Relevance: GS-3:Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology; Awareness in the fields of Space

Key Phrases: Roscosmos, Soyuz rockets, Indian Space Startups, Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos, Pixel, launch vehicles

Why in News?

• With the Russian government-backed space agency Roscosmos imposing restrictions on global commercial clients looking to launch their satellites aboard its Soyuz line of rockets, the Indian space sector may stand to gain commercial contracts as a fallout of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Key Points:

• Earlier this month, Roscosmos, announced that the agency will not carry on with the planned Soyuz missions of deploying 36 low-Earth communication satellites belonging to OneWeb — the satellite operations company that is partly owned by Indian telecom operator, Bharti Airtel.
• The move, among other announcements, was a retaliation from Russia against economic sanctions imposed on the country by Western nations such as the Uk and US following the invasion in Ukraine.
• Soyuz has been one of the most successful rockets, and has continuously attracted global commercial clients.
  • Since their inception 56 years ago, Soyuz rockets have been involved in over 2,000 global missions.
  • In 2021, there were a total of 22 Soyuz launches, which were all successful.
• If Roscosmos restricts access to Soyuz, then these clients are likely to look elsewhere to launch their satellites – and India is one such destination.
  • Experts agrees that the present scenario could lead to Indian space startups seeing increased interest from global clients.

Space Startups in India:

Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos are two private space startups in India that are looking to launch their own, indigenously built rockets in 2022. These rockets could stand to gain commercial clients backing away from the Russian Soyuz.

• Agnikul Cosmos
  • Founded in 2016, Agnikul Cosmos is an IIT Madras incubated space tech start-up currently working on developing its own small-lift launch vehicle called Agnibaan, capable of placing a 100 kg payload into a 700 km orbit.
  • Driven by LOX/Kerosene engines in all its stages, Agnibaan is configurable by the customer. Agnibaan doesn’t fly with the same number of engines all the time. The mission, the satellite and the launch port decide how many engines go on the first stage.
  • The launch vehicle will be manufactured using 3D printing for which Agnikul has signed an MoU with EOS India, a global leader in 3D printing technology.
  • The first commercial launch is expected in 2022. The start-up recently test-fired a fully 3D printed semi-cryo rocket engine.
• Skyroot Aerospace
  • It is also building rockets for launching payloads (satellites for now and in future humans as well) to space.
  • The startup has been actively developing its Vikram series of launch vehicles for the past two years, named after the father of the Indian Space program – Dr Vikram Sarabhai.
  • It’s plan in the near term is to commercialise Vikram-1 and roll out the follow-on variants Vikram-2 and 3.
  • These are essentially the same with a 20% upgrade but together cover the largest payload ranges from launching 1 kg to 700 kg of satellites. This is not possible using existing vehicles in the market.
  • It’s targeting the first orbital launch of Vikram 1 around mid-2022.
  • It has already test-fired a solid propulsion rocket engine named Kalam-5. A scaled-up version will be built and tested at ISRO’s facilities before powering the Vikram rocket by December 2021.
• Pixxel
  • Pixxel is aiming to put a constellation of more than 30 earth observation micro-satellites in space.
  • The startup primarily focuses on two things - developing the technology and setting up the infrastructure to build a constellation of satellites. The startup also has a machine learning platform to mine actionable insights from data.
  • Pixxel’s satellite constellation can provide global coverage every 24-hours, to detect, monitor, and predict global phenomena.
  • Satellite imagery and remote sensing data are invaluable tools for use cases such as weather, agriculture, commodities, and insurance.
  • Pixxel had planned to launch its first satellite ‘Anand’ in February 2021 but the launch was shelved for technical reasons.
  • Going ahead, the space tech startup plans to deploy the first phase of a constellation, consisting of six to eight satellites by December 2022. It will deploy the entire constellation by December 2023.

Concerns:

• The ripple effects of Russia’s decision to push back clients from Western nations will only be visible in the long term.
• Moreover, India will face stiff competition even if Russia withdraws support of its launchpads.
  • The United States, for example, has its own infrastructure and operators to launch their satellites through, so they will likely not be dependent on other nations as much.
• There could be a few clients who may look outside the already developed nations as a result of waiting times on the more established space companies, but that may not be a large number.
• Experts also cautioned that Russian and Chinese central space agencies could collaborate on various missions going forward, which in turn could create geopolitical factions in the space sector.
  • Under such circumstances, it is important that Indian space startups steer clear of political conflicts – which could disrupt their operations plans.

Way Forward:

• The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine would most likely not disrupt the current launch plans that Indian firms have for their rockets – both in the private sector and via the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• India does not have as heavy a launch schedule as Russia, China or the US as of now. Further, there is already over 80 percent indigenization of the production processes of rockets, space technologies and infrastructure in India.
  • The only area where India could remain dependent on other nations are for raw materials, like the sourcing of titanium, or raw components required for semiconductors – which are a key part of the space industry.
• Due to India’s fairly light launch schedule, any component crisis is also not likely to make an impact at least over the next two years.

Source: Live-Mint

Mains Question:

Q. With the exciting developments in space sector, the Indian space tech industry is on track for a space revolution. Discuss.