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Space policy, private sector and governance
How space is governed and opened to private firms: space policy and its bodies, startups and the space economy, international cooperation and treaties, and debris and traffic in orbit. Prelims has asked about the part private entities play in India's space programme.
Showing 3 of 11 subjects, those that changed from 16 to 31 July 2026.Show all
The Artemis Accords
Copy link to The Artemis AccordsPrelims and Mains
The Artemis Accords are the terms on which the American lunar programme admits a partner, and India accepted them in 2023. They are principles rather than a treaty, which is both why the list of signatories grew so quickly and why the arrangement is contested.
- India was the twenty-seventh of about 70 signatories, a group that includes neither Russia nor China.
- Critics say the Accords sidestep the 1979 Moon Agreement.
European Space Agency
- Ground stations to track Gaganyaan, India's crewed spaceflight missions
CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales), France's space agency
- Built Megha-Tropiques and SARAL with ISRO
- TRISHNA, a joint thermal infrared mission tracking land surface temperature and evapotranspiration
- TRISHNA due on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) next year
What changed
10 Sep 2026
- More than 430 payloads from 34 countries have flown on Indian rockets.
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) aims at an indigenous space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, by 2035 and an Indian astronaut on the Moon by 2040.
PIB, 10 Sep 2026: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addresses the International Space Summit in Paris, France (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 10 Sep 2026: ESA to explore cooperation with ISRO in human space flight, lunar and Venus missions (opens in a new tab)
12 Aug 2026
The Hindu, 12 Aug 2026: NASA invites ISRO to join Moon Base programme (opens in a new tab)
12 Aug 2026
- NASA invited ISRO to join Moon Base at the ninth India and United States Civil Space Joint Working Group meeting.
- Moon Base is a planned crewed outpost near the lunar south pole, built in stages for research and lunar resources.
- Joining would build ISRO's experience for human spaceflight.
- ISRO would also risk being locked into NASA's technology ecosystem, and technology denial.
The Hindu, 12 Aug 2026: NASA invites ISRO to join Moon Base programme (opens in a new tab)
21 Jul 2026Updatealso in news
- Bengaluru hosts the India and United States Civil Space Joint Working Group in August. The group was set up in 2005.
The Hindu, 21 Jul 2026: Bengaluru to host India-U.S. space group meet in August (opens in a new tab)
Background reading: The Indian Express, 18 Aug 2026: What India stands to gain by joining NASA's Moon Base programme (opens in a new tab)
Policy and private sector
Indian Space Policy 2023
Copy link to Indian Space Policy 2023Prelims and Mains
The policy settled the division of labour in 2023, so the argument since has been about pace rather than direction. It also set the terms of the opening: what data is free, how much foreign money may come in, and what ISRO stops making.
- The frontier missions ISRO keeps for itself include Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035 and a crewed Moon landing by 2040.
- Earth observation data coarser than 5 m is made available free, while finer data is not.
- Foreign direct investment is allowed to 74 per cent by the automatic route for satellites, 49 per cent for launch vehicles and spaceports, and 100 per cent for components.
- About 450 space startups are registered, against a handful in 2020.
- India's space economy is about $8.4 billion, under 2 per cent of the world's, against a target of $44 billion by 2033.
ISRO
- Research and new technologies
- Share technology with industry
- Human spaceflight roadmap
- Move out of manufacturing operational systems
IN-SPACe
- Authorise launches, satellites, ground stations
- Promote and hand hold industry
- Open access to government facilities
NSIL
- Commercialise publicly developed technology
- Commercial launches for Indian and foreign clients
Non-governmental entities
- End to end space activities
- Build and operate satellites and ground assets
What changed
14 Sep 2026
6 Sep 2026
- ISRO's employee associations asked whether the agency would stop building launch vehicles and routine satellites; the answer given was that the shift is ecosystem expansion and not privatisation.
- The staff cite vacant posts, scientists leaving and revenue given up on commercial launches.
- Almost 80 per cent of ISRO's budget already goes to industry.
16 Aug 2026
- A kilogram to low earth orbit cost $13,302 on Indian rockets in 2025, the highest among major nations.
- The global average was $3,868 and the United States $3,225.
- The cause is rarity rather than inefficiency: India flew five launches that year, mostly on small rockets.
16 Jul 2026Update
- After about 100 personnel quit across centres, against a sanctioned strength of 18,142 with 2,613 posts vacant, the Department of Space directed that resignations and voluntary retirement of scientific staff linked to Gaganyaan and other critical projects not be accepted as routine until those projects are complete.
Background reading: The Indian Express, 7 Sep 2026: Private sector push is 'ecosystem expansion, not privatisation': ISRO allays staff concerns (opens in a new tab)
Space debris and re-entry
India's re-entry rules
Copy link to India's re-entry rulesPrelims and Mains
IN-SPACe issued India's first guidelines on planned re-entry on the third National Space Day. They settle a question of jurisdiction as much as one of safety, since a falling object does not consult the map beneath it.
- Any Indian entity carrying out a planned re-entry, anywhere, needs IN-SPACe authorisation.
- A foreign entity re-entering over Indian territory must work through an Indian incorporated entity answerable to Indian law.
- They draw on the United Nations Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities.
What changed
24 Aug 2026
The Hindu, 24 Aug 2026: India's first rules for planned re-entry of spacecraft (opens in a new tab)
30 Jul 2026Update
- IN-SPACe issued guidelines for the planned re-entry of space objects. Only objects designed to survive re-entry, or planned for it, need authorisation.
- Also in news: NASA launched a robotic mission to catch and tow the falling Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a stable orbit, a test of servicing satellites in orbit.
The Hindu, 30 Jul 2026: Guidelines issued for planned re-entry of space objects (opens in a new tab)
Also filed elsewhere
- Everest and full-flow staged combustion · on Launch vehicles, satellites and applications
The cycle an engine runs on decides how much of its propellant ends as thrust, and how hard the engine is to build.
- Vikram-1 · on Launch vehicles, satellites and applications
Vikram-1 is a four stage launch vehicle about 22 metres tall, built by Skyroot Aerospace of Hyderabad, with three solid stages and a restartable liquid upper stage called the Orbital Adjustment Module.