New Delhi: In 1984, nearly 40 years before India, the US brought out its Commercial Space Launch Act, turning the country’s space programme from a government-led to a private one. Since then, its National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA — the US government’s space agency — and private space companies have created a well-oiled system that has kept the US at the forefront of space exploration.
Days after the Centre’s Department of Space (DoS) issued a directive to ISRO, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Space Jitendra Singh said that employees “come and go” in an organisation and that the government was already in the process of hiring for the vacant positions.
“Many have gone, many have come,” Singh said on the sidelines of a press conference on Thursday.
In the 14 July order, the DoS directed ISRO centres to not treat resignations and voluntary retirement requests of Group-A scientists and of scientists working on missions of national importance in a “routine manner”. These requests will now be assessed by the respective centres before they are finally cleared by the Centre.
Former ISRO scientists and space experts said that while the government might be underplaying the resignations of around 120 scientists in the last 12 months, this was symptomatic of how the government space agency needs to work in better coordination with the private sector, which has now become its competitor when it comes to attracting the best talent in the industry.
Nearly 40 years ago, the US did it successfully, with NASA opening its doors to private players. It has now become the country conducting the most number of space launches anywhere in the world, averaging around 190 a year.
ThePrint explains how the US has created a well-oiled public-private partnership in the space sector.
Also read: India opened space to private players. ISRO brain drain is one result
Open-door system for resources
In the US, the government-funded NASA and private companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic, do not work as competitors in the same domain. While NASA is concentrating more on big picture science missions, companies like SpaceX are leading charge in satellite launches and launch vehicle designs.
Both parties, in fact, have well-defined roles, and often share resources, including human resources. A case in point was when NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore were working closely with teams from Boeing to fix propulsion issues and helium leaks in the Starliner capsule.
Similarly, astronaut Anil Menon, who recently flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian mission, was formerly employed with SpaceX before joining the NASA astronaut programme.
Casey Dreier, Chief of SpacePpolicy at The Planetary Society, said that the US’s decision to keep hardcore space science a state responsibility came in early.
“While interesting, the weather patterns on Saturn will not find many buyers in a commercial marketplace, nor will understanding the early cosmos or the potential for life beyond Earth. Nearly everything we know about the cosmos is due to public funding that built the missions and paid the scientists to gather and study the data,” Dreier wrote in an analysis.
He said that nearly 85 per cent of NASA’s annual funding is spent on contracts with private institutions and companies. NASA outlines specific needs and releases competitive contracts for companies to bid on. The agency, he said, maintains vigorous oversight over the development and implementation of these contracts and is responsible for the success of the spacecraft.
“Though NASA’s projects are ultimately initiated and funded by governments, they depend on the private sector to build components and provide other services,” Dreier added.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)