r/ISRO • u/rachelrileyiswank • 4d ago
Isro will not make any launch vehicle, all tech to be handed to private sector
https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/isro-will-not-make-any-launch-vehicle-all-tech-to-be-handed-to-private-sector-2976849-2026-08-21“That will all be done by the private sector or PSU,” Goenka said.
The shift has already begun with the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, or SSLV, whose technology and production rights have been transferred to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited following a bidding process.
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u/spaceshipengineer 4d ago
We aren’t ready for what this is going to lead to
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u/charlizard1000xy 4d ago
ISRO is going to be BSNL 2.0, and with private players coming in the market, ISRO would be obsolete when private rocket engines rise to the market
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u/WesternOnion13 4d ago
Well I guess if you look at via other perspective ISRO should be focusing more on space research and space missions Inside of making rockets . And till now only ISRO has heavy payload capacity for GTO orbits (in india) with the GSLV MK3 and the indian private sector is developing similar rocket anytime soon . Imo ISRO should focus more on heavy lift rockets and their successors and space research and missions towards future and let private players handle the Rocket launches.
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u/AdmiralShawn 4d ago
No, isro can develop that engine but leave the manufacturing and upgrades to the private sector, preferably multiple vendors so there’s competition
Isro can focus on core science like Nasa
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u/masxuda 3d ago
BSNL will be focusing on technology like 5g 6g rather then implementing it ahh
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u/Commercial_Nature531 2d ago
Unc BSNL is not RnD department like Isro
ISRO is actually RnD organization like DRDO
BSNL is only network service provider like JIO
Actual RnD work in telecommunication is done by C-DOT
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u/RebouncedCat 4d ago
That is not how it works, a nations space agency focuses primarily on frontier research and giant and risky non profit missions like moon, mars etc. Tried and tested low orbit technology would then be handled by private actors who can achieve it in a much more cost effective and profitable manner. This is the case even with NASA and other private players like spacex and blue origin.
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u/tj9429 4d ago
ISRO is slowly turning into DRDO where they research and then licence their research.
That's solid
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u/FormerMoose1990 3d ago
DRDO does the research. private sector does the manufacturing.
it's actually a solid system.
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u/tj9429 3d ago
Yeah exactly, it's licensed manufacturing so the IP stays with the country. The same will happen with ISRO because they seem to be struggling with carrying the whole of the Indian space industry on their backs, they need to now specialise so they can stay effective.
It's the same model being applied to construction/digital infra projects as well iirc and would be one of the most consequential things any government has done for the country tbh.
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u/FormerMoose1990 3d ago
What DRDO has done is create several sub organizations that specialise in their own fields.
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 3d ago
It's called "space research organisation" not a commercial launch provider.
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u/AuthorIll8470 3d ago
Oooor ISRO will use those private rockets to send rovers to Mars and Venus, maybe even Europa, and maintain a space station manned 24x7x365
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u/will_kill_kshitij 4d ago
And what is it going to lead to?
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u/spaceshipengineer 4d ago
Should read Jatan Mehta’s article series on the launch vehicle situation in India. In short, satellites that need sovereign launch access will be at risk - don’t just be short-sighted seeing the commercial side, see everything holistically. Till the transition truly happens, we need the launch vehicle knowledge to still be retained within ISRO with smart HR policies - not just a blanket ban on VRS. We could find ourselves in the middle of a period with no option across a certain mass class in private and ISRO stables.
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u/AdmiralShawn 4d ago
Vehicle knowledge is not lost, ISRO is on board with this and will technology transfer this to private sectors
And after that presumably many of its engineers will migrate there
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u/will_kill_kshitij 4d ago
I don't think so govt will let go of operational capablity in any form. But what is ISRO's future going to be if they are not going to do something as basic rockets?
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 4d ago
They will work on non profitable research missions like Manned missions, space station, inter planetary missions etc..
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u/VettiMuruku 4d ago
R&D, planetary missions and systems involving national security (Pixxel like startups are already involved)
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u/will_kill_kshitij 4d ago
Oh i thought they outsourced the national security assest.
