Indian rockets in great demand globally: Ex-ISRO chief S Somanath
What's the story
Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath has said that Indian rockets are in "great demand" globally. However, he also emphasized that the country is unable to meet this demand due to a lack of manufacturing capacity. He made these remarks during a panel discussion at Accel's Advanced Manufacturing Summit in Bengaluru today.
Manufacturing challenge
Availability v/s demand
Somanath stressed that the high demand for Indian rockets is not the issue, but rather their availability. He said, "But the problem is availability, it's controlled by our ability to manufacture in numbers." This highlights a major gap between India's technological prowess and its industrial capability. Despite advancements in space tech through missions like Chandrayaan and Gaganyaan, production remains largely centralized and mission-specific instead of being focused on volume manufacturing.
Production limitations
Custom-built spacecrafts
Somanath also pointed out that spacecrafts are not off-the-shelf products but custom-built ones. He said, "Spacecrafts are not products that can be built and sold off the shelf. They are often custom-built, and there's limited infrastructure to produce them at scale." This comment comes as the global commercial space industry is growing rapidly, with private Indian companies like Agnikul and Pixxel trying to break into international launch and satellite markets.
Partnership challenges
Difficulty in finding industrial partners
Somanath also said that even ISRO, a public sector organization with decades of experience, finds it difficult to find industrial partners with the required expertise in propulsion systems, precision tooling, as well as composite materials. He said if one wants to build a rocket engine in India, they still have to depend on firms like Godrej for manufacturing. But these organizations can't assemble everything themselves and the final assembly still comes back to ISRO.
Industrial base
Need for skilled manpower
The panel discussion also revolved around India's industrial base in high-tech manufacturing, especially aerospace, defense, and electronics. Somanath said, "We have good designers but not enough people who understand manufacturing itself, tooling processes thermal design or materials." Despite recent reforms like opening the space sector to private players and permitting more foreign direct investment (FDI) in defense, translating these changes into large-scale production will take more than just deregulation.