Patiala, Aug 21: As India’s space sector expands from government-led missions towards greater private participation and commercial applications, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology hosted its National Space Day 2026 celebrations, bringing together representatives from IN-SPACe, industry and academia to examine the opportunities emerging across India’s space ecosystem.
The session featured a keynote by Dr. Vinod Kumar, Director, Promotion Directorate, IN-SPACe, Department of Space, on “IN-SPACe: Expanding the Horizons of the Indian Commercial Space Sector through Policy, Regulation, Capacity Building and Demand Generation.” Mr. Brijesh Kumar Soni, Deputy Director, Promotion Directorate, IN-SPACe, also attended the event.
The keynote was followed by discussions on “From Government Missions to Private Business: How New Space Companies Are Changing the Economy” and “Space Engineering,” featuring experts from Dassault Systèmes, CYRAN AI Solutions, Dream Aerospace, Rosni Agri Information Pvt. Ltd., Spatial Logix and Trishul Space. The discussions focused on indigenous technology development, problem-solving in space science and the skills required to build an effective workforce for India’s expanding space industry. Skyroot’s successful orbital rocket launch was also highlighted as an example of India’s growing private space capabilities.
Commenting on the significance of the event, Dr. Padmakumar Nair, Vice Chancellor, TIET, said:
“India’s space opportunity is expanding from missions to an ecosystem of technologies, enterprises and applications. The priority now is to build talent that can turn this opportunity into solutions, and institutions have an important role in making that connection.”
The experts also recognised TIET’s own contributions to space technology, including ThaparSat, the student satellite; SPIN Lab, in association with IIT-Tirupati; and the Thapar Satellite Control and Monitoring Station. The institute’s Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing and Thapar School of Advanced AI and Data Science, established in technical collaboration with NVIDIA and Venture Lab, were also highlighted for their relevance to the multidisciplinary capabilities needed by the evolving space sector.
The National Space Day celebration offered students a direct view of how policy, engineering, indigenous technology and private enterprise are converging to shape India’s next phase of space development, while highlighting the opportunities for young professionals to contribute to this rapidly evolving ecosystem.