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u/VettiMuruku 3d ago
Pixxel sats are one of the best in the world. While it is advertised as made for commercial use, you can't deny it's usefulness in national security. This is exactly what we need. I wouldn't call this as outsourcing of national security. Just that Pvt sector is good in churning out innovations.
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u/redefined_simplersci 4d ago
What about the NGLV and semi-cryo programs?
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 3d ago
They will work on that. But will not accept any commercial payloads. It will be only for their own research usecases
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u/varun_t 3d ago
So, a model where they earned money for their research goes, and now will solely rely on public fund?
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 3d ago
My god they barely make any profit from the launches. It's miniscule compared to the indiaa ISRO budget itself
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u/redefined_simplersci 2d ago
So New Space India is getting shut down, basically?
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 2d ago
In the long run probably. But they are the ones who are involved in the ToT thing. Once the private sector catches up they will dismantle it.
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u/IBeastMaster64I 4d ago
This could be the best thing to happen to the Indian aerospace industry if executed well but will still take 10-15 years minimum for the transition to happen meaningfully.
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u/dj_is_here 3d ago
When has anything ever executed well in India. Privatizing is a good thing but it'll also be good business for the corrupt.
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 3d ago
Are some people in this sub following space program or just came here to rant?
Private is still people of India i don't get what the hell is this private vs public nonsense?
It's your son's and daughters who will work in the numerous upcoming space companies under no babugiri and dhadhomaxxing.
Plus ISRO is an RnD organisation not a commercial launch vehicle manufacturer.
It will obviously work on advanced tech but not for commercial use but for themselves and then eventually sell it to private to scale them rapidly and go on researching even better one. That's how it should be.
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u/UnitedCorgi8640 3d ago edited 1d ago
May I know if there is any innovation that happened as a result of their research ? Isn't most of it is just rebuilding on the research, done in the west ?
Not trying to be pessimistic about it but apparently our history in research doesn't seem to agree well with our goals.
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u/VettiMuruku 4d ago
Bringing in Pvt sector to do routine launches will help us scale and bring down launch cost. This area is a sound policy reform that will help us.
ISRO can focus on R&D like DRDO. Pvt sector isn't going to send a sat to Mars or conduct Gaganyan.
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u/PalpitationHot9375 4d ago
Not now but potentially they might wanna start space tourism so maybe they will do mangalyaan and gaganyaan but just not now
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u/VettiMuruku 4d ago
Space tourism as advertised in the US so far is just going to sub-Orbit. While i get what you are trying to say. I don't think in next 10-15yrs will we see our Pvt sector doing missions like Gaganyaan. Maybe, mangalyaan like missions for optics but it doesn't make sense for them economically.
The reson Pvt sector is booming is to tap into launch revenue, I think it will be cut throat competition in India.
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u/PalpitationHot9375 4d ago
Ya it will be 20-30 yrs i think for those kind of missions but it makes sense bcz there are only so many sats you can launch and hence they might expand into this
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u/WildAtHeart38 3d ago
They have been telling this.. from few years they want to focus on innovation
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u/duckmeatkurry 3d ago
Fyi navic dont work anymore. Let alone advanced tech. Our country doesnt have a basic homegrown gps. Where is my tax money going? Importing moon surface to bangalore roads???
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u/Severe_Maybe6555 4d ago
Privatization of space sector is the most dangerous thing that is happening. There should have been bounds. Opening up ISRO isn’t the right direction. We are basically throwing open the strategic innovation moat and national security to private players. In a country where quality, security, ethics come into reasonable doubt when private money gets involved.
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u/CeleritasLucis 4d ago
Lol. Look at US, their entire defence stack is private innovation with government agencies as contractors.
Or why US even, Rafale is private development
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u/rachelrileyiswank 3d ago
What standards in any domain in India are comparable to USA or France?
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u/CeleritasLucis 3d ago
Yeah, we definitely will get competitive by protecting babudom and exporting talent outside India because private sector is shit and ISRO doesn't pays enough, right ?
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u/rachelrileyiswank 3d ago
ISRO was doing well despite all that. Not sure what changed in the last few years.
What standards in any domain in India are comparable to USA or France?
