Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairperson S Somanath on Thursday said about 100 start-ups were registered with them and were working closely in various domains of the space sector.
Addressing a plenary session on Thursday here at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022 on ‘R&D of India – Innovation for Global Impact’, the chairman said ISRO had signed MoUs with companies to work closely which included handholding in space technology and building processes from the start to finish. He said a significant number of companies have the potential to become big players in the space sector and ISRO is playing the role of facilitator and helping in building technologies. He said out of 100 start-ups, at least 10 of them were working on developing satellites and rockets.
Somanath announced that the Chandrayaan III mission would be in orbit in a few months, adding that ISRO is working closely with NASA in space technology areas. He said the computer that was used in the rocket was made in India.
In his brisk presentation, he said space tourism has picked up in the world with start-ups evincing interest in various applications which impact day-to-day activities. He said ISRO is playing an important role in smart city projects and smart manufacturing processes.
He said some of the areas that ISRO is working on include bringing back satellite technology, propulsion systems used in engine manufacturing that have been successfully tested, green and hybrid propulsion systems, nuclear propulsion, the launch of small rockets with the use of additive technologies, energy storage systems, functional materials, carbon fibre technology, electronic devices, robotics, drone technologies, quantum technology used in encryption and disruptive technologies.
Earlier, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2020 and French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier, who is the scientific and managing director of Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin, gave a presentation on “A research journey towards the CRISPR-Cas genome engineering technology”.