The EoI comes at a time when ISRO is working to enhance LVM3's payload capacity to five tonnes in GTO and is also evaluating the procurement of a Russian semi-cryogenic engine for the vehicle's second stage.
The larger question raised by the associations is simple: If ISRO is no longer to manufacture launch vehicles, what will happen to the institution's accumulated capabilities and the people who built them?
'It is not economical to operate GSLV-Mk II due to its cost and complexity. Future launches to be managed with LVM3.'
'He didn't touch upon the core questions raised by the nine employee associations.'
There is no answer to the question of how IN-SPACe invited EOIs for ISRO's mature rockets and whether it was based on any government policy decision.
Nine employee associations at ISRO have written to Chairperson V Narayanan, seeking official clarification on the proposed transfer of manufacturing and operational functions to private entities. They raised concerns about ISRO's future role, employee consequences, and recruitment, following comments by IN-SPACe chairperson Pawan Goenka regarding ISRO's eventual exit from launch vehicle manufacturing.
A rocket designed and developed by ISRO is being transferred to industry for production.
Nine ISRO associations want to know whether this is simply an effort to expand India's industrial capacity or part of a larger policy under which ISRO itself will eventually withdraw from rocket manufacturing.
One of the important topics of discussion between the two leaders is expected to be the Northern Sea Route and the Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor.
Their message is blunt: Public scientific wealth should not be transferred at what they describe as 'throwaway prices'.capability, recruitment, promotional avenues and the voice of its employees.
Buying a mature rocket technology gives companies the designs and hardware know-how, but not necessarily the decades of engineering wisdom needed to make it work.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday said it has successfully conducted the flight acceptance hot testing of the cryogenic engine identified for the sixth operational mission of LVM3 launch vehicle (LVM-M6) at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu.
The appointment comes as Agnikul prepares for Mission 02, a flight that will attempt, for the first time on Indian soil, the recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster and the extension of a rocket's upper stage into an on-orbit platform.
Weighing 6,100 kg, the communication satellite would be the heaviest payload to be placed into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in LVM3 launch history from Indian soil.
The ISRO on Sunday scripted yet another history after its LVM3 rocket successfully placed 36 satellites of United Kingdom-based OneWeb group company into intended orbits.
A high-level committee investigating the failures of ISRO's PSLV rockets, which have impacted strategic satellite missions, has yet to release its report and recommendations, raising concerns about the future of the ageing launch vehicle.
ISRO is set to launch its communication satellite CMS-03 from Sriharikota. The satellite, weighing 4,410 kg, will be the heaviest launched from Indian soil into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
The heaviest communication satellite to be launched from the Indian soil onboard a new generation, homegrown 'Bahubali' rocket was successfully placed into the intended orbit on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.
Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) heaviest rocket LVM3 will launch British start-up OneWeb's 36 broadband satellites from the spaceport in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota on October 23, marking the launcher's entry into the global commercial launch service market.
Indian Space Research Organisation scientists have carried out a new experiment on the indigenously developed C25 cryogenic stage of the LVM3-M5 rocket which successfully placed the Communication Satellite CMS-03 into the intended orbit on Sunday, said its Chairman V Narayanan.
The satellite, weighing about 4,410 kg will be the heaviest to be launched from the Indian soil and into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), the space agency said. The satellite will travel onboard a LVM3-M5 rocket, dubbed as 'Bahubali' for its heavylift capability.
The mission is targeted for launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Kwatra termed India's successful launch of an American communication satellite on Wednesday as a 'very important and big day' for partnership between Washington and New Delhi, saying it caps a series of achievements in 2025 in bilateral space cooperation between the countries.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday announced that its lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 will be launched on July 14 from the space port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO is developing a third launch pad at Shriharikota to accommodate heavier satellites and next-generation launch vehicles. The new facility will support both crewed and uncrewed missions.
These upcoming launches carry added significance in light of setbacks suffered in recent years.
ISRO has announced plans for seven launch missions by March, including the first uncrewed mission for the Gaganyaan project and demonstrations of new satellite technologies.
ISRO chairman announces plans for nine major launches by the end of the fiscal year, including the Blue Bird Block2 communication satellite for the US in collaboration with NASA.
ISRO stated that the disengagement of at least one contact -- in both the main and redundant paths -- of a connector led to the failure of NVS-02.
'The LVM3 rocket will orbit one Block 2 BlueBird satellite in Low Earth Orbit.'
India is set to take its first steps towards its own human space flight when the uncrewed Gaganyaan mission soars to the skies later this year. Private players in the space sector are also gearing up for launching satellites on home-built rockets.
From a surge in startups to crewed mission preparations, 2025 marks a transformative year as India eyes $44 billion space economy by 2033.
The Indian government has approved the construction of a third launch pad at Sriharikota, capable of sending heavier spacecraft into orbit. This new facility will support India's ambitious space program, including the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission and a lunar landing. The launch pad will be built at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and is expected to be operational within four years.
Narayanan has a long and distinguished career at ISRO, having played a key role in several important missions, including Chandrayaan-2 and 3, and the Gaganyaan programme.
The Human-rated LVM3 vehicle, the Crew Escape System and the Crew Module and Service Module are all in final stages of testing and integration.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others are expected to travel to the International Space Station on June 19, after SpaceX successfully resolved the liquid oxygen leak in its Falcon-9 rocket, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Saturday.
For the Gaganyaan programme, LVM3 rocket is re-configured to meet the human rating requirements and has been christened as 'Human Rated LVM3', ISRO said and it would be capable of launching the Orbital Module to an Low Earth Orbit of 400kms.
Rigorous testing demonstrates the engine's mettle, it said, adding the CE20 engine identified for the first uncrewed flight LVM3 G1 also went through acceptance tests.
The cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 M4 launch vehicle, which successfully injected the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into the intended orbit on July 14 this year, made an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, the ISRO said.
A number of private companies have contributed to the development of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft which successfully landed near the south pole of the Moon on Wednesday evening.
Chandrayaan-4 will involve at least two separate launches of the heavylift LVM-3 rocket that will carry five different components of the mission which will be assembled in orbit.
