Launch vehicles
From a smallsat launcher built for quick campaigns to a heavy lifter rated for four-tonne GTO: the operational fleet that carries Indian and commercial payloads.
Specs below follow ISRO's published vehicle pages: height, liftoff mass, stage count, and stated LEO / GTO (or sub-GTO) capacity. Exact performance varies by configuration and mission design.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
ISRO's workhorse: four alternating solid and liquid stages, XL liftoff mass about 320 t, and a long record of polar, SSO, and rideshare missions — including lunar, Mars, and L1 departures.
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk II
A three-stage vehicle with four liquid strap-ons and an indigenous cryogenic upper stage — built so India could loft ~2.25 t-class satellites to GTO without foreign upper stages.
Launch Vehicle Mark-3
India's heavy lifter: two S200 solid boosters, an L110 liquid core, and the C25 / CE-20 cryogenic upper stage — about 4 t to GTO, and the path to a human-rated HLVM3 for Gaganyaan.
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle
A compact launcher (~120 t, 34 m) with three solid stages and a liquid velocity trimming module, sized for ~500 kg to a 500 km orbit and faster campaign turnaround.
