Chandrayaan-3 success encouraged startups to tap space sector: Nambi Narayanan

Chennai: The historic success of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon has captured the attention of several startups to tap the Indian space sector, said former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa said the achievements of space scientists and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) should be celebrated.

Rajaa and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan took part in the launch of space technology accelerator "Vaanam" (Tamil word meaning sky) backed by its co-founders Sameer Bharat Ram and Hariharan Vedamurthy, on Wednesday.

The space tech aims to nurture startups in the space sector by offering its expertise including seed fundings among others.

"We are evaluating about 6 startups this year (to offer its expertise)", Ram said.

According to him, the Indian space economy pegged at USD 13 billion is expected to touch USD 44 billion in 10 years.

Ram said Nambi Narayanan and actor Madhavan, who played the role of Narayanan himself, in the multilingual film 'Rocketry', have been inducted into the Board of Vaanam Space Tech accelerator.

Narayanan in a 'Fireside Chat' organised at the event observed that though there are about 189 startups in space technology, 'majority' of them were engaged in what ISRO did 50 years ago.

"Why do you want to do something that ISRO did 50 years ago? You need to do what ISRO needs today and in that you will be able to compete globally, particularly with other countries." he said.

Narayanan expressed his long-term desire to set up an Asia Aeronautics Space Agency (AASA) comprising Asian countries, in line with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States.

"You may induct countries like Maldives, Mayanmar if they are interested (to set up the Asian Space Agency)" he said.

Welcoming Narayanan's view, Rajaa remarked that the achievements of ISRO and space scientists should be celebrated and showcased to the world.

"We need to celebrate these victories, instead of showcasing it as just one event. Achievements of ISRO and space scientists like Narayanan should be told (to the world)" he said.

Chennai holds third position in the presence of startups engaged in the space sector while the majority of such startups were based out of Bengaluru, he added.

Narayanan said academic institutions should forge a partnership with space agencies like ISRO to foster education on space technology to students.

He said it was the Princeton university that forged a partnership with NASA to tap the space sector allowing students to explore the opportunities in space tech.

"We need to tell kids, schools about space technology. It should be taken into the curriculum," he said and opined that a space exploration facility be set up to encourage kids.

"Maybe, the space exploration facility can accommodate about 100 students who will get an opportunity to see and feel how it will be in space and how other planets look from Earth. It may be like a simulation. This will encourage them ", Narayanan said.

Referring to the DMK government's ambitious 'Naan Mudhalvan' scheme, Minister Raja said it enables youngsters to explore opportunities in various sectors including 'space sector'.

Vaanam Co-founder Hariharan Vedamurthy, in a video message, said the space sector was facing challenges like budget constraints, technology gap and lack of human resource.

Vaanam's mission is to be India's first shop to accelerate space tech innovations, garner commercial know-how, and expertise to achieve a product-market fit in a short time.

"In India, in recent years, we have been seeing many startups sprouting up catering to these demands, yet there is a whitespace in a solid commercialisation framework to bring these great demands to market. This is where Vaanam steps in to help bridge the commercialisation gaps these startups encounter and bring their innovations to market..." he said.