India

Study: India Has the Highest Space Launch Cost

Is ISRO a rising force disrupting commercial space or a budget operation too limited to compete with SpaceX?

Published AUG 24

Study: India Has the Highest Space Launch Cost

Story

Above: An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket LVM3-M5 blasts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre off the southeastern coast of India on Nov. 2, 2025. Image credit: R. Satish Babu/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

A peer-reviewed study published in Economics Letters estimated India's cost of launching a kilogram of payload to Low Earth Orbit at $13,302 in 2025 — the highest among major spacefaring nations examined, and more than four times the U.S. figure of $3,225.
NDTV
The Hindu
Sciencedirect
The study, authored by Alessio Terzi of the University of Cambridge and Francesco Nicoli of Politecnico di Torino, analyzed more than 6,740 rocket launches between 1960 and 2025. The global average launch cost was estimated at $3,868 per kilogram.
The Times of India
The Logical Indian
Money Control
ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan rejected the study's conclusions, telling NDTV the paper used "wrong data," while former ISRO Chairman S. Somanath argued that cost per kilogram alone does not capture the full economics of a launch.
The Economic Times
The Wire
The researchers attributed India's high cost to its relatively small launch vehicles, which carry less payload and spread fixed launch costs across fewer kilograms. India's low launch frequency also limits cost reductions through accumulated experience.
News18
The Logical Indian
Only the U.S. and Europe showed statistically significant experience curves — meaning costs fell as cumulative launches grew — since 2010. SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 and high launch cadence were identified as key drivers of the U.S. cost advantage.
The Times of India
The Federal
India's space regulator IN-SPACe offers subsidies ranging from 30% to 100% under its Launch Services Price-support Scheme to reduce costs for domestic operators. The study sees global average launch costs falling from $3,868/kg in 2025 to $1,569 by 2030.
NewsBytes
The Economic Times

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

ISRO is quietly surpassing SpaceX on commercial launches — AST SpaceMobile chose India's LVM3 over Falcon 9, saving 15% on a 6,100 kg payload. ISRO runs on $1.5 billion annually versus NASA's $27 billion, yet still landed near the lunar south pole and reached Mars orbit on the first try. That kind of budget discipline isn't a limitation — it's a competitive advantage that's already winning real contracts.

SA News Sikkim on X

Aakash Gupta on X

Narrative B

India's launch costs hit four times SpaceX's. Without reusable rockets, that gap isn't closing anytime soon. SpaceX flew 165 missions in 2025 alone while ISRO averages three or four a year, and volume is exactly what drives costs down. Ambitions to earn $3.5 billion annually from foreign satellites by 2033 look shaky when no Indian rocket, public or private, can match SpaceX on price.