On Wednesday, the Gujarat government and IN-SPACe signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a space manufacturing cluster at Sanand in the Ahmedabad district. IN-SPACe is an autonomous agency of the DoS (Department of Space). The purpose of IN-SPACe is to promote the non-governmental entities engaging in space activities. The MoU will see IN-SPACe providing technical guidance and incentives to space tech equipment manufacturing units and startups. The move will definitely help the startups in the space ecosystem to mature faster and add to the space economy in a meaningful manner. It will further boost job creation in Gujarat and scale India's name in the space industry.
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As per a government release, the land and infrastructure will be provided by the Gujarat government so that the startups and other manufacturing companies can operate in the cluster. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently said that India should target to build its own space station by 2035. This MoU will definitely help the country in achieving the goal in time or faster.
The space communications industry will definitely benefit as well. Companies such as Starlink, Project Kuiper by Amazon, and Eutelsat OneWeb are working to offer space broadband services in India. Later this year or next year, we can see companies such as Eutelsat OneWeb offering services in India. The plan of Eutelsat OneWeb is likely to partner with telcos and other enterprises to first exploit the B2B revenue models and then there could be potential partnerships with airline companies as well.
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Recently, Eutelsat OneWeb partnered with ACJ (Airbus Corporate Jets) to offer satellite internet connectivity inside its aircraft. Starlink also partnered with Qatar Airways to offer the same to its customers onboard.
