India’s Space Push Closes 2025 With Heavy Commercial Win, Eyes Gaganyaan Test

Overview

• ISRO launched the 6,100 kg BlueBird Block-2 communications satellite for a U.S. client, its heaviest payload to low Earth orbit this year.
• The agency is targeting up to seven missions by March 2026, including its first uncrewed Gaganyaan test flight.
• Government figures report about $172 million from U.S. satellite launch contracts and €292 million from European clients over the past decade.
• India’s commercial appeal is anchored in PSLV’s roughly 94% success rate and lower launch costs, after orbiting hundreds of foreign satellites.
• 2025 milestones included an Indian astronaut’s Ax-4 trip to the ISS, the ISRO–NASA NISAR Earth-observation launch, and a successful in‑orbit docking demonstration.