Science & Technology Quiz: India's Private Space Sector: IN-SPACe, NSIL and Start-ups

The correct answer is B, Ahmedabad. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, IN-SPACe, is an autonomous body under the Department of Space with its headquarters at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the city where India's space programme itself began at the Physical Research Laboratory founded by Vikram Sarabhai. IN-SPACe authorises and supervises the space activities of private companies and lets them use ISRO's facilities. Option A is wrong because Bengaluru is the headquarters of ISRO itself, of Antrix Corporation and of NewSpace India Limited, which is why it is the common wrong choice here. Option C is wrong because Hyderabad is the home of the launch-vehicle start-up Skyroot Aerospace and of ISRO's Nuclear Fuel Complex neighbours, not of IN-SPACe. Option D is wrong because Thiruvananthapuram hosts the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, where launch vehicles are developed.

The correct answer is B, 2019. NewSpace India Limited was incorporated in 2019 as a public sector undertaking under the Department of Space, with its registered office at Bengaluru. It runs demand-driven missions, owns and operates satellites, has launch vehicles built by Indian industry and transfers ISRO's technology to private firms. Option A is wrong because 1992 is the year Antrix Corporation, the older commercial arm of the department, was set up; a question often pairs the two years to see whether a candidate can tell the two companies apart. Option C is wrong because 2020 is the year the space sector reforms were announced and IN-SPACe was created. Option D is wrong because 2023 is the year the Indian Space Policy was approved, which defined the roles of ISRO, NSIL and IN-SPACe.

The correct answer is B, Vikram-S. Vikram-S was built by Skyroot Aerospace of Hyderabad and flew a sub-orbital mission from Sriharikota in November 2022 under the name Mission Prarambh, which means beginning. It was the first rocket designed and built by an Indian private company to fly, and it is named after Vikram Sarabhai. Option A is wrong because Agnibaan, of Agnikul Cosmos, flew later, in 2024, although its SOrTeD flight set its own record for a single-piece three-dimensionally printed engine. Option C is wrong because the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle is ISRO's own rocket and its first developmental flight was in 2022 from Sriharikota. Option D is wrong because Rohini sounding rockets are ISRO's own series, flown since the early years of the programme.

The correct answer is A, Prarambh. Skyroot Aerospace named the maiden flight of Vikram-S Mission Prarambh, a Sanskrit word meaning beginning, because it was the first flight by a private Indian rocket. The vehicle rose on a sub-orbital path from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and carried three small customer payloads. Option B is wrong because SOrTeD, short for Sub-Orbital Technology Demonstrator, is the name of the Agnikul Cosmos flight of Agnibaan in 2024, a different company and a different year. Option C is wrong because Pragyan is the name of the rover carried by India's Chandrayaan missions to the Moon. Option D is wrong because Prathama is not the name of any Indian space mission, and is included only as a plausible-sounding distractor.

The correct answer is B. Agnibaan SOrTeD, flown by Agnikul Cosmos of Chennai in 2024, carried the Agnilet engine, a semi-cryogenic engine printed as a single piece, and it lifted off from a launch pad the company had built for itself at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Both the printed engine and the private launch pad were firsts for India. Option A is wrong because solid propellant has been used in Indian rockets since the Rohini sounding rockets and the SLV-3; Agnibaan in fact uses a liquid and gaseous combination. Option C is wrong because SOrTeD was a sub-orbital technology demonstration and did not attempt orbit; the first Indian rocket to reach orbit was the SLV-3 in 1980. Option D is wrong because no Indian booster has yet landed back for reuse, although ISRO has tested landing technologies separately.

The correct answer is C, 1992. Antrix Corporation Limited was set up in 1992 at Bengaluru as a wholly government-owned company under the Department of Space, to market the products and services of the Indian space programme abroad, including launch services, satellite capacity and remote sensing data. Option A is wrong because 1969 is the year ISRO itself was formed, on the fifteenth of August. Option B is wrong because 1972 is the year the Space Commission and the Department of Space were created, which brought the programme under a department reporting to the Prime Minister. Option D is wrong because no space body of note was created in 2003; the next commercial body after Antrix was NewSpace India Limited in 2019, and the examiner's trap is to mix up the two companies and their years.

The correct answer is C, IN-SPACe. Under the reforms of 2020 and the Indian Space Policy of 2023, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre is the single-window autonomous body that authorises, promotes, hand-holds and supervises the space activities of non-government entities, and that permits them to use the facilities of the Department of Space. Option A is wrong because ISRO is the research and development agency; under the new division of labour it is to concentrate on advanced missions and transfer proven technology to industry rather than regulate it. Option B is wrong because NSIL is a commercial company, a buyer and seller in the market, not a regulator. Option D is wrong because Antrix is the older commercial arm and also has no regulatory role; mixing up the regulator with the two commercial companies is the usual mistake.

The correct answer is C, 74 per cent. The amendment approved by the Union Cabinet in February 2024 divides space activities into three groups with different automatic-route ceilings. Satellite manufacturing and operation, satellite data products and the ground and user segment are open to foreign investment up to 74 per cent through the automatic route, and investment beyond that level requires government approval. Option A is wrong because 49 per cent is the automatic-route ceiling for launch vehicles, their systems or sub-systems, and spaceports. Option B is wrong because 51 per cent is not a ceiling used anywhere in the space policy, although it appears in other sectors. Option D is wrong because 100 per cent through the automatic route applies only to the manufacture of components, systems and sub-systems for satellites and for the ground and user segment.

The correct answer is C, manufacturing of components and sub-systems. Under the policy amended in 2024, the manufacture of components, systems and sub-systems for satellites and for the ground and user segment is open to foreign direct investment up to 100 per cent through the automatic route, the most liberal of the three groups, because it is a manufacturing activity with the least strategic sensitivity. Option A is wrong because launch vehicles and spaceports are open only up to 49 per cent through the automatic route, government approval being needed beyond that. Option B is wrong because satellite manufacturing and operation and data products stand at 74 per cent automatic. Option D is wrong because the whole point of the amendment was to allow full automatic-route investment in the component segment, where before it the rules were far tighter.

The correct answer is C, 2023. The Indian Space Policy was approved in 2023 and set out in writing the division of work that the reforms of 2020 had begun: private companies, called non-government entities, may carry out the whole range of space activities; ISRO is to concentrate on research and advanced missions; NSIL is to act commercially in the demand-driven mode; and IN-SPACe is to be the single window for authorisation. Option A is wrong because 2019 is the year NSIL was incorporated. Option B is wrong because 2020 is the year the reforms were announced and IN-SPACe was created, before any policy document existed. Option D is wrong because 2024 is the year of the foreign direct investment amendment for the space sector, a separate decision taken by the Union Cabinet.

The correct answer is C, Tamil Nadu. Kulasekarapattinam lies in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, on the southern coast, and is being developed as a spaceport for small satellite launch vehicles. Its advantage is geographical: a rocket launched southward from there flies straight out over the sea, while one launched from Sriharikota has to turn to avoid passing over Sri Lanka, and avoiding that turn saves fuel and allows a heavier payload. Option A is wrong because Andhra Pradesh is where the existing spaceport, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, stands. Option B is wrong because Kerala hosts the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, used for sounding rockets, not orbital launches. Option D is wrong because Odisha has the Chandipur integrated test range, which is a missile testing range of the defence establishment.