Slow recovery: On the ISRO’s GSLV-F18 mission

With the successful launch of the GSLV-F18 mission and the NVS-03 satellite’s healthy status, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on course to heave a sigh of relief. Its last 18 months have been constrained by the consequences of two launch failures involving PSLV rockets, which share some of their design aspects with GSLV, to the extent that the F18 mission was only the second successful launch of 2026. If the NVS-03 satellite is successfully manoeuvred into its final intended orbital slot and commissioned, ISRO will also have pulled off a rescue mission for the ‘Navigation with Indian Constellation’ (NavIC) programme, which has been at least one functional satellite short for the last six months and thus unable to meet its primary purpose of providing standalone positioning services over the Indian subcontinent. The three second-generation NVS satellites thus far are distinguished by having at least one indigenously made atomic clock onboard, in line with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Science and Technology and India’s investments in quantum timekeeping, and away from the imported clocks onboard the first-generation IRNSS satellites. 

The PSC had also flagged procurement bottlenecks across ISRO’s programmes, including difficulties with obtaining specialised components and ensuring vendor readiness on the timelines that NavIC needs. The ISRO Space Applications Centre’s ‘request for proposals’ in 2025 also specified a large lead time of nearly two years between a contract’s start and the first two flight models. The Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme and the programme to modernise the Semiconductor Laboratory can be tweaked to serve these needs, with the Electronics Ministry also setting aside dedicated funds for developing specialised components and their qualification tests in a five- to seven-year programme. In tandem, the government must allocate around ₹17,000 crore in the 2027-28 Union Budget for the Department of Space, against ₹13,705.6 crore in 2026-27, with the hike focusing on manufacturing launch vehicles, replacing satellites, and recruitment. Besides, NavIC also requires a dedicated operator, so that ISRO can be left to focus on its core mandate, and India needs a national space law addressing private participation in this enterprise, and liability. Two successful orbital missions in five-sixths of a year is unbecoming of a national space programme with imminent plans of human spaceflight, a space station, and reusable launch vehicle capabilities. Without significant measures, ISRO will lurch from one mission to the next as and when its inadequate workforce is able to make do with its inadequate allocation.