Bengaluru: The chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Kailasavadivoo Sivan Thursday reiterated that there is no proposal to privatise ISRO and space reforms are not aimed at privatisation.
Highlighting the importance of space reforms, which will allow private players to take part, K. Sivan said, "I want to say it again that this won't mean that ISRO is being privatised. That is a misconception and I want to assure you that Isro will continue to work as it has been. Sivan was attending a webinar organised by ISRO.
Sivan added, "ISRO has its eyes set on all destination in inner space. Activities of ISRO will be able to better use its resources in taking up capacity building and developmental activities."
Echoing the same view, Umamaheshwaran, Scientific Secretary to ISRO, said, "There is no proposal to privatise ISRO. The space reforms aim to allow the participation of private players in end-to-end space activity. Isro will continue to focus on new technology development, share its facilities with the private sector, enable them to utilise existing infrastructure."
Earlier, K. Sivan said, "Opening up of space sector for private enterprises will help scale up benefits from space technology and space-based application is exploding exponentially and ISRO cannot handle it alone."
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"Far-reaching reforms in space technology in India will put the country in the league of the select countries," he had stated.
The COVID-19-induced lockdown seems to have hit the Indian space missions after K Sivan confirmed that 10 space missions, being prepared for launch this year have been disturbed. Besides, the work on Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan missions have also stopped following the outbreak of the pandemic.
ISRO is dependent on the private sector for manufacturing equipment for its launch. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which provide equipment to the ISRO are among the worst-hit due to the lockdown, coupled with migration of labourers.
After the hard landing of Chandrayaan-2 last year, ISRO had planned to launch Chandrayaan-3, which was scheduled to be launched later this year.
Gaganyaan, the human space mission, envisages sending three Indians to space by 2022. The four test pilots selected for this mission are currently undergoing training in Russia, but even that was impacted due to coronavirus lockdown in the country.
