Service of State
Indian Space Research Organisation
The Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency and the research-and-development arm of the Department of Space, which reports directly to the Prime Minister. It builds and launches the country's satellites and launch vehicles, runs its planetary and human-spaceflight programmes, and now sits at the centre of a state-led opening of the sector to private industry. ISRO is a seat of power because space capability is simultaneously a scientific, economic, security and strategic-autonomy asset for the Indian state.
Updated
- Headquarters
- Bengaluru, Karnataka
- Parent
- Department of Space (reports to the PM)
- Dept. of Space budget FY2026-27
- ₹13,705.63 crore
- Founded
- 1969 (INCOSPAR, 1962)
Role
The Indian Space Research Organisation is the operational core of India’s space programme. It is the research-and-development arm of the Department of Space, an administrative department that reports directly to the Prime Minister rather than to a line ministry — a structure that gives space policy an unusually direct line to the top of government. ISRO designs and operates India’s launch vehicles (the PSLV, GSLV and LVM3), builds the country’s earth-observation, communication and navigation satellites, and runs its planetary science and human-spaceflight missions from centres including the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram and the launch complex at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Since 2019–2020 the institution’s role has widened from doing the work itself to enabling an ecosystem. Its commercial arm, NewSpace India Limited, markets launch and satellite services; the regulator IN-SPACe authorises and promotes private space activity; and ISRO increasingly acts as an anchor customer and technology-transfer partner. The result is that ISRO is now a node in India’s economic and strategic-autonomy policy as much as a science agency: it supplies sovereign launch and reconnaissance capability, seeds a private industry the state wants to scale, and carries the flagship missions — a national space station and crewed spaceflight — that the government treats as markers of great-power status.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
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ISRO formed
The Indian Space Research Organisation was created in 1969, superseding the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) set up in 1962, to build an independent Indian space programme.
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Aryabhata, India's first satellite
India's first satellite, Aryabhata, was placed in orbit, launched on a Soviet vehicle.
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First indigenous orbital launch (SLV-3)
The SLV-3 placed the Rohini satellite in orbit, making India capable of launching satellites on its own vehicle.
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Government approves the IRNSS regional navigation constellation
The Union government approved the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System at an initial cost of ₹1,420 crore, committing India to a sovereign navigation capability covering the country and a region extending 1,500 km around it. Costs had risen to ₹2,246 crore by March 2017 after replacement satellites and additional launches.
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Chandrayaan-1, India's first lunar mission, launched on PSLV-XL
PSLV-XL (C-11) placed Chandrayaan-1 on a lunar trajectory at an estimated budget of ₹386 crore, carrying eleven payloads — five Indian and six from international partners. The Moon Impact Probe recorded evidence of water in 650 mass spectra readings during its descent on 18 November 2008.
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Antrix-Devas S-band agreement annulled after internal disclosures
The S-band transponder agreement signed in January 2005 by ISRO's commercial arm Antrix — leasing capacity on GSAT-6 and GSAT-6A for ₹1,400 crore over twelve years, described as well below market price — was annulled after ISRO insiders disclosed its terms from late 2009. The counterparties sought roughly US$2 billion and US$1 billion in arbitration damages, and a Department of Space officeholder was barred from any post under the department.
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Mars Orbiter Mission reaches Mars
India's Mangalyaan entered Mars orbit, making ISRO the first agency to reach Mars orbit on its first attempt.
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GSLV-D5 flies the first successful indigenous cryogenic upper stage
The GSLV placed GSAT-14 in orbit on the first successful flight test of the CE-7.5, India's own cryogenic engine, ending a run of four consecutive GSLV failures dating to 2006. Cryogenic capability removed a foreign-supply dependency that had constrained India's heavier geostationary launches for two decades.
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PSLV-C37 deploys 104 satellites on a single launch
The PSLV placed the 714 kg Cartosat-2D plus 103 co-passengers — two Indian nanosatellites and 101 foreign ones, mostly American — in orbit, surpassing the previous record of 37 set by a Russian Dnepr in 2014. The record stood until SpaceX's Transporter-1 flew 143 satellites on 24 January 2021.
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First orbital flight of the LVM3 heavy-lift vehicle
LVM3 (then GSLV Mk III) reached orbit for the first time carrying GSAT-19, following a suborbital developmental flight on 18 December 2014. The vehicle lifts 10,000 kg to low Earth orbit, 4,200 kg to geostationary transfer orbit and 3,000 kg to trans-lunar injection, and became the carrier for Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan.
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IRNSS-1I completes the seven-satellite NavIC constellation
The launch of IRNSS-1I completed the constellation, replacing the failed IRNSS-1H mission and giving India an operational regional navigation system independent of GPS. The first satellite, IRNSS-1A, had flown on 1 July 2013 and the seventh, IRNSS-1G, on 28 April 2016.
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Union Cabinet approves Gaganyaan human spaceflight at ₹10,000 crore
The Cabinet approved the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme at ₹10,000 crore for a seven-day crewed flight carrying three astronauts, originally targeted for 2021. A pad abort test had validated the crew escape system on 5 July 2018, and the TV-D1 high-altitude abort test followed on 21 October 2023.
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NewSpace India Limited incorporated as ISRO's commercial arm
NSIL was incorporated under the Companies Act 2013 to scale private participation in Indian space programmes through technology transfer, satellite manufacturing and commercialisation of space products and services. It later executed the OneWeb launch contracts and a ₹3,000-crore agreement with the Ministry of Defence for the GSAT-7B communication satellite.
