SRIHARIKOTA, October 16 — The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) on Friday formally inaugurated India's first dedicated commercial Satellite Assembly, Integration, and Testing (AIT) cleanroom facility for Non-Government Entities (NGEs) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-SHAR).
Constructed to rigorous ISO-7 and ISO-8 cleanroom cleanliness standards, the spaceport facility houses multi-axis acoustic vibration tables, thermal-vacuum (TVAC) simulation chambers, and Electromagnetic Interference/Compatibility (EMI/EMC) evaluation bays. The infrastructure enables domestic spacetech startups and aerospace consortiums to finalize satellite payload testing adjacent to launch pads, halving mission turnaround timelines and shipping overheads.
IN-SPACe leadership emphasized that providing subsidized, world-class spaceport infrastructure operationalizes the statutory intent of the Indian Space Policy 2023, accelerating private-sector commercial space launches aboard SSLV and PSLV launchers while expanding India's share of the global commercial space economy.
The institutional tripartite governance of India's space ecosystem (ISRO as research entity, IN-SPACe as single-window regulator, and NSIL as commercial arm), liberalized FDI limits up to 100 percent in the space domain (notified in 2024), and satellite qualification thermodynamics are pivotal concepts across UPSC Civil Services (GS-III: Science, Technology & Aerospace Economy).