| Less Money ? Already ISRO's budget is a tiny blip in the government's annual outlay. About $1.5 billion http://www.isro.gov.in/budget-glance Should ISRO be run as a private organisation to achieve better efficiency ? I don't think so, because, despite being a government organisation, the bureaucracy in ISRO is next to nothing. The organisation hierarchy is relatively flat for that size. There are six or seven levels between the lowest grade scientist and the chairman. I think Scientist B to H. The chairman reports directly to the Prime Minister. Even the defence heads don't get this privilege. If you imagine any private organisation of that size, there are a lot more inefficiencies in their org structure and the general operations. I'm not able to draw specific comparisons at the moment. ISRO has also not net produced a Falcon 9, yet. That I think is mostly because of their budget constraints and not because of organisational inefficiencies. Now, can a new private company do better than ISRO? Specifically, can a private company build a Falcon 9 like rocket more efficiently than ISRO can? In theory, absolutely. In reality, probably no. Per ISRO's budget estimate, you are looking at raising at least $3-4 billion for a 2 year runway. Even if you start small you are looking to raise in the $100 million range for your seed round. Unlikely that any domestic VC in India will foot this bill. So you'll need foreign money. Given the security concerns around space programs, govt will not let foreign money fund such programs. Even if they did, it'll subject the foreign investors to so much red tape that the investors will get fed up and decide not to invest. |