India’s space agency ISRO, as
transparent and logical as mud

A Times of India article today strongly criticized the on-going pause in all launches by India’s space agency ISRO, a pause that has now lasted since January 2026 after the second failure in a row of that agency’s PSLV rocket.

The article questioned why ISRO has grounded all of its rockets (PSLV, the GSLV, and the LVM), when the failure was only with the PSLV.

The apparent caution extending beyond PSLV has befuddled even those within the Department of Space, which is already battling low morale. Officials familiar with the matter said no launches have been cleared while the govt reviews the situation.

Pointing out that the issues identified so far relate specifically to the PSLV’s third stage and do not directly involve either the GSLV or the LVM-3, one insider said: “We don’t get the logic. It’s like telling us not to take our cars out because our bike had an issue in its previous outing.” The person argued that GSLV and LVM rockets don’t borrow anything from the PSLV third stage.

It appears two satellites, one to maintain India’s own GPS-type constellation and the other to provide detailed imaging of India from space, are ready for launch on a GSLV rocket, but are grounded because of the PSLV issue.

The article also notes ISRO’s lack of transparency concerning its investigation into the PSLV third stage failures. The agency has refused to issue any details of that investigation.

In recent weeks, since the first successful launch by a private Indian company, Skyroot, the press in Indian has been publishing a range of articles attempting to deal with the arrival of private enterprise in its space industry. Some have expressed concern and called for more control by ISRO. Others have called for less control and red tape. All however have noted the recent problems and secrecy at ISRO.

Essentially, the turf war between the government model and the capitalism model is now on-going. The former doesn’t want to give up power, and the latter needs the freedom to operate to succeed.