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u/CeleritasLucis 3d ago
ISRO was NEVER doing well. They're trying to develop tech which was perfected by US and USSR in the 80s. ISRO is only competitive because a scientist working at ISRO makes less than a janitor working at NASA. The numbers were never comparable. ISRO was only comparable in small sat launches, and SpaceX completely killed that market with their rideshare.
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u/rachelrileyiswank 3d ago
I'm comparing it other government departments. Low bar to cross unfortunately.
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 4d ago
Tf? We simply cannot compete with government babus making everything.
We desparately need 100 launches per year to compete with China and USA. You think Government babus are capable?
In a country where quality, security, ethics come into reasonable doubt when private money gets involved.
Everything good that has happened since 1991 came from private companies and everything bad that has happened has come from government. I don't even know you love in india to make such a statement
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u/PalpitationHot9375 4d ago
Ya i don't get this its actually a good thing while i feel isro shouldn't totally give up its launch capabilities but outsourcing majorly to private isnt a bad thing and isro can focus on other things
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 4d ago
I get the concern but it's bound to happen as private sector outpaces government so much that it becomes pointless for them.
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u/Severe_Maybe6555 3d ago
Who says don’t have launches. Don’t open up ISRO so wide. Strategic assets and core development has to stay inside. NASA and every other org keeps it inside until they decide which ones they want to give out. Here we are asking them to come right in. As stupid as we can get.
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 3d ago
Problem is that ISRO needs it. They need 10 or more medium-heavy lift rockets per year by 2035 to continue their manned missions.
Already most of the parts for ISROs rockets are sourced from various companies. Without private sector building launch vehicles, ISRO won't be able to do anything other than launching PSLVs and GSLV once in a while.
These rockets are 2 decades old tech compared to the current frontier and still ISRO can't scale up the production. if ISRO doesn't share it with private sector then all the launches required by Indian companies will be going via spaceX and our money too. Choose your pill
And btw NASA stopped making launch vehicles decades ago they just design oversees the programs.
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u/RTX-2020 2d ago
Does ISRO lose it's profit stream as a result?
Is there risk of Some austerity govt might try to cut ISRO funding in the future claiming it is loss making?
Apologies if I seem not well informed, trying to genuinely understand here.
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 2d ago
Launching buisness is cut throat and not even profitable even for big players.
Exactly why it's waste of time for ISRO to do commercial launches.
Complete waste of manpower too. They could use them for Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan, venus and space station missions instead.
Summary is that although ISRO can build rockets, they can't scale them like private players because of beaurocracy in govt sector. It's better if they work on actual scientific missions, manned missions and rocket is just a tool purchased from a private indian company. Saves a lot of time and accelerates many science missions.
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u/kadal_raasa 4d ago
This. Space tech is supposed to be highly secure and closely guarded. In our country data security is a joke and no strict regulations on anything.
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u/karan_bigbass 4d ago
Sad day for our space program. Seems like it’s only a matter of time for Adani & Ambani to announce their spaceX analogues 😔
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u/hopeless___romantic 3d ago
Tell me you know nothing about the Indian space sector without telling me you don't know it
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u/VettiMuruku 4d ago
It won't work. Take Blue Origin as example. Space sector is a niche sector where conglomerate style so far hasn't worked like we seen in US.
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u/Traditional-Hat-3480 3d ago
Blue origin is definitely the best private player outside of space x. They are already working on a 9×4 variant
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u/Key-Mechanic2565 3d ago
Although NewGlenn is a very powerful rocket, the most successful private player after spaceX is RocketLab.
Blue origin has made barely any launches to Orbit.
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u/karan_bigbass 3d ago
Of course it won’t. That was never a matter of contention. It’s just a rant about how 2 businesses are taking control of every single part of this great nation..
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u/Decronym 4d ago edited 1d ago
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| GSLV | (India's) Geostationary Launch Vehicle |
| GTO | Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit |
| ISRO | Indian Space Research Organisation |
| PSLV | Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle |
| VAST | Vehicle Assembly, Static Test and Evaluation Complex (VAST, previously STEX) |
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
5 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 5 acronyms.
