The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has released norms, guidelines, and procedures (NGP) for effective implementation of the Indian space policy that opened the sector to private players to engage in a range of activities from building and launching satellites to setting up ground stations and share remote sensing data.
The NGP document lists out space activities that need authorisation from IN-SPACe, specifies criteria for granting such authorisations and provides necessary guidelines/pre-requisites to be fulfilled by an applicant for making an authorisation application. Additionally, NGP will complement the government’s endeavour in providing a predictable regulatory regime, transparency, and ease of doing business in the Indian space sector.
According to the NGP document, any entity, whether Indian or foreign, carrying out space activities from Indian territory, its exclusive economic zone, or within its jurisdiction, needs authorisation from the IN-SPACe. The authorisation is required for a wide range of activities, including launching, operating, guiding, planning re-entry of space objects, establishing communication and remote sensing satellites, hosting payloads, operating space transportation systems, and disseminating high-resolution remote sensing data pertaining to Indian territory.
The NGP document added that only an Indian entity can apply to IN-SPACe seeking authorisation. Non-Indian entities desiring to conduct space activity in India can apply to IN-SPACe for authorisation through an Indian entity, which could be its Indian subsidiary, joint venture or any other collaboration arrangement recognised by the government.
It further added that the authorised representative/dealer of non-Indian entities can seek IN-SPACe authorisation for certain category of authorisations such as authorisation of non-Indian geosynchronous orbit (GSO) and/or non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite/constellation to enable provisioning of its capacity in India for communication services, dissemination of space-based earth observation/remote sensing data, etc.
Furthermore, it outlined the process for registering space objects in India’s national registry and makes it mandatory for operators to provide detailed information about their space objects, ensuring compliance with space debris mitigation guidelines and operational safety protocols.
