‘ISRO’s success march may space out US’

Such a move, corporate leaders and officials of the fast- emerging American private space industry told lawmakers this week would be detrimental to the future health of the private sector US space companies as it would be tough for them to compete against low-cost Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicles, which they alleged are subsidised by the Indian government. 

“I think the concern about using Indian boosters is not so much the transfer of sensitive technology to a nation that is a fellow democracy, but rather whether the Indian launches are subsidised by the government to a degree that other market actors would be priced out of the market,” Elliot Holokauahi Pulham, CEO of Space Foundation, said.

Testifying before a Congressional committee, Pulham said there has been some discussion about allowing US built satellites to fly on boosters such as the Indian PSLV. Eric Stallmer, president Commercial Spaceflight Federation, opposed efforts to facilitate a government- subsidised foreign launch company.

“In this case, India, to compete with US companies. Such policy runs counter to many national priorities and undermines the work and investment that has been made by the government and industry to ensure the health of the US commercial space launch industrial base,” Stallmer said. 

Meanwhile, India is all set to have its own satellite navigation system, with the space agency gearing up for the launch of the seventh and final navigation satellite IRNSS-1G by the workhorse launch vehicle PSLV-C33 on April 28 from the SHAR Range at Sriharikota, about 80 km from here. ISRO sources said that the launch would take place at 1250 hrs from the First Launch Pad.