Indian Space Sector

• The ISRO was established in August 1969.
• The Government of India constituted the Space Commission and established the Department of Space (DOS) in June 1972 and brought ISRO under DOS in September 1972.
• Space activities in the country were initiated with the setting up of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962.
• Through the last four decades, India's space programme has attracted global attention for its accelerated rate of development.
• India's space programme stands out as one of the most cost-effective in the world.
• India's cost-effective space programme has launched 51 satellites for 20 countries to date and has the potential to serve as the world's launchpad.
• The ISRO has forged a strong relationship with a large number of industrial enterprises, both in the public and private sector, to implement its space projects.
• With the ISRO undertaking the development of cutting-edge technologies and interplanetary exploratory missions, there is a tremendous scope in contributions to the realisation of operational missions and new areas such as satellite navigation.
• 33 countries and three multinational bodies have formal co-operative arrangements in place with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• 30 spacecraft in differing orbital paths.
• Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 21st flight (PSLV-C19), launched India's first radar imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) from Sriharikota on April 26, 2012 of which one orbited India's Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1) and the other a French Remote Sensing Satellite SPOT-6 and the Japanese satellite PROITERES.
• In its 22nd flight (PSLV-C21), PSLV successfully launched the French earth observation satellite SPOT-6, along with Japanese micro-satellite PROITERES from Sriharikota on 09.09.2012.
• India's heaviest communication satellite, GSAT-10, was successfully launched by Ariane-5 VA 209 from Kourou, French Guiana on 29.09.2012.
• PSLV, in its 23rd flight (PSLV-C20), successfully launched Indo-French Satellite SARAL along with six smaller foreign satellites from Sriharikota on 25.02.2013.
• ISRO currently has a constellation of nine communication satellites, 1 meteorological satellite, 10 earth observation satellites and one scientific satellite.
• The technologies licensed by ISRO to industries for commercialisation include Multi-Layer Printed Antenna Technology and DDV 100 Resin system.
• ISRO provides technical consultancy services to industries and R&D institutions in diverse areas of its expertise.

SATELLITE COMMUNICATION POLICY:

• A policy framework for Satellite Communication in India (approved by Government in 1997).
• The norms, guidelines and procedures for implementation of the Policy Framework for Satellite Communications in India, approved by the government in the Year 2000.
• INSAT Co-ordination Committee.
• Remote Sensing Data Policy 2011.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

• Formal co-operative arrangements are currently in place with space agencies of 33 countries and three multinational bodies, namely, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Egypt, European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), European Organisation for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), European Space Agency (ESA), France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Norway, Peru, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, the Netherlands, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Venezuela.
• The areas of co-operation address mainly remote sensing of the earth, satellite communication, launch services, telemetry and tracking support, space exploration, space law and capacity building.
• ISRO and the French National Space Agency (CNES) have worked in synergy to make available data products from Indo-French Megha-Tropiques satellite to the global scientific community for validation activities.
• India-USA space cooperation made significant progress during last year and several follow-up actions of the third meeting of India-USA Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation held at Bangalore in July 2011 were actively pursued.
• The wind products derived from OCEANSAT-2 Scatterometer are disseminated globally since October 2012 for operational global applications through an arrangement with EUMETSAT.
• The processed data from meteorological satellites of other nations are made available by EUMETSAT to Indian scientific community through a system called 'EUMETCast'.
• ISRO and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working on the development of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) planned on ISRO's multi wavelength astronomy satellite ASTROSAT.
• ISRO continues to share its facilities, expertise and services in the application of space technology through hosting of United Nations (UN) affiliated Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP). As of now, there are more than 1100 beneficiaries from 52 countries.
• ISRO, on behalf of India, continues to play an active role in the deliberation of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPUOS).

Foreign Direct investment (FDI) Policy in Space sector

• 74 per cent is allowed in Satellites- establishment and operation, subject to the sectoral guidelines of Department of Space/ISRO after Government route.

Source :www.makeinindia.com