The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) showcased India’s growing space technology capabilities at the 17th Australian Space Forum in Adelaide. A delegation of Indian space startups, led by Dr. Vinod Kumar, Director Promotion, IN-SPACe, and Shashank Saxena, Deputy Director IN-SPACe, attended the forum from July 24-25.
Participants included representatives from Indian companies such as Agnikul Cosmos, TakeMe2Space, Dhruva Space, Bellatrix Aerospace, XDLINX Space, mistEO, OrbitAid Aerospace, and Skyroot Aerospace. The delegation highlighted cutting-edge space projects, products, and services, engaging in numerous business-to-business meetings with Australian counterparts.
Two significant Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed during the forum. The first MoU was between HEX20, an Australian satellite platform company, and OrbitAid, an Indian company specializing in satellite life extension solutions. This partnership will focus on in-orbit refuelling technology demonstrations.
The second MoU was signed between HEX20 and TakeMe2Space, an Indian startup building AI-driven compute and storage satellite infrastructure. This collaboration aims to integrate TakeMe2Space’s AI modules and subsystems into HEX20’s flatsats and provide access to TakeMe2Space’s OrbitLab platform for researchers and students to test and run their models on actual satellites in real-time.
Both MoUs were signed in the presence of Dr Vinod Kumar and Enrico Palermo, Head of the Australian Space Agency.
Dr Kumar emphasized the importance of the forum, stating, “The Australian Space Forum provided an invaluable platform for Indian space startups to showcase their capabilities and explore potential collaborations with Australian partners. These MoUs represent a significant step towards strengthening ties between our two nations in the space sector.”
The forum underscored India’s growing influence in space technology and its commitment to fostering international collaborations to advance space exploration and innovation.