More than 100 scientists have quit ISRO in recent months: Is India’s premier space agency losing its appeal?

India’s expanding private space sector is reshaping career options for aerospace professionals, with more than 100 scientists reportedly leaving ISRO in recent months. The trend has raised concerns about talent retention, institutional reforms and the future of India’s space ambitions, prompting a closer look at whether the agency can adapt to a rapidly evolving science ecosystem.

On August 23, 2023, when ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 landed near the South Pole of the Moon, India swelled with pride. It was a triumph that captured the imagination of the world. And the blood in our veins flowed with pride for our ISRO scientists. Less than three years ago, but now we have a completely different story. Dreaming of being a part of ISRO is not a child’s play, let alone being one. It is this dream that feeds millions of young hearts. It is an institution that records history. However, here we have a completely different script. The conversation has transcended from spaceships to the resignation of scientists.Less than three years after the Chandrayaan mission, more than 100 scientists have quit or applied for voluntary retirement from ISRO within months. The government’s response has been swift. Scientists working on critical programs like Gaganyaan will now require approval from the Space Department before they can leave.This decision has been taken to slow down departures. However, it somehow falls short in answering the question that really matters: Why are some of India’s brightest scientific minds walking away from one of the country’s most prestigious institutions?Because no organization loses talent overnight. People leave when the outer future starts to look more exciting than the inner future. And this is precisely the challenge facing ISRO.

The real competition is no longer NASA. It’s next door.

For decades, ISRO had a luxury that very few entrepreneurs enjoyed, it had no real competition. If an aerospace engineer wanted to build rockets in India, there was only one destination. If a scientist dreamed of designing planetary missions, the choice was already made. That’s how it ended.The opening of India’s space sector in 2020 has rewritten the rules. Suddenly, ambitious engineers no longer have to wait decades to lead a project. They can join a startup, build a launch vehicle, have equity in the company, and see their ideas come to life in months, not years.The irony claps louder and becomes impossible to ignore. ISRO spent decades building India’s space ecosystem. That same ecosystem is now competing for its best people.This is not a failure of India’s private space industry. It is proof that the sector has finally matured. The question is whether ISRO has matured with this.

Do scientists really give up missions?

Whenever the resignation stories come out, the salary becomes the big protagonist. Coneninent though, but maybe a wrong reason for it. It is tempting to reduce the issue to salaries.Scientists rarely join ISRO expecting corporate pay packages. They join because they want to solve problems that very few people in the world manage to solve.But purpose alone cannot sustain a career forever. When promotions move slowly, decisions take months, approvals pile up, and bureaucracy overshadows innovation, even the most passionate professionals begin to take difficult steps.These questions become even stronger when private companies offer not only better compensation but also greater autonomy.People rarely leave because they stop believing in the mission. They leave because they no longer believe that the system allows them to do their best.

With each resignation, experience goes out the door

Replacing a scientist may seem simple. Recruit another, train them, assign tasks and that’s it! But, in reality, it is not so. Real life works differently.The scientist who helped design Chandrayaan’s landing sequence or spent years perfecting a propulsion system brings knowledge that doesn’t exist anywhere else—in manuals, software, or presentations.Scientific institutions do not only employ people. They accumulate experience. Every resignation erases this institutional memory. The damage is invisible at first. Years later, it starts to show.

Can restrictions really create loyalty?

The latest order from the Department of Space reflects the gravity of the situation. But restricting resignations is a management response to a cultural problem. Employees stay because they want to. Not because leaving becomes difficult.History offers countless examples of organizations trying to solve retention through rules rather than reforms. Very few succeed.Retention is earned. It cannot be legislated. ISRO may need its biggest transformation since its foundation. India’s space ambitions have expanded dramatically. The country wants astronauts in orbit. He wants reusable rockets. He wants a space station. It wants a larger share of the global commercial launch market.All of this requires a more valuable resource than launch vehicles or satellites. talentThis means ISRO may have to rethink long-held assumptions about how a government science organization should function.

These are uncomfortable questions. Ignoring them won’t make them go away.If India’s brightest scientists increasingly find their future outside ISRO rather than within it, the country’s biggest space challenge will not be reaching Mars or building a space station.It will retain the minds capable of making these dreams possible. Because in the end, rockets don’t build themselves. People do it.