Thiruvananthapuram : Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said that India's space economy is poised to reach USD 40 billion by 2040, and scientists will also enjoy a better working environment. The Minister of State for Science and Technology & Atomic Energy and Space (Independent Charge) said that some foreign agencies like the AKD have predicted that this figure could even go up to USD 100 billion by 2040.
"At present, our space economy is not very impressive, as we have just about USD 8 million. But we are moving in quantum jumps, and in the foreign satellite launch alone, we have earned about EUR 230240 million for launching European satellites and about USD 170-180 million for launching American satellites," Singh said.
Speaking after inaugurating the 60th-anniversary celebrations of ISRO's rocket launch here on Saturday, Singh said that with the establishment of the National Research Foundation, Anu Sandhan, a better model of similar foundations existing in US, a significant industry presence could be established.
"With this, more than 70 per cent of our space resources are going to come from the non-government sector. So, this is also going to supplement our resources," the minister said. Agreeing with the fact that India did face a resource crunch in its space sector, he said, "We could tide it over with the great scientific acumen we have."
"We could even overtake other countries with that. Although they were the first to land a human on the Moon, Chandrayaan was the first to detect the H2O molecule," the minister said. He said the 'courageous' decision of the political dispensation to open up the space sector to private players has been a game-changer. "This has supplemented our resources both fund-wise and knowledge-wise," Singh added.