Telangana to come up with dedicated space policy next year: Sridhar Babu | Hyderabad News

Telangana IT & industries minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu at the inauguration of Hyderabad-based spacetech startup Cosmoserve Space’s new facility Base 1 in Hyderabad on Thursday. The facility is billed as India’s first private integrated facility for space debris removal and satellite servicing, and the world’s sixth to be equipped with space vision effect and microgravity simulation capabilities.

Hyderabad: Close on the heels of announcing a dedicated Space City at the upcoming Bharat Future City, Telangana is now planning to unveil a dedicated space policy next year, backed by a strong talent pipeline, IT and industries minister D Sridhar Babu said on Thursday.The announcement came at the virtual inauguration of Base 1, Cosmoserve Space’s new Hyderabad facility, by Union minister Jitendra Singh and Sridhar Babu. The facility is billed as India’s first private integrated centre for space debris removal and satellite servicing and the world’s sixth to be equipped with space vision effect and microgravity simulation capabilities.Sridhar Babu said Telangana, already strong in IT, life sciences and pharma, is preparing to lead in defence, aerospace and spacetech. He said the state has strong physical and digital infrastructure and that Young India Skills University will add spacetech as its 34th vertical to generate a robust talent pipeline for the sector.Describing India’s progress in the space sector in the last half a decade as “miraculous”, Jitendra Singh said India’s space economy, currently close to $9 billion, could reach $40-45 billion within a decade. He said the number of space start-ups has grown from single digits to nearly 450 in recent years.Cosmoserve’s Base 1 houses an orbital rendezvous and capture lab, a space robotics innovation lab, an ISO Class 8 clean room and a mission simulation and control centre. The company said the facility will support satellite servicing, in-orbit repairs, refuelling and debris recovery, while helping localise optics, avionics and space-grade electronics. About 60% of its mission components are sourced locally.The facility opening follows Cosmoserve’s $6 million seed funding round led by Japan’s Rebright Partners, with participation from Aranya Holdings, Naandi Ventures, AUM Ventures and Shakti VC. The round takes its total funding to over $9 million.The funds will support Base 1, technology demonstrations and two upcoming missions. Cosmoserve plans microgravity tests, a Mission Embrace reflight and a full-scale debris capture demonstration in 2027.Cosmoserve founder and CEO Chiranjeevi Phanindra said the company flew its Mission Embrace payload on Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 in July 2026. Though the robotic capture petals did not deploy as planned, the mission provided valuable development data.“Debris is becoming the limiting factor for every nation’s space ambitions, including India’s. Base 1 is where we build the capability to keep orbits usable, for Gaganyaan, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and every satellite that follows,” he said.