'Tremendous response': 23 companies interested in ISRO's small satellite launch vehicle technology
Bengaluru (PTI): Seeing the success of ISRO's numerous missions, as many as 23 companies have evinced interest in acquiring the Indian space agency's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle technology, a top official said on Thursday.
Chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) Pawan K Goenka said that they are keen to see how the private sector uses the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) technology.
"There has been a tremendous response, 23 companies have (so far) shown interest in applying for this technology. Of course only one of them will get it," he said.
IN-SPACe, an autonomous nodal agency under the Department of Space (DOS), formed in 2020 to promote, enable, authorise and supervise non-government entities (NGEs) to undertake space activities, had in July floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) for transfer of technology (ToT) of SSLV with the last date to respond to it being September 25.
"Technology transfer is something we are working on very aggressively, because we really want to see how ISRO's technology is leveraged by private sector. A lot is happening in that area and the biggest one is of course SSLV technology transfer, where we are transferring the launch vehicle lock, stock, and barrel completely to the private sector," Goenka said.
Addressing the inaugural function of the International Conference on Space here, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said, this is perhaps the first ever example where an agency anywhere in the world has transferred the full design of a launch vehicle to the private sector.
Further noting that there are 42 applications or space technologies to be transferred to the private sector, Goenka said ISRO is working very closely with IN-SPACe and vice versa to get the process going, and 19 technologies are ready for transfer.
IN-SPACe is working on the manufacturing aspect with state governments, he said, adding that the idea is to try and get all inclusive infrastructure, with a plug-and-play kind of setup for the industries focusing on manufacturing, where infrastructure will be provided by the state government.
"We are in the process of signing an MoU with one state and we are working with another state to make that happen," Goenka added.
He also said currently India's Space economy is at USD 8 billion and the vision is to take it to USD 44 billion by 2033. "Lot of work is being done towards this and everyone will have to play an important role for this."
A Catalogue of Indian Standards for Space Industry', developed by INSPACe and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) containing 15 standards that private players will be recommended to follow was released on the occasion.
Australian High Commission Deputy High Commissioner Sarah Storey during her address reiterated her country's commitment to collaborate and partner with India in the space sector, while Australian Space Agency Chief Enrico Palermo through a video message at the conference highlighted common areas of interest for both countries to collaborate.
Both of them lauded India's achievements in the space sector, particularly the Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 missions.
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President Trump in 'freefall', says fan-turned-critic podcaster Alex Jones
'Advises' Republicans to stay away from Trump while campaigning for midterm polls
Washington DC: Podcaster Alex Jones has reportedly claimed in his programme, 'The Alex Jones Show', that US President Donald Trump was in 'freefall', suggesting that it was best for Republican candidates to distance themselves from the President while campaigning for the upcoming midterm polls.
According to US media agencies, Jones, who was identified as a strong supporter of the President during his first term but a major critic of Trump in the recent months. He has reportedly criticized all of Trump's moves, from the attacks on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to the President's health, not to mention the government's handling of the documents relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On the Tuesday edition of his show, Jones was found to be all the more vehement in his criticism of Trump, and was heard opining that the President looked sick. “When your ankles swell up three times the size they were before, that means heart failure. And he does look sick. And he does babble and, you know, sound like the brain’s not doing too hot,” said Jones. “And so we just cut bait on Trump, and we just mobilize against the Democrats.”
The podcaster also spoke about his father’s decline due to dementia, adding that Trump too was deteriorating in a similar manner and advising the President to take a holiday.
“Not the man he was that last year. And that– we need to be sad about Trump. This is not funny. This is not good. But he’s gone. And that’s it,” said Jones. “And all the people rallied around him, you can see, [Pete] Hegseth’s freaked out. You can see, the press secretary’s freaked out. They’re being loyal. They think it’s a lesser of two evils. And I, okay, but I just– Trump needs intervention. He needs to take some time off.”
Referring to the approval rate of merely 33 per cent for the President during the new election from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the podcaster pointed out that Trump's popularity had fallen from 56 per cent and advised Republicans to keep away from Trump.
As reported by The Independent, the White House firmly denied in an official statement that Jones' claim that the President's health condition was waning.
“This is a complete b****t story that’s being desperately told to boost podcast views,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said. “The truth is that President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health.”
The post Alex Jones Says It’s Time to ‘Cut Bait on Trump’ Because the President ‘Is in Free Fall’ is reported to have first appeared on Mediaite.
