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IN-SPACe Releases Guidelines for Space Policy Implementation

April 13, 2024 (Monday), New Delhi: The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) recently announced the Norms, Guidelines, and Procedures for the Authorization of Space Activities (NGP) per the Indian Space Policy 2023.

These benchmarks comprise a list of Space Activities that require Authorization from IN-SPACe, the requirements for issuing authorization, and the guidelines/conditions that an Applicant must follow. The comprehensive document also includes application templates for requesting authorization for space activities.

Background

The Indian government had announced its plans of opening up the space sector in June 2020, with the goal of increasing private sector involvement in the full spectrum of space activities. The proposed reforms sought to establish Non-Government Entities (NGEs) as autonomous entities in the space sector.

This led to the establishment of IN-SPACe as an independent single window nodal agency under the Department of Space in October 2021, in line with the reforms. IN-SPACe was mandated to authorize all space activities carried out by the national government and NGEs. Furthermore, it was created to support, facilitate, and supervise the NGEs engaged in the Space Activities.

The government subsequently released the Indian Space Policy-2023 in April 2023, outlining the roles of all parties involved in the space sector in the nation. The range of space activities that need IN-SPACe authorization has also been identified by the Policy. It is in this regard that IN-SPACe released the norms, guidelines, and procedures in May 2024.

Norms, Guidelines, and Procedures in the Document

The norms cover various verticals for authorization, including:

• Space-based communication
• Establishment & operation of remote sensing and amateur satellite systems
• Providing access of the available Indian orbital resources to Indian entities
• Dissemination of space-based earth observation & remote sensing data
• Operation of space transportation systems
• Establishment & operation of the ground systems
• Liability-related aspects, and
• Registration of space objects

Further, a list of activities requiring authorization under each vertical has been specified, along with the detailed authorization process, terms and conditions.

The applicants must meet a number of requirements, including technical requirements, budgetary constraints, risk mitigation strategies, and pricing-related factors.

The guidelines also specify that while foreign companies can apply for approval through their joint ventures with any local company or through their Indian subsidiaries, only Indian entities are eligible to apply for authorization from IN-SPACe.

Notable Guidelines for Dissemination of Space-Based Earth Observation/ Remote Sensing Data

The following are some key provisions in the document pertaining to dissemination of high-resolution space-based earth observation/ remote sensing data:

• Authorization from IN-SPACe is mandatory for the dissemination of high resolution primary data pertaining to Indian territory, that is, any space-based earth observation/remote sensing primary data of ≤30 cm Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) at nadir.
• Indian entities may submit a one-time application to IN-SPACe for the same.
• Entities are prohibited from generating, supplying, selling, or disseminating value-added products related to Indian Territory using primary data from earth observation or remote sensing satellites not permitted by IN-SPACe.
• Both for Indian and non-Indian satellite data, only Indian Entities may apply for IN-SPACe Authorization as Data Disseminators. The Primary Data user may not need to request authorization.
• Consent or permission from the relevant satellite operator/owner is required to obtain the authorization.

Some areas that IN-SPACe will look into before providing authorization include: registration of the satellite in UN database as per the Registration Convention, considerations around security, geopolitics, and international relations, satellite/constellation ownership share holding pattern, national and strategic requirements, etc.

The authorization shall be in the form of a Certificate with details on permitted satellites & payloads, and the Primary Data that can be disseminated to the user. Further guidelines and procedures have been established for transfer of the certificate, verification of user credentials, restrictions on re-dissemination, authorization validity, and so on.

An important note here is that the authorized data disseminator must abide by the Geospatial Guidelines 2021 (and subsequent amendments) – issued by the Department of Science and Technology – for acquiring and producing geospatial data and geospatial services including maps”. This includes the guidelines pertaining to the prevailing negative list of sensitive attributes and any applicable regulations.

Readers may access the full document here: https://www.inspace.gov.in/inspace