High Commissioner Remarks at the Bengaluru Space Expo 2026
8 September 2026
I would like to start by acknowledging, Chairman Narayan, Chairman Mallavarapu, Dr Parwan, Ambassador Gor, Ambassador Bartoli, our distinguished hosts.
I am pleased to be back in Bengaluru; and pleased to be back at the Bengaluru Space Expo. As noted, I am a repeat participant here at BSX. I am delighted that this year Australia participates as a Technology Country Partner.
Conscious that the other ambassadors on this stage represent nations that are the real heavyweights of space. The Ambassador of Italy brings the legacy of Galileo and Marconi in his suitcase. And the Ambassador of the United States brings — well, you know it, NASA, the Apollo program and its moon landing that so captivated people of my generation.
My friend Ambassador Sergio Gor also brings a musical tradition related to space — think “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Forbidden Planet”.
Australia doesn’t have those blockbuster claims.
But let me explain to you why you might choose to visit the Australian pavilion and to engage with the Australian companies who have made the journey from Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra to be with you today.
I would like to offer you three reasons to do that…
First because Australia’s and India’s governments are aligned in their focus on space.
I had the privilege to accompany Prime Minister Modi Ji on his visit to Australia in July. Beyond the bearhugs and the rock star appearance at Marvel stadium, there was a lot that was relevant to space.
We celebrated the reality that, in a complicated and contested world, Australia and India are strategically aligned as never before — bilaterally and in the Quad.
Reflecting that alignment, our prime ministers announced a new strategic partnership.
They called it PACTS (the Partnership for Cyber, Critical Technology and Supply Chains) — which seeks to harness the technologies that will shape our future and drive our growth.
PACTS makes clear that space is no longer a peripheral field of interest, but a core arena for bilateral technology collaboration, industry integration, and regional security.
Here at BSX is our first opportunity since the inking of PACTS to put it into practice. Reason number one to seek out the Australian pavilion and delegates.
Reason number two relates to Australia’s direct support for India’s landmark Gaganyaan Program.
As announced during the Melbourne summit, Australia has formally commissioned a dedicated space tracking terminal on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean. For context, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are pretty much equidistant from Bangalore and Perth, between the two cities as the crow flies.
When Indian astronauts orbit Earth aboard Gaganyaan, Australia will be holding the ground line. Located strategically in the Indian Ocean, our tracking station provides mission-critical telemetry, tracking, and coverage ISRO's uncrewed and crewed flights.
This support will also extend to rescue and recovery operations for controlled landings in Australian waters off the coast of Western Australia.
This collaboration underscores that Australia is a trusted partner in ISRO’s missions — signifying an expansion in our space cooperation and demonstrating that Australia is actually now an indispensable part of the Gaganyaan Project.
The third reason to seek out the Australia contingent here at the BSX relates to the great Australian companies that are joining you here in Bengaluru.
There are 30 or so of our delegation — with a range of competencies that spans the full mission lifecycle: from world-class research, led by our world leading universities; upstream satellite design & manufacturing; propulsion, launch & re-entry; and finally downstream in Earth Observation, analytics and in-space research. Collectively, they represent a space sector that takes ideas from the laboratory to orbit and beyond.
Now it shouldn’t surprise you that Australia brings top class science to an event like this. After all, we are the nation that invented WIFI, where the prototype of google maps began and where the world’s first quantum space clock was launched into orbit.
But there are some specific reasons why Australia is good at space, and some specific reasons why Australian companies are relevant to India’s Space Journey:
First, in terms of territory and population, we are the “un-India”. We have a territory that is two and a half times bigger than India’s, with one fiftieth of the population. That means vast open landmasses and the quietest skies in the world.
It also means that we have to be good at doing things remotely and with tools like robotics and automation. For instance, our mining giant Rio runs one of the largest fleet of remote vehicles anywhere in the world - directing trucks in the Pilbara in north Western Australia from control stations in Perth - 1300 kilometres away. Because, we are a big landmass and don’t have many people, we have to know about doing things at distance and with machines.
Second, we in Australia have - for India - some very relevant geography.
Our position in the east Indian Ocean means that we are ideally located to support India’s space journey. Our satellites track Indian space craft, and our naval and border command vessels support their splashdown.
Also relevant to India and other partners, Australia has unique access to launch profiles – including both equatorial and polar orbits.
Third, our companies are motivated to work closely with their Indian space partners.
Like you, the space journey of our private sector is relatively recent, and is moving fast. Australia’s space industry is growing at around triple the rate of our overall economy.
Unlike the giants in the room, our industry is big enough to be consequential to India, but small enough to want to work closely with you. As I have seen it, the Australian space industry is ‘growing up’ with the Indian space industry, and learning together.
Our companies are backed by our government. The Australian Government is investing nearly 1,500 crore (AUD216mil) into the space sector – crowding in private sector investment and including grants to support industry collaboration (ISI – AUD18mil). Our Government’s Statement on Space, launched just last month, charts a path to strengthen market pathways and further industry capability development in areas of comparative advantage.
There is one other thing, which you might notice if you visit the Australian pavilion.
Many businesses in the Australian space sector are led by people of Indian origin. That’s not surprising to me — there’s now more than a million Indian-Australians in my country, and they are asymmetrically represented in our business and our science. But they also have a keen sense of how to do business in India.
Let me conclude by identifying the one defining character of the Australian and Indian space industries. Our two industries are complementary. We have things you don’t have and you have things we don’t have. So, partnership is natural and relatively simple.
We have niche technological strengths, the advantages of being “un-India” and of relevant geography, and a culture of innovation forged in our extensive academic and scientific ecosystem.
India has end-to-end manufacturing capabilities, cost efficiencies and world class engineering talent at scale.
It’s the ideal match between two space vehicles.
So come and “dock in” to the Australian companies here at BSX.
and let’s “fly to the moon” together — based on strategic alignment, complementary capabilities, and a government to government framework that is closer than ever.
Thank you