Will private sector role boost India's quest for space exploration?

New Delhi: The launch of India's first private sector-built navigation satellite IRNSS- 1H on Thursday will open a new chapter in country's quest for space exploration.

The 1,425-kg satellite is all set to start its journey from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, riding space organization's trusted launch vehicle PSLV-XL.

For the first time, a private organisation's active involvement has been seen in assembling and testing of the satellite.

An association led by Alpha Design Technologies based in Bengaluru has successfully completed over 25% work related to the development of IRNSS-1H, which ISRO belives is a big thing.

The question that arises here is whether the role of the private sector will uplift India's search for deep space exploration or not.

The company's work has obviously been overseen by ISRO experts but the output they have delivered is truly commendable, as compared to the earlier role of the private sector, which was just limited to supplying components.

Reportedly, more and more companies will be involved in the satellite assembly activities subsequently as they can be quite helpful in the swift preparation of a satellite.

In fact, the same consortium will be behind the development of another satellite which is supposed to take off by April 2018.

For the launch, ISRO staff and technicians will provide lesser support which means that private company will have to muster the courage for doing more hard work.

Experts from the space organisation believe that private sector's involvement in the integration of the satellite is a progressive step and it will definitely fetch ISRO and the country positive results.