Tirupati, India | 19/04/2026 — IIT Tirupati, in collaboration with the Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), successfully concluded the 2 days MFF CARE Roundtable on “Building India’s Space Workforce.” The event brought together a formidable coalition of leaders from ISRO, the Defence Space Agency (DSA), premier academic institutions, and the burgeoning private space sector to brainstorm and design a roadmap for future-ready next generation of space professionals, along with a Space Science Engineering program at IIT Tirupati.
Emphasizing on India’s urgent need for technical talent in the space domain – from workforce to research to entrepreneurship, Dr. K. N. Satyanarayana, Director of IIT Tirupati, outlined the institute’s strategic geographical location, along with a strong presence of technical knowledge in multiple areas, catalyzing IIT Tirupti’s timely entrance into space education.
“IIT Tirupati is uniquely positioned to develop a leading School of Space Science, Technology, and Applications, and serve as a key centre for training future astronauts,” he said.
The gathering was graced by the presence of Prof. B.N. Suresh, Chancellor of IIST, who shared his profound insights on the critical thrust areas of the school, identifying the existing gaps in India’s space education landscape and urging for a curriculum that is deep rooted into actionable outcomes.
Shri Rahul Mehta, Founder of the Mehta Family Foundation, shared insights from his recent engagements with stakeholders across the space industry in the United States. He said, “The growth of the space sector globally in beyond imagination. This ecosystem is going to grow exponentially in the coming years. IIT Tirupati’s space engineering initiative is timely and necessary for India to take a leapfrog step in the right direction.”
Shri Ganesh Pillai, Scientific Secretary at the Indian Space Research Organisation, noted that the demand for human capital is growing fast in the space arena. ISRO will be playing a pivotal role in strengthening such initiatives in premier Indian institutes. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, Ashok Chakra, shared his perspectives on priority areas that a space school should focus on, drawing from his recent experience as an astronaut. Shri Nagabharath, Founder of Skyroot Aerospace, shared his space entrepreneur journey, stressing the urgent need of trained workforce. Shri E. S. Padmakumar, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, laid emphasis on the need of indigenous innovation with the upcoming ambitious Gaganyan and Indian Human Space missions, highlighting opportunities for India given the changing geopolitical situations. Shri M. Sankaran from the U R Rao Satellite Centre encouraged that in today’s day of information and data collection, the big unknown of space can be bravely delved into by the academia. Shri SVS Narayana Murthy, CMD of MIDHANI, emphasized on the urgent need for India to develop materials critical for space missions. Mr. Naveen Jha, Global Director of Mehta Family Foundation, said that India has paved the way for affordable space industry and this future-ready workforce will create new sizeable economic opportunities for the country.
The two-day deliberations concluded with a strong framework for developing India’s space science education, paving a pathway for current and future academic programs, research focus areas, industry-partnership models, and core expertise that India would build to become a leader in Space Science.