Warplane maker HAL wins bid to privatise India's small satellite launch rockets
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has won the bid to privately make India's small satellite launch rockets, the country's space regulator said on Friday, the government's biggest step yet to open its fast-growing space industry to private players.
Reuters reported in February that three consortiums - Alpha Design Technologies, a unit of Adani Defence Systems and Technologies, state-backed Bharat Dynamics and HAL - were the finalists to acquire India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology.
Fighter jet maker HAL had applied independently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement on Friday.
HAL's wining bid was 5.11 billion rupees ($59 million), Pawan Goenka, the head of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) told reporters, adding that the technology transfer phase will take two years.
Shares of HAL rose as much as 1.6% to hit session's high at 4,980 rupees after the announcement.
The move to hand the SSLV's technology to HAL marks a significant shift for India's space industry, which has already granted satellite communication service licenses to global and domestic firms such as France's Eutelsat and Reliance Jio's satellite venture.
About 20 companies had initially expressed interest in bidding for the SSLV, the first privatisation of its kind under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policy drive to open up India's space industry.
The global low Earth orbit launch vehicle market was valued at $13.9 billion in 2023 and is estimated to grow to about $44 billion by 2032, according to Global Market Insights.
India, which accounts for only 2% of the global space economy, is eyeing a fivefold expansion to $44 billion by the end of the decade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
From trade hub to backwater post-partition, what rail link means to Kashmir
When the Vande Bharat Express chugged from Katra on June 6 and arrived in Srinagar three hours later, crossing the 359-metre bridge over the Chenab river and the 11-km tunnel through the forbidding Pir Panjal range, it broke a physical and psychological barrier that symbolised Kashmir's isolation after the partition. India's division in 1947 hit Kashmir the hardest politically and economically, spawning a protracted conflict and reducing it to a backwater from the crossroads of commerce and the blending of cultures. The partition severed Kashmir's long-distance trade links to Central Asia and beyond, ending its significance as an economic hub and stagnating its economy. Overnight, Kashmir became dependent on a cart road to Jammu via the 2,739-metre Banihal Pass, in the Pir Panjal, with the closure of the Jehlum Valley Road to Rawalpindi in what is now Pakistan. In 1959, the Jawahar Tunnel's construction through the pass improved the connectivity. But the Jammu highway remains vulnerable to blockages due to landslides and snow. The closure of the tunnel, which was once Asia's longest, for extended periods would trigger a shortage of essential commodities in winter until a few decades ago. In 2013, the completion of India's longest and most challenging 11-km Pir Panjal tunnel marked a major milestone in providing a much-needed all-weather railway connectivity to Kashmir. But it would take another 12 years to realise the over a century old dream of completing the 272-km rail project in treacherous mountainous terrain to connect Kashmir with the national rail network. Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Katra-Srinagar train and inaugurated the world's highest single-arch rail bridge to mark the project culmination on June 6. A marvel envisaged during the British era, the project involved complex engineering and the construction of 38 tunnels and 943 bridges, including India's first cable-stayed Anji Khad rail bridge, overcoming inhospitable terrain and unstable rock formations in a seismically active zone. The rail link will cut the Delhi-Srinagar travel time from 24 to 13 hours, without motion sickness, nausea, dizziness, sweating, and vomiting passengers often experience during the long and arduous journey along the curvy accident-prone highway to Jammu with stretches known as khooni (bloody) and shaitaanee (satanic). It is expected to boost Kashmir's economic growth, especially the horticulture industry, and provide an all-weather transportation alternative to the Jammu highway, the only road link connecting the Valley with the outside world, although challenges remain. Cherries from Kashmir arriving in Mumbai on a train via Katra on June 1 in just 30 hours, compared to the days it would have taken by road, held out hope. Freight trains would not immediately run from Kashmir without the necessary infrastructure, and passengers face security detours at Katra before their onward journey. Also read: Vande Bharat train to Srinagar steaming ahead with good public response Yet the operationalisation of the rail link is a major boost to the region, which was once connected through a portion of the ancient cross-continental Silk Road and was a trading hub and meeting point of cultures. The Silk Road, one of the world's largest overland trade routes spanning 6,400km, connected Kashmir to China and Central Asia. Long-distance traders transported their goods on camels, horses, and yaks to and from places like Lhasa (Tibet) and Yarkand (Xinjiang). They traded in Chinese silks, Afghan silver cookware, Persian rugs, Tibetan turquoise, Mongolian saddles, European soaps, and helped transport ideas. The partition virtually left Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with practically no road, railway, or air connectivity with the rest of India. The cart road through the Banihal pass remained shut during winter before the tunnel construction. It connected Kashmir to Lahore and Sialkot (now in Pakistan) until 1947. The award of Punjab's Gurdaspur to India at the last minute gave access to J&K through a dirt track of bridgeless