Artificial Intelligence in the Indian Space Sector

Regulatory Sandboxes for Artificial Intelligence: Techno-Legal Approaches for India, ISAIL-TR-002

companies and predictive maintenance services for energy companies which help energy companies in identifying potential breakdowns or issues which helps them in taking timely action.38 Thus, it can be seen that the artificial intelligence is being actively used in the Indian energy sector.

Artificial Intelligence in the Indian Space Sector

The Indian space sector is an eight hundred and eighty eight crore sector which continues to rapidly grow.39 The uses of artificial intelligence in the global space sector have been multifarious and the use of this technology in the Indian space sector is also developing quite rapidly. From the global perspective, the use of artificial intelligence in space has been for risk analysis, space missions planning, remote sensing, commercial handling and management of data obtained from space, improvement in the deployment techniques of space vehicles, rockets, satellites and spaceships, improvement in launch and return capabilities, debris tracking, energy savings during space missions and providing training for space missions.40 There have been several use cases of artificial intelligence in the Indian space sector and examples are given in this portion. The Pragyan Rover, which was launched through the Chandrayaan- 2 spacecraft, is a space robotic vehicle that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to conduct research and exploration activities on the Moon.41 Pragyan Rover can use

38 Moulin, ‘The Advent of Artificial Intelligence in India’s Power Sector’ (Energetica India, 16 March 2018) <https://www.energeticaindia.net/articles/the-advent-of-artificial-intelligence-in-indiaspower-sector> accessed 03 March 2022. 39 Anonna Dutt, ‘India Plans Space Sector Boost in Global Market’ (The Hindustan Times, 07 March 2022) <https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-to-open-spacesector-for-foreign-investment-target-10-of-global-market-share101631558791899.html> accessed 07 March 2022. 40 Manohar Samal, 2020 Handbook on AI & International Law, (2021) Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law. 41 Leslie D’ Monte, ‘Chandrayaan- 2 Pragyan Shows How AI is Helping Space Exploration’ (LiveMint, 06 September 2019)

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artificial intelligence for tracing water, tracing minerals and for taking photographs on the lunar surface.42

Another example is the use of artificial neural networks by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre to advance the current technology on re- entry of space vehicles that has enabled to reduce costs and increase safety of re- entry technology being used on spacecrafts and space vehicles.43 The Capacity Building Programme Office of the Indian Space Research Organisation has introduced the Respond Basket Program in which 13 research areas related to artificial intelligence have been undertaken for advancing space technology and to improve activities such as remote sensing, data processing, improving automation in unmanned aerial vehicles and for improving space mission operations.44 Antrix Corporation has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with a satellite analytics data company called SatSure Analytics to harness the power of artificial intelligence to develop better geospatial technology based services through space activities. 45 Similar examples of use cases include the use of artificial intelligence by the National Remote Sensing Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation for detecting deforestation and limiting damage caused in forests using geospatial and remote sensing technology.46 Therefore, it can easily be inferred that the

<https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/chandrayaan-2pragyan-shows-how-ai-is-helping-space-exploration1567764065716.html> accessed 07 March 2022. 42 Ibid. 43 Indian Space Research Organisation, Research Areas in Space, (2018) ISRO <https://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/articlefiles/research-and-academia-interface/supported-areas-ofresearch/research_areas_in_space.pdf> accessed 07 March 2022. 44 Indian Space Research Organisation, Respond Basket, (2018) ISRO <https://www.nitt.edu/home/Respond-Basket.pdf. Accessed 07 March 2022. 45 T.E. Narasimhan, ‘ISRO’s Antrix Signs MoU With SatSure for Promoting Geospatial Technology’ (Business Standard, 05 June 2018) <https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/isro-santrix-signs-mou-with-satsure-for-promoting-geospatial-technology118060500222_1.html> accessed 07 March 2022. 46 United Nations, ‘New Monitoring System Strengthens Forest Conservation in India’ (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, 24