Dr Jitendra Singh pitches 'BRICS Space Economy' at HOSA Meeting, Bengaluru

📌 Summary:

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh pitched a "BRICS Space Economy" as the next frontier of global growth at the Valedictory Session of the BRICS Heads of Space Agencies (HOSA) Meeting in Bengaluru
• Two-day meeting hosted by ISRO under India's BRICS Chairship 2026; participants from Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and UAE
• Reviewed BRICS space cooperation: space sustainability, debris-free missions, strengthening the BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation (RSSC), expanding new-member participation, and the proposed BRICS Space Council
• Future collaboration areas: disaster management, Earth observation, capacity building and knowledge sharing
• Minister released the Indian Space Industry Brochure and interacted with India's NewSpace startups and private enterprises
• Argued BRICS has the scale, scientific capability, technological strength and industrial capacity to become a major pillar of the global space economy

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Science & Technology (space, indigenisation, NewSpace economy) and GS2 IR (BRICS plurilateral cooperation) — space diplomacy as a driver of economic transformation.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• India holds the BRICS Chairship 2026; HOSA meeting hosted by ISRO at Bengaluru
• RSSC = BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation
• IN-SPACe promotes/regulates the private space sector (Chairman Dr Pawan Goenka); ISRO Chairman & DoS Secretary is Dr V. Narayanan
• Proposed new institution: BRICS Space Council

🔑 Key Term: BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation (RSSC) — a cooperative arrangement among BRICS nations to share Earth-observation satellite data for disaster management, agriculture and environmental monitoring.