ISRO earned $427 million from US, EU space missions in 10 years: Minister of State for Space peppermint

New Delhi: Union Minister of State (MoS) for Space Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) earned over $400 million in revenue from commercial satellite launches for the US and EU in the last decade. Is.

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

“So far, ISRO has generated revenue of $172 million by launching satellites for the US and €292 million ($304 million) for the EU. Of this, $157 million has come from US launches and €260 million ($271 million) from EU launches in the last decade alone. This reflects the kind of progress India has made in the space economy, and its current stature as a leading spacefaring nation,” Singh said at a press conference after the launch of ISRO’s Space Docking Experiment (Spadex) mission on Monday. Said in the conversation.

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The minister said that more such missions will be run in future. “We have an LVM3-M5 mission scheduled for the first quarter for an international customer. India is also launching a satellite for direct mobile communications to the US by February or March, which will showcase our growing capabilities. 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 country’s space economy,” Singh said.

So far, industry consultants and other stakeholders have argued that India’s commercial space economy still lacks revenue generation opportunities, and called for the creation of internal demand through ministry agencies and other sources. peppermint Reported in June.

“You can see that progress has been made. Public sector undertaking NewSpace India Limited is working to increase commercial revenue opportunities for India in space. We are also building a new spaceport in Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu), the construction of which is currently underway with a timeline of two years. It will dedicatedly cater to the demand of small satellite launch from Indian soil. The progress that is being made is clear,” Singh said.

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However, ISRO’s flagship manned space mission, Gaganyaan, is likely to face some delays. Estimating a tentative launch timeline of late 2026, Singh said the first test mission with the humanoid robot ‘Vyommitra’ is likely to take place within the first quarter of 2025. The launch was originally targeted for late 2024.

“The delay is not due to any particular issue, but due to a number of factors. These include engineering goals, geopolitics, weather and interplanetary conditions, and more. Overall, we are on target – our astronauts have been selected and are also being prepared,” Singh said.

Monday’s Spadex launch will be important in this too. The latter includes two satellites that will perform docking maneuvers, which will be crucial in helping India connect Gaganyaan’s crew module to the lander and orbiter modules in space to safely return India’s future astronauts to Earth.

ISRO’s Earth Observation Division Associate Director Rajiv Jaiswal said peppermint On the off chance that three unmanned safety demonstration missions are already scheduled, one of which will take place in 2025.

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“Despite this, we have a target timeline of late 2026 for the launch of the final manned mission of Gaganyaan,” Jaiswal said.

Along with sending the first Indian astronauts to space from Indian soil, the domestic space economy aims to achieve revenues of $44 billion by 2033. As of Tuesday, Singh said that figure currently stands at $8.4 billion, or 2% of the global space market.

“We are going to grow 4 times in the next eight or nine years – this shows the kind of confidence India has in the space market right now. India has always had the talent, now we also have the government temperament,” Singh said.