ISRO earns $439 mn via foreign satellite launches in 10 years: Minister

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu):The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has generated a revenue of $439 million from foreign satellite launches in the last 10 years, Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Science and Technology, informed on Wednesday. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Singh said that "from January 2015 to December 2024, a total of 393 foreign satellites and 3 Indian customer satellites have been launched on commercial basis on-board ISRO’s PSLV, LVM3, and SSLV Launch Vehicles”. The minister noted that foreign exchange revenue generated by the government through the launching of foreign satellites during the same period “is nearly $143 million and 272 million euros”.  As per current exchange rates, 272 million euros are equivalent to $296 million. Since 2014, India has launched satellites of 34 countries, the minister informed. The highest has been from the US (232). The other countries include the UK (83), Singapore (19), Canada (8), Korea (5) Luxemburg (4), Italy (4), Germany (3), Belgium (3), Finland (3), France (3), Switzerland (2) Netherland (2), Japan (2), Israel (2), Spain (2), Australia (1), United Arab Emirates (1) and Austria (1), etc. Singh also informed the Parliament of ISRO’s collaboration with foreign space agencies in 61 countries. “Currently, space cooperative documents have been signed with 61 countries and five multilateral bodies. The major areas of cooperation are satellite remote sensing, satellite navigation, satellite communication, space science, and planetary exploration and capacity building,” Singh said.

ISRO has partnered with NASA for a joint satellite mission, named ‘NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)’ which is in the advanced stages of realization. With the CNES (French National Space Agency). ISRO has collaborated for a joint satellite mission named ‘TRISHNA (Thermal Infrared Imaging Satellite for High-Resolution Natural Resource Assessment)’, which is in the initial stages. The space agency has also carried out a feasibility study with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to realise a joint lunar polar exploration mission. Meanwhile, Singh stated that the government has enhanced total funding for the Gaganyaan Programme, India’s human spaceflight mission, to Rs 20,193 crore. This has been done to “address the programmatic requirements as per the revised scope which includes new developments for Bharatiya Antariksh Station and precursor missions, and additional requirements”. Notably, the Gaganyaan mission now plans to carry out two crewed space flights by 2028. The programme will have eight missions -- two crewed and six uncrewed -- instead of the one crewed mission and two uncrewed ones earlier.