Isro earned $427 mn from US, EU space missions in 10 years: MoS space

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has generated over $400 million in revenue from commercial satellite launches conducted over the past decade for the US and the European Union, Union minister of state (MoS) for space Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.

Singh said the revenue figure is likely to ramp up in the coming years, starting with five launches in the first half of 2025.

“So far, Isro has generated $172 million in revenue by launching satellites for the US, and €292 million ($304 million) for the EU. Out of this, $157 million from US launches and €260 million ($271 million) from EU launches have come in the past decade alone. This shows the kind of progress that India has made in the space economy, and its current stature as a leading spacefaring nation,” Singh said at a press briefing following Isro’s launch of its space docking experiment (SpaDex) mission on Monday.

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The minister added that going forward, more such missions will be conducted. “We have the LVM3-M5 mission scheduled for the first quarter for an international customer. India is also launching a satellite for direct mobile communication for the US by February or March, showcasing our evolving abilities. The much-awaited launch of the Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) satellite will also take place by the second quarter—these are all commercial missions that reflect India’s growing capabilities to increase the size of the nation’s space economy,” Singh said.

So far, industry consultants and other stakeholders have argued that India’s commercial space economy still has a dearth of revenue generation avenues, and called for creation of internal demand through ministry agencies and other sources, Mint reported in June.

“You can see that there’s progress. NewSpace India Ltd, the public sector undertaking, is working to increase the commercial revenue opportunities for India in space. We’re also building a new spaceport in Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu), construction of which is currently underway with a two-year timeline. This will dedicatedly service small satellite launch demand from Indian soil. The progress being made is clear,” Singh added.

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However, Isro’s flagship manned space mission, Gaganyaan, is likely to see some delays. Projecting a tentative launch timeline of end-2026, Singh said that the first trial mission with humanoid robot ‘Vyommitra’ on board is likely to take place within the first quarter of 2025. This launch was originally targeted for the end of 2024.

“The delays are not because of any issues in specific, but a number of factors combined. These include engineering goals, geopolitics, weather and interplanetary conditions, and more. Overall, we’re on target—our astronauts have been chosen and are being prepared too,” Singh said.

Monday’s Spadex launch will be critical in this as well. The latter involves two satellites that will look to perform a docking manoeuvre, which will be key to helping India connect Gaganyaan’s crew module to lander and orbiter modules in space, to safely bring India’s future astronauts back to earth. 

Rajeev Jaiswal, associate director at Isro’s earth observation division, told Mint on the sidelines that three unmanned safety demonstration missions are already scheduled, one of which will happen in 2025.

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“Even with that, we have an end-2026 target timeline for the launch of Gaganyaan’s eventual manned mission,” Jaiswal added.

Alongside sending the first Indian astronauts to space from Indian soil, the domestic space economy targets $44 billion in revenue by 2033. As of Tuesday, Singh said that the figure is currently at $8.4 billion, or 2% of the global space market.

“We are scheduled to grow 4x in the next eight or nine years—this should show the kind of confidence India’s space market has right now. India has always had the talent, now we have the governmental disposition too,” Singh said.