Space expo begins in India’s tech hub

BANGALORE - The second international space exhibition and conference began here Wednesday with global space agencies and vendors showcasing their latest technologies, products and services.

Organised by the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the four-day Bengaluru Space Expo 2010 focuses on commercialisation of space, remote sensing and navigation.

Being held at the sprawling Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on the outskirts of the city, the expo has attracted delegations from dozen countries, including Britain, Denmark, France, Indonesia Israel, Japan, Korea, Thailand and the US.

Global space majors such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (SA), EADS Astrium, Glonass, Measat, SkyTerra, Japanese Space Agency, Asia Broadcast Satellite, state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and private firms like Godrej & Boyce, L&T and Devas Media are participating in the event.

The $120 billion global space satellite business is growing rapidly to touch $1.2 trillion in the coming years. About 3,000 manmade satellites are circling planet Earth.

With development of more space based land enabled applications and reusable launch vehicles on anvil, the space industry is set for an exponential growth.

The activity in two commercial satellite services-direct-to-home (DTH) television and Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment and chipsets is driving the growth of the space industry.

India is ramping up its space capabilities to become a major global space power, moving from developing communications and remote sensing satellites to new frontiers like navigation.

According to CII immediate past president Venu Srinivasan, the commercial space sector has experienced unprecedented growth over the past decade. The increasing capacity in the launch services the world over has driven down the cost of commercial space launches drastically.

With the growing need of use of space technology in the field of infrastructure, weather forecasting, disaster management, telecommunications and agricultural guidance services, the expo is aimed at developing a strong base to meet such demand.

The first edition of the space expo was held in this tech hub in November 2008.