tributaries and streams. The track allowed India to mobilise resources to drive out Pakistan-backed irregulars who marched to Kashmir in October 1947 with a plan to occupy an airstrip in Srinagar. An Indian Army contingent managed to land and secure the airstrip before the onset of the harsh Himalayan winter. Also read: Train to Srinagar, carrying hope Hari Singh, J&K's last king, dithered in acceding to India until October 1947 despite repeated requests, partly because of a lack of connectivity and his state's dependence on West Punjab (now in Pakistan) for essential commodities. The Jammu railway station was abandoned in 1947 with the Sialkot line closure. The Pathankot–Jammu broad-gauge line was laid in the 1970s. The new Jammu station was opened in 1972. It remained the closest railway station to Srinagar, around 300km away. The construction of the Jammu-Baramula rail link via Srinagar began in the 1990s. The Jammu-Udhampur-Katra and Baramula-Banihal segments were completed between 2005 and 2013. The Katra-Banihal segment completion marks a major leap in ensuring Kashmir's all-weather accessibility. The new wheels of progress promise a better future for a region with a storied past linked, however, to better and more open regional connectivity. Sameer Arshad Khatlani is the author of The Other Side of the Divide: A Journey Into the Heart of Pakistan. He works with Hindustan Times
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Apple eyes using AI to design its chips, technology executive says
Apple is interested in tapping generative artificial intelligence to help speed up the design of the custom chips at the heart of its devices, its top hardware technology executive said in private remarks last month. Johny Srouji , Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, made the remarks in a speech in Belgium, where he was receiving an award from Imec, an independent semiconductor research and development group that works closely with most of the world's biggest chipmakers. In the speech, a recording of which was reviewed by Reuters, Srouji outlined Apple's development of custom chips from the first A4 chip in an iPhone in 2010 to the most recent chips that power Mac desktop computers and the Vision Pro headset. He said one of the key lessons Apple learned was that it needed to use the most cutting-edge tools available to design its chips, including the latest chip design software from electronic design automation (EDA) firms. The two biggest players in that industry - Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys - have been racing to add artificial intelligence to their offerings. "EDA companies are super critical in supporting our chip design complexities," Srouji said in his remarks. "Generative AI techniques have a high potential in getting more design work in less time, and it can be a huge productivity boost." Srouji said another key lesson Apple learned in designing its own chips was to make big bets and not look back. When Apple transitioned its Mac computers - its oldest active product line - from Intel's chips to its own chips in 2020, it made no contingency plans in case the switch did not work. "Moving the Mac to Apple Silicon was a huge bet for us. There was no backup plan, no split-the lineup plan, so we went all in, including a monumental software effort," Srouji said.
United News of India
an hour ago
- United News of India
No favouritism and taxpayer risk in SSLV transfer
Bengaluru, June 20 (UNI) IN-SPACe Chairman Dr Pawan Goenka has strongly refuted allegations of bias, lack of transparency, and misuse of public funds in the transfer of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), asserting that the decision was made through a transparent, merit-based process, fully aligned with India's new space policy. Addressing an UNI query, Dr Goenka stated, 'It has been absolutely clear from day one that the selection process was open, transparent, and fair. HAL emerged as the technically qualified highest bidder. There was no favouritism or manoeuvring to award this to a PSU.' He clarified that both private and public sector entities competed on an equal footing. 'Whether it is HAL or a private company, IN-SPACe does not discriminate. The highest, most qualified bidder gets it—period,' he emphasised. Responding to suggestions that HAL was chosen due to its PSU status, Dr Goenka pointed out HAL's extensive experience in building subsystems for launch vehicles. 'This technology is going into good hands. HAL has worked closely with ISRO before and understands the intricacies of rocket manufacturing,' he said. On concerns about the financial liability in case of mission failure, Dr Goenka was unequivocal: 'There is absolutely no risk to taxpayers. HAL has paid the Government of India to acquire the SSLV technology. If a rocket fails, the loss is HAL's, not the government's.' This, he added, marks a major turning point in India's space sector, where commercial entities now take full financial and operational ownership. 'It could have been a private company too. The key is: the responsibility now lies with the one who owns the licence.' Dismissing suggestions that ISRO is being sidelined, the IN-SPACe chief said the move is in strict adherence to the Indian Space Policy approved by the Union Cabinet, which delineates ISRO's focus on R&D and strategic launches, while leaving commercial operations to industry via IN-SPACe and NSIL. 'ISRO is not being cut out. It is simply focusing on its core mandate. We're implementing what the policy clearly outlines,' he said, citing the structured roles of other agencies such as NSIL, Antrix, and IN-SPACe. SSLV, a lightweight, low-cost rocket intended to serve the global small satellite launch market, is expected to play a key role in expanding India's commercial space footprint. 'This is a historic moment — for the first time, a complete launch vehicle programme has moved out of ISRO's hands and into industry. It shows our commitment to democratising space access,' Dr Goenka concluded. UNI BDN GNK
