Overview
- The Department of Space issued a memorandum on July 14 directing ISRO centre directors to forward exit requests for personnel linked to Gaganyaan and other key missions to DoS for final approval.
- News reports say roughly 100–120 scientists have left ISRO in recent months and that departures include senior project leads such as LVM3 director Victor Joseph and other mission specialists.
- The July 14 order reverses a November 2020 rule that let ISRO centre heads approve resignations up to the Scientist/Engineer-SG level.
- ISRO has started hiring for more than 1,050 scientific, technical and administrative posts and is reworking project cadres while leaders publicly say the organisation can manage the transition.
- Officials warn that losing mission-specific expertise is harder to replace than filling vacancies and could strain programmes like Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan and SpaDeX, so observers should watch staff approvals and recruitment outcomes next.