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Chandrayaan-2 launched; lander crashes, orbiter still operating
LVM3 M1 launched the ₹978-crore mission, but the Vikram lander crash-landed on 6 September 2019 after its trajectory deviated at about 2.1 km altitude, attributed by the Failure Analysis Committee to a thrust-control software fault. The orbiter, planned for about one year, remains operational with eight instruments and an extended life of roughly 7.5 years.
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Space sector opened to private players; IN-SPACe created
The Union Cabinet opened the space sector to private participation and formed the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre as an autonomous single-window body under the Department of Space to promote, enable, authorise and supervise non-government space activity. IN-SPACe operates through three directorates — Promotion, Technical, and Programme Management and Authorisation.
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SSLV-D1 maiden flight fails; development completed by 2024
The first Small Satellite Launch Vehicle flight failed when a software fault switched guidance from closed to open loop and the velocity trimming module fired for 0.1 seconds instead of 20, leaving the satellites in an unstable orbit. SSLV-D2 succeeded on 10 February 2023 and SSLV-D3 on 16 August 2024, completing the development phase of a vehicle rated at 500 kg to low Earth orbit.
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LVM3-M2 flies 36 OneWeb satellites, India's first commercial heavy launch
NSIL contracted the LVM3 to deploy 36 OneWeb broadband satellites to low Earth orbit after the operator lost access to Russian launches, with a second batch following on 26 March 2023. The missions moved ISRO's heavy-lift vehicle from a national asset into the commercial launch market.
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Chandrayaan-3 soft-lands near the lunar south pole
On 23 August 2023 the Vikram lander touched down, making India the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon and the first to do so near the south pole.
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Aditya-L1 launched; reaches halo orbit at Sun-Earth L1
PSLV-XL C57 launched India's first solar observatory, budgeted at ₹378 crore excluding launch, to study the chromosphere, corona, coronal mass ejections and solar wind. It was inserted into a halo orbit around the L1 point, about 1.5 million km from Earth, on 6 January 2024, some 126 days after launch.
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Cabinet approves space station, expanded Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan-4
The Union Cabinet approved development of the first module of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, an expanded Gaganyaan programme, the Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample-return mission and the Next Generation Launch Vehicle.
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SpaDeX in-space docking success
ISRO docked two small satellites using an indigenous docking system, making India the fourth nation to demonstrate autonomous in-space docking — a prerequisite for the space station and sample-return missions.
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SSLV manufacturing transferred to HAL for ₹511 crore
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited won the full contract to manufacture, market and launch the SSLV under a technology transfer agreement with ISRO, valued at about ₹511 crore. It is the first transfer of an entire Indian launch vehicle to industry, shifting ISRO from operator to technology supplier for the small-satellite segment.
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Indian astronaut flies to the ISS on Axiom-4
A Gaganyaan astronaut-designate flew as pilot on the Axiom Mission 4 commercial flight to the International Space Station, the first Indian aboard the ISS and the first Indian in space since 1984.
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NISAR earth-observation satellite launched on GSLV-F16
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission launched from Sriharikota on a mission costing about US$1.5 billion, of which ISRO's share was roughly ₹788 crore. ISRO supplied the satellite bus, the S-band radar and launch services while NASA supplied the L-band radar and data subsystems, with observations released freely within one to two days.
Frequently asked
- What is Indian Space Research Organisation?
- The Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency and the research-and-development arm of the Department of Space, which reports directly to the Prime Minister. It builds and launches the country's satellites and launch vehicles, runs its planetary and human-spaceflight programmes, and now sits at the centre of a state-led opening of the sector to private industry. ISRO is a seat of power because space capability is simultaneously a scientific, economic, security and strategic-autonomy asset for the Indian state.
- When was Indian Space Research Organisation established?
- Indian Space Research Organisation was established 1969.
- What does Indian Space Research Organisation do?
- Its remit covers Launch vehicles (PSLV, GSLV, LVM3) and next-generation vehicle development, Earth-observation, communication and navigation satellite constellations, Planetary and space-science missions (lunar, Mars, solar), Human spaceflight (Gaganyaan) and a planned national space station, Enabling commercial and private space activity via NSIL and IN-SPACe.
- What is the latest on Indian Space Research Organisation?
- As of 2026-07-05: NISAR earth-observation satellite launched on GSLV-F16. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission launched from Sriharikota on a mission costing about US$1.5 billion, of which ISRO's share was roughly ₹788 crore. ISRO supplied the satellite bus, the S-band radar and launch services while NASA supplied the L-band radar and data subsystems, with observations released freely within one to two days.
Official sources
The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.
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Canonical home of the Indian Space Research Organisation, under the Department of Space; missions, centres, launches.
www.isro.gov.in/
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Year-wise DOS/ISRO annual reports in English and Hindi, latest 2025-26.
www.isro.gov.in/AnnualReports.html
- Press Releases press
ISRO's own dated press-release and announcement archive.
www.isro.gov.in/Press.html
- IN-SPACe department
Autonomous single-window authorisation and promotion body for non-government space activities, under DOS.
www.inspace.gov.in/inspace
- National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) department
ISRO centre for satellite data acquisition, remote-sensing products and disaster support.
www.nrsc.gov.in/nrscnew/
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NRSC/ISRO geoportal: imagery, thematic layers and open geospatial datasets.
bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/home/index.php