NEW DELHI: A National Space Act for India for regulating space activities in India; facilitate enhanced levels of private sector participation and offering more commercial opportunities is being formulated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Towards this, a two-day national workshop was held at ISRO headquarter, Bangalore, on 16 and 17 January with the participation of experts across the country. The draft version of the National Space Act has been prepared and consultations have been held with Space Law experts and internal experts within the Department of Space.

The Department of Space has initiated the process of charting out a roadmap for the country’s space programme addressing the short-term and long-term needs in the areas of Space Transportation Systems, Satellite Communication and Navigation, Earth Observation, Space Sciences and Planetary Exploration, and Space-based applications for governance and development.

The Department has initiated a series of reviews towards evolving an action plan for completing all the approved projects, focusing on progress achieved, identifying the tasks to be completed and fix the targets for realising the missions in a timely manner.