Abstract
India's earth observation (EO) capabilities built over the past 5 decades represent a wide range. Public investment played a seminal part in these developments and still they represent sizable contribution. Sea changes, which were witnessed in this field in the global environment, have changed many rules of the game. NewSpace systems had triggered disruptive trends in the market with reconfigured value chains and promising to commoditize EO data. This global context and rapidly evolving demand side in India for EO applications make it highly relevant to analyze the policy and strategic implications. The analysis carried out draws insights from a survey involving stake holders, mainly the providers and users of EO. It was also augmented by interviewing a set of 10 thought leaders—who played key roles in the leadership of the space agency, applications development, and industrial stewardship. Recent policy initiatives announced by the Indian government, particularly the Space Based Remote Sensing Policy of India 2020, the Geospatial Data policy, the National Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management Policy, and the initiatives for opening up the space sector, are further analyzed from the perspective of driving a healthy commercial sector of Future EO systems and applications in India.
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