India unveils Space System Design Lab, aimed to increase country’s share in global space economy

To boost the growth and contribution of India's private sector space firms and thereby increase India's share in the global space economy, a new Space Systems Design lab has been inaugurated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. An initiative of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the lab was inaugurated by Dr S. Somanath, Chairman ofthe Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe. IN-SPACe is an autonomous nodal agency under the Department of Space, the Government of India, and it works towards facilitating the participation of private firms in space activities.

According to IN-SPACe, the space systems design lab is equipped with software tools to design, analyse and perform mission simulations for space systems. The lab will enable space start-ups to transform their innovative ideas into onboard implementable modules. The facility will offer capabilities to perform real-time hardware tests and evaluations.

Dr S. Somanath, Chairmanof ISRO and Secretary of the Department of Space said that such facilities enable non-government entities (NGEs) to play a vital role in developing state-of-the-art space technologies. He mentioned that the goal of NGE's participation in space activities is aimed at enhancing the scale of India's space economy from the present 2% to 10% of the global economy. He reaffirmed ISRO's commitment towards the same goal.

"The lab has computing resources comprising 16 workstations and high-performance computing multi-core (up to 400 cores) servers. The software resources include System Tool Kit, Advance Design Systems, Pathwave system design, high-frequency structure simulation, 3D CAD Mach 3, Simcenter 3D space System (Thermal and cooling), Finite Element analysis structure (FEAST) and OpticStudio (Zemax) etc., which can contribute in mission planning to RF, Structural and thermal design and analysis of space systems," IN-SPACe said.

It added that periodic workshops will be conducted at the space systems design lab to impart practical hands-on training to the private sector firms and start-ups.

Mentioning the salient features of the lab and how it would help the emerging space sector firms, Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, said that the lab resources would help in building prototypes with the least number of iterations and thereby significantly reduce the turnaround time and R&D costs for startups. This is in line with the Indian Government's vision to provide infrastructure and technical support to space-sector start-ups and help them attain their goals faster and with lesser investment and input costs.

"Space systems design lab is a stepping stone in theendeavour to provide a conducive environment for the private space sector in the country. IN-SPACe design lab consists of high-end analysis and simulation software for mission simulation, modelling, visualising, optimising payload & spacecraft, ground station, and launch vehicle avionics," he added.

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