New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) As Chandrayaan-3 began its journey towards the moon on Friday, space sector start-ups are looking forward to international collaborations in space exploration as well as commercial lunar payload services which could be available on account of India signing the Artemis Accords.
Grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (OST), the Artemis Accords are a non-binding set of principles designed to guide civil space exploration and use in the 21st century. It is an American-led effort to return humans to the moon by 2025, with the ultimate goal of expanding space exploration to Mars and beyond.
"The Artemis Accords will itself bring a lot of opportunities to contribute to NASA’s programme. There is something called commercial lunar payload services, where NASA will be giving out contracts to multiple countries to enable delivery of robotic spacecraft to the moon," Pawan Goenka, chairman, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) said.
Goenka said the signing of the Artemis Accords could also open the doors for doing joint projects with US companies and access American markets.
Lt Gen A K Bhatt (retd), director general of Indian Space Association (ISpA), which represents the space sector industry, said the Artemis Accords permit signatory nations to participate in various activities related to the lunar economy.
"India becoming a signatory to the Artemis Accords opens opportunities in the US and all other countries also. This is also not limited to the government but also the private sector," he said.
Founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based space start-up Pixxel, Awais Ahmed, said the signing of the Artemis Accords opens up opportunities for Indian space startups to also look at future space exploration opportunities.
"The US is the largest market for space products and businesses and specifically the US Government at that. The US government procurement has been limited to US companies and allied countries. With the relationship blossoming, there is the possibility of that market opening up to Indian companies which is not the case now," said Ahmed.
Pixxel has bagged a five-year contract with the National Reconnaissance Office of the US for supply of earth observation imagery for its satellites.
Skyroot co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana said the recent signing of the Artemis Accords and joint mission between the US and ISRO to send Indian astronauts to the International Space Station will give India access to both technology and the US market.
"This is a boost for the Indian space industry as the US is the world's largest market in the space sector," Chandana told PTI.
According to Euroconsult, a global strategy consulting firm specialising in the space sector, the global space economy was pegged at USD 424 billion in 2022 and expected to rise by 80 per cent to USD 740 billion by 2031.