The Department of Space announced on Thursday that it has no plans to pass legislation governing space tourism, an emerging industry in Western countries that is being viewed as a means of funding deep space exploration. The Department of Space has cleared the air about space tourism as it works to increase commercial space exploration.
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology, stated in a Lok Sabha reply that Isro is currently developing technologies for the Gaganyaan mission, including a Human Rated Launch Vehicle, Orbital Module, Life Support System, Crew Escape System, Human Centric Products, and Crew Recovery. All of these technologies will serve as foundations for future space tourism endeavours.
However, the minister insisted that India is developing technologies and crew safety protocols for human space flight missions as part of the Gaganyaan mission. The announcement comes just days after the Centre announced that Isro is working on developing space tourism capabilities in order to compete in the multibillion-dollar market in the coming years. According to the Department of Space, the Indian space agency is developing indigenous capabilities for space tourism by demonstrating human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Space tourism is a new industry in which private aerospace companies take passengers on brief flights to space, allowing them to experience weightlessness in zero gravity and see Earth from above. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are leading the way, with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic catching up. Blue Origin is about to launch six passengers in its New Shepard spacecraft beyond the Karmen line, the boundary that defines space at 100 kilometres above the planet.
Meanwhile, the minister stated that approximately 15 start-ups are working to provide satellite services to the country, and that ‘the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre [IN-SPACe] is conducting a survey to build the capability matrix of Indian start-ups, which shall serve as the definitive database for private activities in the space sector’.
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