India's effort to privatise part of its space programme by opening bids to build its small satellite launch rocket has attracted initial interest from 20 companies, as per a report by Reuters.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), which launched its maiden satellite successfully in February.
The SSLV was created as a low-cost method of launching satellites weighing up to 500 kilograms into low-Earth orbit, filling a growing demand for the launch of groups of satellites for communications and data that SpaceX and competitors now offer.
India is following NASA's example by opening the launch industry and other space-related companies to private investment as part of a policy initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The bid to take over the manufacturing and development of the SSLV rocket programme was the first privatisation of its kind under that policy.
India's newly created space regulatory body, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, known as IN-SPACe, opened the process on July 11 by allowing qualified companies to register an interest.
Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe, said 20 companies had submitted an "expression of interest" (EOI) in the rocket programme, according to Reuters.
IN-SPACe will have a pre-EOI consultation with these 20 applicants within two weeks, Goenka told Reuters.
He did not name the companies, the report said.
Companies must be profitable in order to be qualified to bid, and the lead bidder in a consortium needs to have at least five years' worth of manufacturing expertise as well as Rs 400 crores ($48.8 million) in yearly sales.
Within the next 10 years, India wants to grow its market share in satellite launches by a factor of five.
Goenka previously said the regulator expects that the winning bidder for the SSLV programme would be able to develop the small-satellite launch business and make India "the global hub for such launches."
(With inputs from Reuters)
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