ISRO exit rules tightened amid reports of termination of 100 scientists

The Center has tightened rules governing the voluntary retirement and resignation of scientists working on some of ISRO’s most critical programs following reports that more than 100 staff have left the space agency in recent months.

In a memorandum issued on July 14, the Department of Space (DoS) directed ISRO’s major centres, including the UR Rao Satellite Center (URSC) and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), not to routinely approve resignations or voluntary retirement requests from Group ‘A’ scientific and technical personnel associated with the Gaganyaan mission/significant projects and other “significant missions”. Instead, such requests will require review by the Space Department before a final decision is made.

“Recently, it has been noticed that there has been a spate of requests for voluntary retirement and resignation of Group ‘A’ S&T staff of ISRO, including those associated with the prestigious Gaganyaan missions/projects and other important missions/projects which seriously affect the implementation of projects of national importance,” he said NDTV.

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“Therefore, it has been decided that voluntary requests for retirement and resignation from scientific and technical personnel associated with Gaganyaan and other important missions/projects may not be accepted as a matter of course,” he added.

Under the new directive, all requests for resignations and voluntary retirements by scientific and technical personnel, including those at the scientist and engineer level and below, must be forwarded to the space ministry along with “clear recommendations” from the appropriate center directors, who will no longer have the authority to routinely process such requests.

The decision amounts to abrogation of the 2020 Administrative Order which empowered the ISRO Directors and Heads of Centers to accept applications for voluntary retirement and resignation from Group ‘A’ scientific and technical personnel up to the level of Scientist/Engineer-SG.

Apart from UR Rao Satellite Center (URSC) and Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC), the directive was also issued to Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC), Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC), Space Applications Center (SAC), National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC), ISRO Telemetry (ICSTRAing and Command Network), FacSTRAing and Master Control (ICSTRAing and Command Network).

The move comes amid reports that more than 100 employees have quit ISRO in recent months, with URSC in Bengaluru and VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram reportedly witnessing the highest number of exits.

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Among those who reportedly left ISRO was senior scientist Victor Joseph T, who served as project director of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III project at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC). He is said to have resigned in February after leading the LVM3 project for around 13 months. The LVM3 launch vehicle is to power India’s ambitious Gaganyaan human space mission.

Several former ISRO scientists have also reportedly moved to India’s fast-growing private space sector. The industry has seen rapid growth since the Center opened up the space sector to private participation in 2020 and unveiled India’s space policy in 2023.

India is now home to more than 400 registered space startups, which have collectively attracted investments worth around $500 million, including nearly $150 million in 2025 alone. Companies such as Pixxel, Dhruva Space, Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos and Bellatrix Aerospace have emerged as key players in the country’s expanding space ecosystem.

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The directive also comes at a time when ISRO is dealing with a series of mission setbacks. Its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), widely considered the agency’s “workhorse,” suffered two consecutive failures within a year.

In January, the PSLV-C62 mission, carrying the EOS-N1 Earth observation satellite along with a cluster of commercial payloads, deviated from its intended trajectory after “glitches” were detected near the end of the third stage.

Earlier, in May last year, the PSLV-C61/EOS-09 (RISAT-1B) mission failed to place the satellite in its planned 529-km sun-synchronous orbit after a sudden drop in chamber pressure about 203 seconds into the third stage of flight. The anomaly forced the mission to end and resulted in the loss of the radar satellite.

Even as ISRO tackles these challenges, it remains focused on an ambitious plan for future missions, including Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-4, Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) and Mangalyaan-2.