New Delhi | September 4, 2026 | INFRAINTEL Bureau
(News18)
The Congress has congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation on the successful GSLV-F17/EOS-05 mission while renewing its criticism of changes it says could alter the public agency’s institutional role.
ISRO placed the 2,367-kg EOS-05 Earth-imaging satellite into its intended sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit about 18 minutes after lift-off from Sriharikota. The mission was India’s first imaging-satellite deployment towards geosynchronous orbit and ISRO’s first successful launch of 2026.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra praised the scientists and engineers involved. Communications chief Jairam Ramesh described the mission as a boost to strategic capability and institutional morale.
Ramesh simultaneously alleged that a Prime Minister’s Office-driven reconfiguration and greater private-sector participation could change ISRO’s character. The party had raised similar concerns in August, while the government has presented commercial participation as a way to expand India’s space ecosystem.
The criticism is political and does not by itself establish institutional weakening. Assessment should focus on mission reliability, public research capacity, workforce and budgets, allocation of responsibilities, technology transfer, regulatory independence and whether private investment supplements or displaces core state capability.