated schedule includes the following:
- i. Gaganyaan missions comprising of three uncrewed
- missions and one crewed mission
- ii. Precursor  missions  for  BAS  comprising  of  one  crewed mission, International Space Station (ISS) docking mission, BAS-1 mission and BAS-1 docking mission

The current status and key milestones achieved in the Gaganyaan programme, are as follows:

## New Developments:

- I. Human  Rated  Launch  Vehicle  (HLVM3):  Development and ground testing completed.
- II. Orbital  Module:  Propulsion  systems  for  Crew  Module and Service Module developed and tested. Environmental Control & Life Support System (ECLSS) engineering model realized.
- III. Crew Escape System (CES): 5 types of motors developed and static tested.
- IV. Infrastructure  established:  Orbital  Module  Preparation Facility, Gaganyaan Control Centre, Gaganyaan Control facility,  Crew  training  facility,  Second  Launch  pad modifications.
- V. Precursor Missions: A Test Vehicle developed  for validating  CES  and  flight  tested  in  TV-D1.  Activities progressing for TV-D2 and IADT-01.
- VI. Flight Operations and Communication Network: Ground network configuration finalized. IDRSS-1 feeder stations and terrestrial links established.
- VII. Crew Recovery Operations: Recovery assets finalized. Recovery Plan worked out.

First Uncrewed Mission (G1): C32-G stage and CES motors realised. HS200  Motors  and  CES  Fore  end  up  to  Crew  Module  Jettisoning Motor stacked. Crew Module and Service module structure realised. Crew Module Phase-1 checks completed.

## Towards BAS-1 mission

- preliminary configuration and preliminary accommodation studies for
- I. Major activities carried out including various systems.
- II. Overall system engineering of BAS-01 module and detailed  engineering  of  various  identified  subsystems have commenced.
- III. Hardware specification identification and interface requirements finalization are being carried out.
- IV. Configuration of various systems are being finalised.
- (d) Indigenous technologies can be used for space exploration in the  domain  of  several  remote  sensing  and  in  -  situ  payloads.  For remote sensing, matured indigenous technologies exist for spectrometers,  cameras,  telescopes,  seismometers,  as  well  as thermal probes. Such instruments have been flown in missions like AstroSat, Chandrayaan 1,2,3, Mars Mission, Aditya - L1, as well as XpoSat mission.

ISRO has achieved significant achievements in the use of indigenous  technologies  for  space  exploration  missions.  Some  of the key missions wherein the indigenous technologies are recently developed are-  docking  and  rendezvous  in  Spadex  mission,  lander and rover in Chandrayaan-3 mission, critical payloads in Aditya-L1 mission, satellite subsystems realized for earth observation, communication and navigation satellites, etc.

- (e) While  key  technologies  and  some  of  the  parts/  materials/ components  are  being  realized  within  the  country,  few  of  the Electrical,  Electronics  &  Electro-Mechanical  (EEE)  components,

carbon fibres, solar cells. Detectors, Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTAs), etc., are being imported. Indian  Space  programme  is  self-reliant  to  a  large  extent  towards realizing satellites and launch vehicles. As on today, the

Department is not exporting any aerospace product at any level. (f) As mentioned above, significant amount of progress has been achieved  in  terms  of  development  of  indigenous  technologies. However, certain parts/ materials/  components are being imported for  realization  of  the  satellite  systems.  As  on  today,  ISRO  has achieved capabilities in building expendable launch vehicles which can launch up to 4.2 tonne to Geo-Transfer Orbit (GTO). ISRO has also achieved self-reliance in building satellites for various applications  like  remote  sensing,  communication  and  navigation along  with  other  scientific  missions  to  the  moon  and  Mars.  With regard to emerging space technologies, ISRO has already taken up development of a partially reusable launch vehicle towards low-cost access to space and for which a LOX-Methane propulsion system is being developed by ISRO. During the past two years, ISRO conducted  landing  experiments  of  a  winged  body  vehicle  which performed autonomous runway landing. Further, an orbital flight of the winged body vehicle is also planned which will perform re-entry from an orbit and land on a runway autonomously.

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