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HAL outbids Adani-backed firm to bag transfer of tech of SSLV from Isro
Fighter jet manufacturer HAL was the standalone bidder for the coveted contract to build the Isro-designed rocket and was pitted against the two consortia -- one led by Alpha Design Technologies, backed by the Adani Group, and the other led by Hyderabad-based Bharat Dynamics Limited.
HAL presented the winning bid of Rs 511 crore to emerge as the sole manufacturer of the SSLV after the completion of the process of transfer of technology that is expected to take place over the next two years.
"Under this technology-transfer agreement, HAL will have the capability to independently build, own and commercialise SSLV launches," Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (INSPACe), told a press conference here.
HAL will be the third company to build rockets after space sector start-ups Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos.
Goenka said nine companies had evinced interest in the transfer of technology of the SSLV, of which three were rejected. Of the remaining six, three chose not to apply.
"The SSLV technology transfer marks a pivotal moment in India's transformative commercial space segment, as this is one of the first instances of a space agency transferring complete launch vehicle technology to a company," he said.
Goenka said the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will handhold HAL and assist it in building two prototype rockets over the next two years. After that, the state-owned company is expected to independently produce six to 10 SSLVs every year, depending on the demand.
"HAL will be free to improve on the design and select its own vendors from the third rocket after the two-year period," Goenka said.
The SSLV was developed by the Isro to launch small satellites into low-earth orbit at a shorter notice, a capability required by the defence forces in times of emergencies.
"This collaboration marks a significant step towards strengthening India's commercial satellite-launch capabilities and more specifically, in enabling Indian industry in realising this SSLV," Radhakrishnan Durairaj, Chairman and Managing Director of New Space India Limited (NSIL), said.
The move is part of efforts to allow the Isro to focus more on research and hive off the routine activities of launching satellites, using proven launch vehicles to the industry.
"We are looking forward to working closely under the Isro and IN-SPACe's guidance to progress in phases and realise the end objectives. We are confident of steering a cohesive ecosystem that enables more small satellite launches from India's ports," D K Sunil, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, said.
The technology-transfer agreement will be signed among HAL, NSIL, Isro and IN-SPACe.
The agreement encompasses extensive training and handholding of HAL personnel by Isro teams, both at Isro and HAL facilities, for the realisation and launch of two SSLVs in the next two years.
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'For edge facilities, most of the demand comes from within the Bharti group, but in terms of our overall business, clients from outside of the group now contribute to the majority of our revenue," he said. Even then, Arora said that edge data centres are not a mainstay of the company's data centre growth plan. 'Edge data centres won't be the industry's primary growth driver going forward—tech-driven services are still seeing investments made towards innovation, and consumer-end demand is limited. Hence, for data centres, most of the demand will be for traditional data centres in established hubs," he added. Arora further said that AI applications have not created demand in smaller districts, for now. 'You may want lower latencies in consumer-end AI applications, and in inferencing from running AI models. But, training AI models—the main data centre use case—needs large capacities and not fast deliveries, which is why such use cases are very low and limited for now," he added. Companies that set up large data centres have announced expansion plans such as Princeton Data which, in September last year, said it would establish 230MW in net India data centre capacity, with the first phase targeted to be brought live by the end of next year. Equinix, too, announced a large-scale expansion plan last year. Yotta's Greater Noida facility, announced in October 2022, can expand up to 250MW by next year. However, there are no specific expansion plans for edge data centres. As a result, industry stakeholders believe there are little to no business benefits for edge data centres for now. As Greyhound's Gogia said, 'A national edge rollout plan was shelved after content distribution upgrades reduced data latency significantly. While edge data centres delivered initial gains, their incremental advantage could not justify the additional capital and operational burden."
