Commercialisation and private entry have turned space into a competitive industry where falling launch costs and rising satellite demand make reusability economically essential.
Reasons for the Booming of the Space Sector
- Shift from State to Private Sector: The Space Sector was earlier led by NASA and ISRO, but is now driven by private firms due to liberalisation and venture capital.
- Expansion of the Space Economy: The global space economy is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030, driven by satellite and service revenues.
- Sharp Fall in Launch Costs: Innovation has reduced the cost per kg by 5–20 times, enabling mass deployment.
- Higher Launch Frequency: Cheaper access supports mega-constellations and rapid replacement cycles.
- Transition to Reusable Systems: Reusability is the core technological driver of commercial viability.
Reasons for the Higher Cost of Human Space Missions Compared to Satellite Missions
- Human Missions:
- Life Support Systems: The continuous supply of air, water, and food, and the control of temperature, increases payload and system complexity.
- High Safety Standards: Human-rating requires extensive testing, certification, and risk-mitigation protocols, raising development costs.
- Redundancy (Backups): Critical systems must have multiple fail-safe backups to protect the crew, which increases mass and hardware requirements.
- Launch Abort Systems: Dedicated escape mechanisms are required to save astronauts during launch failures, adding extra engineering and weight.
- Satellite Missions:
- One-Way Trips: Satellites are designed for deployment without return, eliminating the need for recovery and re-entry systems.
- Simpler Hardware: No need for human safety or comfort allows the use of simpler, lighter components.
- No Life Support: Absence of biological needs drastically reduces system requirements and payload mass.
- Lower Mass Requirements: Smaller payloads reduce launch vehicle size and fuel needs, cutting overall mission cost.
Physical Hurdles: Gravity and Atmospheric Drag
- Gravitational Losses: The constant pull of Earth requires sustained thrust during ascent.
- Aerodynamic Drag: Dense lower atmosphere causes energy loss due to air resistance.
- Newton’s Third Law: Rockets work on the principle of equal and opposite reaction. Forward motion is achieved by ejecting exhaust backwards at high speed.
- Fuel Mass Spiral: More fuel is needed to lift fuel itself, increasing total launch mass.
The Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation
- Mass Penalty Principle: The Tsiolkovsky equation shows that fuel requirements increase exponentially with speed gains.
- Nearly 90% of the rocket mass is fuel and oxidiser, and less than 4% of mass becomes useful payload.
- Structural Overhead: The remaining mass is engines, avionics, and the frame.
- Payload Inefficiency Trap: Most energy is spent lifting propellant rather than cargo.
Staging and Disposable Architecture (The Old Way)
- Meaning of Staging: Rockets are split into multiple stages (Stage-1, Stage-2, Stage-3) that are discarded during flight to shed dead weight and improve efficiency.
- Expendable Rockets (e.g., PSLV, LVM-3): Each stage is used only once and then falls into the ocean or burns up, with no recovery.
- Cost Problem: Engines are the most expensive components, so discarding them after a single use results in very high mission costs.
- Disposable Model: This practice of single-use stages and engines is called the “disposable model” of space launch.
Reusability (SpaceX Model)
- Reusability: The first stage is recovered and reused, avoiding the cost of rebuilding the rocket’s most expensive part.
- Vertical Integration: Most components are manufactured in-house, reducing supplier dependence, delays, and procurement costs.
- Modular Design: Use of standardised parts, 3D printing, and smart engineering speeds up production and lowers costs.
Method of Falcon 9 First-Stage Recovery
- Boost Back Burn: After stage separation, the booster performs powered manoeuvres to return toward the landing zone instead of free-falling.
- Retro-propulsive Deceleration: During descent, engines are reignited to reduce velocity and ensure controlled braking.
- Atmospheric Braking: Aerodynamic drag during re-entry dissipates kinetic energy and stabilises the booster.
- Vertical Precision Landing: Landing legs deploy, and engines fine-tune thrust for a soft, upright touchdown.
- Proven Reliability: More than 520 successful recoveries demonstrate the system’s operational maturity.
Global Competition in Reusable Launch Systems
- Market Diversification: Multiple countries now field reusable launch projects.
- Starship Programme: Fully reusable two-stage system for deep-space logistics.
- Blue Origin’s New Glenn: Heavy-lift reusable booster under development.
- Chinese Private Sector Push: Companies like Landspace (Zhuque-3) are attempting a recovery.
- Startup Ecosystem Growth: Over a dozen firms globally are pursuing reuse technology.
Physical and Economic Limits of Rocket Reuse
- Not Infinite by Design: Reuse is constrained by both engineering limits and cost-effectiveness over time.
- Material Fatigue: Repeated exposure to cryogenic cold and combustion heat causes micro-fractures in structures and engines.
- Rising Refurbishment Cost: After many flights (currently around 30 flights for Falcon 9), inspection and repairs can cost more than building a new booster.
- Increasing Operational Risk: Reliability tends to decline with age, increasing the probability of mission failure.
India’s Current Position in Reusability
- Dual Recovery Strategy: ISRO is developing both winged and vertical landing systems to enable cost-effective reusability.
- Winged RLV (Spaceplane): A mini-shuttle launched by rocket that re-enters the atmosphere and lands autonomously on a runway.
- Vertical Landing Method: Spent stages are recovered using retro-propulsion, similar to SpaceX’s booster recovery technique.
- Cost Reduction Objective: Both approaches aim to reuse high-value hardware and lower per-launch expenditure.
Way Forward for India in the New Space Market
- Reusability: India must ensure that all future launch vehicles are designed for recovery and reuse to remain cost-competitive.
- Stage Optimisation and Reduction: ISRO should shift from a three-stage to an efficient two-stage system to reduce complexity and turnaround time.
- Propulsion Upgrade: India should prioritise compact engines and high-density propellants to improve payload efficiency and mission economics.
- Launch Cadence (frequency): ISRO must scale up infrastructure and operations to enable frequent launches and meet commercial demand.
Conclusion
India’s long-term competitiveness in space will depend on how quickly reusability moves from experiments to routine operations.
22 Jan 2026
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