ISRO spent Rs 6,853.37 cr on projects with approved outlay of Rs 17,631.27 cr

Chennai: Indian space agency has spent Rs 6,853.37 crore till February 2022 on various satellites and rockets involving an approved outlay of Rs 17,631.27 crore, the government said on Wednesday.

Replying to a question raised by Congress leader T.N. Prathapan in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh listed out the details of rockets and satellites approved by the government, their cost and the amount spent on those till February 2022.

He said the projects approved for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), their cost (Rs 17,631.27 crore) and amount expended (Rs 6,853.37 crore) are:

* 30 units of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at a cost of Rs 6,131 crore and amount expended till Feb 2022 - Rs 1,092.32 crore;

* 3 Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLV) (Cost Rs 169.06 crore, spent Rs 145.82 crore);

* 16 Operational Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV Mk II) (Cost Rs 4,365.41 crore, spent Rs 3,526.23 crore);

* 10 GSLV Mk III rockets (Cost Rs 4,338.20 crore, spent Rs 730.12 crore);

* 2 Oceansat- 3 and 3A (Cost Rs 797.12 crore, spent Rs 471.98 crore);

* 5 Navigation Satellites IRNSS 1J - 1N (Cost Rs 964.68 crore, spent Rs 403.02 crore);

* 3 GSATs -- 22/23/24 (Cost Rs 865.75 crore, spent Rs 483.88 crore).

According to Singh, ISRO will be launching one navigation satellite (NVS-01), one earth observation satellite (EOS-06) and one communication satellite called GSAT-24 in 2022.

The Indian space agency also has two commercial launches - one each for PSLV and GSLV-Mk III- rockets in 2022 and two developmental flights of newly-developed SSLV rocket.