Loading…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the CEOs and founders of 20 space startups at Seva Teerth in New Delhi on 21 August 2026.
The startups work across rockets and reusable semi-cryogenic launch vehicles, avionics, satellites, advanced propulsion, space and defence intelligence, space debris removal and AI-powered hyperlocal weather intelligence.
The Prime Minister asked the sector to widen the everyday applications of space technology, to collaborate with other sectors such as environment and agriculture, and to work with Atal Tinkering Labs to build interest in space among schoolchildren.
Single-window autonomous agency that promotes, enables, authorises and supervises the space activities of non-government entities - building launch vehicles and satellites, offering space-based services, and sharing or creating space infrastructure. Created in June 2020 when the space sector was opened to private participation.
The commercial arm of ISRO - a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Department of Space, established on 6 March 2019. It commercialises space technologies built with public money and enables Indian industry to take up high-technology space work on a demand-driven basis.
ISRO's first commercial and marketing arm, incorporated in September 1992. After NSIL was created in 2019 the bulk of the fresh commercial mandate moved to NSIL, and Antrix largely handles legacy contracts and disputes. Exams frequently test the Antrix-versus-NSIL distinction.
The Government of India's flagship innovation and entrepreneurship initiative, established in 2016. It runs the Atal Tinkering Labs programme in schools, which the Prime Minister asked space startups to work with.
Open the space sector to private participation and end ISRO's near-monopoly on end-to-end space activity in India.
Key: IN-SPACe was created on 24 June 2020 as the autonomous nodal agency under the Department of Space to authorise and supervise private space activity and give private players access to ISRO facilities.
Set out a clear division of roles across India's space institutions so that private industry can plan investment with certainty.
Key: Approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security on 6 April 2023 and made public on 20 April 2023. It fixes the roles of the Department of Space (nodal department), ISRO (research and advanced technology development), IN-SPACe (authorisation and promotion of non-government entities) and NSIL (commercialisation), and allows private entities into end-to-end space activities.
Attract foreign capital and technology into satellite manufacturing, launch vehicles and space components.
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 21 February 2024 and notified by gazette on 16 April 2024. It sets three separate automatic-route caps - 74% for satellite manufacturing and operation, satellite data products and the ground segment; 49% for launch vehicles, associated systems and spaceports; and 100% for the manufacture of components, systems and sub-systems for satellites, ground and user segments. Investment beyond these caps requires government approval.
Supply risk capital to space startups that conventional lenders will not fund, and stop Indian space talent from moving abroad.
Key: A Rs 1,000 crore fund approved by the Union Cabinet on 24 October 2024, to be operated under the aegis of IN-SPACe, with a deployment period of up to five years and investment planned in 30-35 startups.
Build a culture of hands-on innovation and problem-solving among school students.
Key: Launched in 2016 under the Atal Innovation Mission at NITI Aayog; over 10,000 labs have been set up across states and Union Territories. The Union Budget 2025-26 announced 50,000 more Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools over five years.
Antrix Corporation Limited incorporated as ISRO's first commercial and marketing arm.
NewSpace India Limited established as a CPSE under the Department of Space.
IN-SPACe created; the space sector is opened to private participation.
Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-S, India's first privately built rocket, makes a sub-orbital flight from Sriharikota under Mission Prarambh.
Indian Space Policy 2023 approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
Union Cabinet approves the liberalised FDI policy for the space sector (notified 16 April 2024).
Agnikul Cosmos flies Agnibaan SOrTeD, powered by a single-piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine, from its own launchpad 'Dhanush' at Sriharikota.
Union Cabinet approves the Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund for space startups under IN-SPACe.
Skyroot's Vikram-1 becomes the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach orbit, lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and placing payloads in a roughly 450 km low Earth orbit.
A cryogenic engine burns two propellants that must both be kept at extremely low temperatures - liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. A semi-cryogenic engine keeps only the oxidiser cryogenic (liquid oxygen) and burns it with refined kerosene (RP-1), which is stored at ordinary temperature. Kerosene is denser, cheaper, easier to handle and non-toxic, so a stage can carry more propellant mass in the same tank volume. ISRO's semi-cryogenic engine, developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre and designated SE-2000 (earlier SCE-200), is a 2,000 kN (2 MN) thrust-class engine intended to replace the Vikas-engine-powered L110 stage of the LVM3 and to power future heavy-lift vehicles. Its Power Head Test Article was hot-tested at 175 tonnes of thrust on 24 June 2026 at the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, on the way to full 200-tonne capability.
Simple Analogy: A fully cryogenic engine is like cooking with two ingredients that both have to be kept in a deep freezer; a semi-cryogenic engine keeps one in the freezer and takes the other straight off the shelf - simpler handling, and you can pack more of it into the same container.
Debris-removal startups were represented at the interaction, and the Prime Minister suggested they partner environmental organisations. ISRO's own response to the same problem runs through its Debris Free Space Missions goal and its space-object tracking work, making this a ready example for questions on the sustainability of outer space.
The 2024 space FDI norms follow the standard Indian pattern of an automatic route up to a cap and the government route above it - the same design used in insurance, defence and telecom, a favourite comparison in Prelims.
The call to link space startups with Atal Tinkering Labs sits alongside the Budget 2025-26 announcement of 50,000 more ATLs, which is how the innovation push reaches the school system.
The Rs 1,000 crore space venture capital fund is a sector-specific version of the risk-capital logic behind the Fund of Funds for Startups and the Startup India initiative.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology > Space Technology, Indigenisation and Policy
General Awareness > Science and Technology > Indian Space Programme
Atal Innovation Mission is set up under the
Answer: NITI Aayog
Space policy and institutional architecture appear regularly in UPSC Prelims Science and Technology, and India's space reforms recur as GS3 Mains material.
Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre - the autonomous single-window agency under the Department of Space, created in June 2020 and headquartered in Ahmedabad, that authorises and supervises non-government space activity.
NewSpace India Limited - ISRO's commercial arm, a CPSE under the Department of Space established on 6 March 2019, headquartered in Bengaluru.
The term the Indian Space Policy 2023 uses for private and non-government players permitted to carry out end-to-end space activities under IN-SPACe authorisation.
A rocket engine burning liquid oxygen with refined kerosene (RP-1); ISRO's SE-2000/SCE-200 is a 2,000 kN-class engine developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre for the LVM3 and future heavy-lift vehicles.