New Delhi: The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-Space), a government-affiliated space projects and incubation body, on Thursday sought initial bids or expressions of interest (EoI) from domestic companies to design, build, own, operate and maintain earth observation satellites.
The project marks one of the first moves from the Centre to become a key customer for India’s fledgling private space sector, a factor that most industry stakeholders have highlighted of late.
On 28 June, Mint reported that the Centre will offer funding and ancillary support to launch 12 earth observation (EO) satellites in a public-private partnership model. This is the first of one such project.
Interested private space entities can apply for the project, which may include multiple EO satellites, subject to meeting funding, valuation or revenue criteria.
To qualify, space firms must have raised at least ₹85 crore ($10.1 million) in funding—reduced to ₹42.5 crore ($5.1 million) for startups. Alternatively, applying entities must be valued at ₹850 crore ($101 million), or have an average annual revenue of ₹200 crore ($23.9 million) over a period of three years.
Applicants can register and send queries regarding the project to In-Space by 1 August, and a “pre-EoI conference” will be held with interested parties on 8 August. Startups and other firms will be allowed to submit their applications for the project by 10 September.
In-Space’s project description for the tender states that the satellite will seek to “reduce foreign dependency for space-based EO data, and increase the space economy of our country.” EO satellites have so far been typically designed and launched by the central space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which built the satellites in partnership with partner vendors such as Ananth Technologies and others. Such services are also generally used by government bodies for varying purposes such as forestry, weather and land surveys.
Monetizing data
A summary page of the EoI document stated that the private firm with the winning presentation for the project will “have the opportunity to monetize space data and related services, thereby increasing (their) presence in the global geospatial market—and positioning India as a major global data provider.”
“It is envisaged that the upstream infrastructure of the satellite constellation, with advanced imaging technology, will create significant downstream commercial potential, resulting in more competitive products,” Pawan Goenka, chairman of In-Space said in a press statement.
Entities such as Bengaluru-headquartered Pixxel and Galaxeye are among startups that are working on creating an ecosystem of earth observation and imaging satellites—and could be among qualifying entities for the project.
The move comes amid a broad-based call from stakeholders of the Indian space ecosystem for the Centre to become an anchor customer for India’s private space startups. Last month, Mint reported a lack of demand from within the Centre—a factor that Isro chief, S Somanath, also concurred upon last month. Projects such as this could help set the norm for the Centre to seek such initiatives.