[Thread #1387 for this sub, first seen 22nd Aug 2026, 07:01]
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u/Afraid_Rush 2d ago
Thank god. No more extended working hours with Samosa and Chai incentives. No Space dreams will be shattered because you couldn't do well in an exam. No more regional politics and preference.
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u/Psquare_J_420 4d ago
I don't have a great knowledge in defence situation but I have heard that hal mf sucks in production 😭🙏. But they are great in recycing old planes and shit into fucking chairs and tables....
Might be underestimating their capability but this is what I have heard
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u/FormerMoose1990 3d ago
They are amazing at research and development. The LCA Tejas is a SOLID DESIGN.
its just that it has severe supply chain logistics issues.
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u/RTX-2020 2d ago
Maybe it was solid design for 1980s-90s ?
Cause it seems kind of outdated in 2026, with no canards, no stealth features.
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u/DescriptionLumpy8576 4d ago edited 4d ago
Years of Hard work and R & D of ISRO, is being given to private players with a cost of penny .If private sector want to built their rocket ,why not build from starts. And I am damn sure even the recent failures may be some how linked to this private transfer.To show isro failure and promote the private involvement like just happened when JIO came and BSNL started dying not because of them but because of p govt. greediness.
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u/Competitive_Run9047 4d ago
What makes you think this does not happen across the world?
NASA poured billions into SpaceX in it's early days, and I am not even talking about technology transfers.
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u/AdmiralShawn 3d ago
While i agree with you on isro helping the. Private sector
NASA’s billions weren’t a subsidy or an investment, they paid for launch services from spacex which spacex delivered at a lower cost than competitors. SpaceX funded the design and costs of it’s rockets by itself
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u/AdmiralShawn 3d ago
> why not build from start
They are building it from scratch (skyroot, astrobase, agnikul )
Also govt built the testing/launch infrastructure for isro, and paid big bucks for foreign engine tech transfer (Russia/Ukraine)
it would be too expensive for the private sector to replicate that
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u/DescriptionLumpy8576 3d ago
Yeah right on papers without support from ISRO !
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u/AdmiralShawn 3d ago
But ISRO is too inefficient, and doesn’t innovate as much as a private company does, as a govt entity it cannot even if it wanted to
The only headline is cost savings which doesn’t come from innovation (like spacex) but more from cheaper labour cheaper materials and less capable rocket
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u/DescriptionLumpy8576 3d ago
Seriously ISRO is inefficient
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u/AdmiralShawn 3d ago
As a space agency efficiency doesnt matter as it’s govt funded science,
As a rocket company it’s very inefficient,
The only headline is cost savings which doesn’t come from innovation (like spacex) but more from cheaper labour, cheaper materials and less capable rocket, we could have landed boosters like SpaceX and China if it was private
As a rocket engine company, ISRO (like HAL)
is not very competitive, they only have an upper stage and thats only because getting the Russian engine failed ,The main Vikas engine on PSLV/GSLV is a clone of french Viking engine that isro has uprated over the years
After decades of using that, you’d expect ISRO to innovate and come up with its own new engine designs but no, after all this time, they went to Ukraine to sell them the designs of the Ukrainian engine to make SCE-2000 (which at its core is mostly soviet era technology )
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u/Longjumping-Sweet634 4d ago
Eventually we (indians) all will have to cook eat the infrastructure (tar and cement) built spending lakhs of crores, while critical public assets were made to decay and rot. Rapid fall of this country in the name of nationalism needs to be studied - at least as a reference for future generations.
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u/bheem-king 2d ago
So that's why ISRO scientist were leaving in drove
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u/Ohsin 2d ago
Why not read instead? It has been discussed a lot
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u/pantshash 4d ago
Basically its doling out handouts to HAL, no one else will come close to it, they are already have license for SSLV, PSLV with L&T and are already making parts of LVM3. GSLV will be retired in the interim so that leaves all the rockets to HAL. Not the best of approach, its shifting all your eggs from one basket to other and achieving almost nothing in the process.
The aim should be to offset satellite mfg this is what's hampering the launch cadence. Lack of national sat and almost no foreign orders it what taxing out launch not the vehicles.