ISRO’s role in India’s space program is not diminishing, clarified IN-SPACe Chairman Pawan Goenka, who emphasised that the agency will remain the bedrock of the Indian space sector even as reforms expand private participation.

He assured employees that ISRO will continue to lead advanced R&D, strategic missions, and frontier exploration projects, Chethan Kumar, Senior Assistant Editor with the Times of India, reported the developments from Bangalore.

Two days after associations representing thousands of ISRO employees sought a formal clarification on the organisation’s future, Goenka issued a statement reaffirming ISRO’s central role. He said unequivocally that ISRO’s role is not shrinking, but rather evolving to strengthen India’s overall space ecosystem.

The reforms introduced since 2020 are designed to expand participation by private industry, not to reduce ISRO’s importance.

Goenka explained that IN-SPACe will facilitate and authorise greater non-government involvement, while NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) will focus on commercialising mature capabilities. This comes at a time when IN-SPACe has been issuing Expressions of Interest (EoIs) and announcing plans to transfer technology to private firms.

One such EoI invited private industry to operate the proposed second spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu, once it is developed by ISRO and the Department of Space.

The joint representation by ISRO employees had raised concerns about Goenka’s earlier statement that ISRO would eventually stop manufacturing launch vehicles.

They asked whether this reflected an approved decision by the Government of India, the Space Commission, or the Department of Space, and requested details of the authority and text of such a policy decision if it existed.

Goenka clarified that the idea is to allow industry to increasingly manufacture and scale mature launch vehicles, satellites, and other systems, while ISRO focuses on advanced R&D, scientific missions, strategic missions, new technologies, and infrastructure too complex for private industry to develop independently. He stressed that ISRO will remain at the core of India’s space program, leading frontier research and next-generation national missions.

Among the missions highlighted were the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, targeted for completion by 2035, and an Indian crewed mission to the Moon by 2040. ISRO will also spearhead next-generation launch systems and sustained lunar and planetary exploration.

Goenka emphasised that the direction is not towards a smaller ISRO, but towards a larger Indian space ecosystem, with ISRO pushing the technological frontier.

The reassurance comes amid growing debate about the balance between public and private roles in India’s space sector.

While private industry is being encouraged to scale production and commercialisation, ISRO’s mandate remains firmly anchored in innovation, national missions, and strategic capabilities. Goenka’s statement is intended to calm concerns among ISRO’s workforce and reaffirm the agency’s enduring importance.

Agencies