The red-brick, colonial-era Victoria Jubilee Townhall, or VJT Hall in Thiruvananthapuram is a well-known landmark in the heart of Kerala’s capital city. A popular venue for meetings and events, it was renamed Mahatma Ayyankali Hall in 2019 after the Dalit reformer, but it’s still better known by its 19th century moniker - or rather, its acronym.  

On a typically humid Wednesday evening in early October, people walk in through the gates in twos and threes and make their way inside the vast hall with high ceilings. A banner announces why they are streaming in – for a seminar titled “ISRO’s Future - Concerns and Anxieties” organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Pensioners’ Association in Thiruvananthapuram. Sreekumari Amma, a retired engineer in the quality control division seated in the audience, says she came out of curiosity to hear what the speakers had to say, chiefly former chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair. Indeed, when Nair enters the hall, which has more or less filled by 5 pm, nearly everyone in the audience stands up deferentially. 

The association, which has some 4,000 members, is a fairly active body but the seminar on anxieties about ISRO’s future is still somewhat unusual considering the organisers and many of the attendees – pensioners – no longer have skin in the game. Association secretary Johnson S Fernandez acknowledges as much, both in his speech on stage and later, in conversation. “What happens to ISRO now will no longer affect us. But it would sadden us if the ISRO we took pride in is getting destroyed,” he says. 

“Destroyed” is a strong word. But 2026 has been an unusually challenging year for ISRO right from January, when the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), failed for the second consecutive time, belying the rocket’s reputation as a workhorse. The next launch came an uncharacteristically long nine months later, raising questions about the delay. In July, the Department of Space took the unusual step of issuing restrictions on scientists working on critical missions who wanted to quit, following a stream of such resignations, estimated to be at least 100 in the last few months.