Letter sent after GSLV launch: ISRO staff question trajectory of space privatisation, want chief to clarify

Even as ISRO continues to deliver on its core missions, the letter showed that questions are mounting within about what role it will play as private players take on a growing share of the country’s space activities.

At the centre of the controversy are remarks made on August 21, at a Business Today event, by Pawan Goenka, chairperson of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the nodal body, under the Department of Space, announced by the Prime Minister in 2020 to open India’s space sector to private participation.

Said Goenka, who also chairs the board of governors at IIT Madras: “Eventually, ISRO will not manufacture any launch vehicles, that will be done by the private sector or PSU. They will not do any day in day out kind of satellites. They will do the satellites that are for special purpose, for orbits for scientific research or to develop new technology that will then get transferred to the private sector.”

The employee associations argue that these statements were never followed by any formal communication from the Department of Space explaining the policy, its legal basis, its timeline, or its impact on current staff and future recruitment.

Signed by representatives from across ISRO’s centres, including the Space Applications Centre and the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, the letter asks the chairperson to issue a “written clarification” on whether Goenka’s statements represent an “approved decision” of the government of India, space commission, or the department of space.

The letter raises several specific concerns: what ISRO’s future role as a public organisation will look like, whether PSUs will also be excluded from manufacturing work, what safeguards exist for current employees, and how publicly funded technologies are being transferred to private companies. It also asks whether employee associations will be consulted before any “irreversible decision” affecting the agency’s structure, mandate, or staffing is finalised.

Despite calls and messages, neither Goenka nor Narayanan were available for comment.

The associations describe the activities referenced by Goenka as ISRO’s “core competence,” warning that withdrawing from them threatens the organisation’s long-term viability. Employees who built their careers around ISRO’s stability and public character, the letter says, now face uncertainty, and shrinking recruitment — already limited by vacancies and attrition — will discourage talented young professionals who see ISRO as a respected public-sector career path.

Since the space sector was opened to private participation in 2020, the government’s stated approach has been for ISRO to mentor emerging companies, gradually shifting routine work to them while ISRO focuses on missions of scientific and strategic significance. The letter notes that ISRO has already transferred around 120 technologies to industry, including the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle and the PSLV. Separately, the new spaceport being developed at Kulasekharapatnam is expected to focus on small satellite launches, a segment where private capability is already fairly advanced.

The dispute is likely to fuel broader debate over ISRO’s future direction.

Ajay Lele, Deputy Director General at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, said the sector’s opening up was overdue and could have helped India capture a larger share of the global market sooner. With ISRO now focused on major undertakings like Gaganyaan, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, and a crewed lunar mission, he said some functions would naturally shift to private players — but cautioned that launch services and vehicle development remain core to ISRO’s mandate.

“The situation should not be like NASA, where they are completely dependent on SpaceX for their launches,” he said. “ISRO should remain capable of launching some of its own satellites, especially the strategic ones.”