New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS): India will leverage space warfare, an emerging field, for its security, Union Minister of Science and Technology, Space and Atomic Energy, Dr Jitendra Singh said on Monday.

In his address at the India Space Conclave held here on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Indian Space Association (ISpA), he, dwelling on the strategic relevance of space in view of recent global conflicts, said: "Space, a dual-use technology domain, is emerging as an important multi-faceted enabler that provides unprecedented reach."

Singh said many nations are today focusing on developing their military space capabilities to ensure its safe, secure, and friendly use along with deterrence capability to deny it to adversaries, when necessary.

He said India too has resolved to leverage the strengths of this emerging dimension of warfare and in fact, Indian government is undertaking strong and decisive steps towards ensuring self reliance or Atma Nirbharta in the space sector.

Singh said, space reforms have unleashed the innovative potentials of startups.

Within a short span of time, from a couple of space startups three-four years back, today there are 102 startups working in cutting-edge areas of space debris management, nano-satellite, launch vehicle, ground systems, research and others, he noted.

Singh also unveiled a sector report titled "Developing the space ecosystem in India: focussing on inclusive growth" along with ISpA Chairman, Jayant D. Patil, and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S. Somnath.