Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IN-SPACe -- a single-window nodal agency for all space sector activities of Non-Government Entities (NGE) in India -- to come up with programs to promote space and allied sector in the state.
The MoU was signed between Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena and IN-SPACe Chairman Dr Pawan Kumar Goenka in Chennai.
IN-SPACe will also help the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) in establishing a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the space sector.
The move comes after the state government announced setting up of a Space Industrial and Propellants Park spread over an area of 2,000 acres in Thoothukudi district, where the country’s second spaceport is coming up at a cost of Rs 950 crore.
The project will come up in the next two years and the spaceport will exclusively serve the burgeoning small satellite sector with 100 per cent FDI being allowed in the space sector.
With the global small satellite market projected to grow at a rapid pace across the globe, the state government will launch the Space Industrial and Propellants Park to attract space-related manufacturing and research and development (R&D) firms.
Officials said IN-SPACe apart from rendering technical guidance for setting up of COE will promote space and allied sector industries in setting up their manufacturing facilities in the proposed park.
“TIDCO would identify the required land parcel for establishing the space manufacturing cluster and also provide special incentives to space industrial units. TIDCO would also establish common technical infrastructure for which technical consultation would be provided by IN-SPACe,” a senior government official said.
The MoU would describe a framework under which the modalities, terms and conditions by which space industries will be encouraged and establish the manufacturing unit at Tamil Nadu.
“The proposed interventions will focus on enabling start-ups and established companies in launch manufacturing related activities, launch related services, launch design and R&D, strategic electronics manufacturing, and space-grade component manufacturing among others,” the official added.