ISRO's SSLV, private players Skyroot, Agnikul eye share in small satellite business
ISRO's latest satellite launch vehicle ' SSLV' is the first rocket in its category to be ready for commercialisation with two others, 'Vikram' from Skyroot and 'Agnibaan' from Agnikul Cosmos, expected to vie for market share to place small satellites in orbit. According to industry estimates, the satellite launch market in India is expected to grow from USD 720 million in 2022 to USD 3.5 billion by 2033 and small satellites are likely to be the most preferred modes for a number of applications ranging from providing internet connectivity to earth observation.
Space start-ups such as Pixxel and Satsure have already announced plans to have constellations of small satellites for the range of services they plan to offer and Indian launch vehicles will vie to be the preferred rockets to place these satellites in orbit.
«Larger launch vehicles are there, but with a large number of satellites being launched, companies do not want to wait, they want to launch a satellite as soon as they can and small vehicles are tailor made for them,» Lt Gen A K Bhatt (retd), Director General of Indian Space Association, told PTI.
Pixxel is also considering using ISRO's launch vehicles to place its hyper-spectral satellites in orbit later this year.
«Right now, of the six satellites we are building, three of them will launch with SpaceX and three with ISRO,» Pixxel CEO Awais Ahmed told PTI in July.
Bhatt said the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) was also in discussion with various government
