List of Indian Space Research Organisation Launch Vehicles

ISRO currently uses four main orbital launch-vehicle families: PSLV, GSLV, LVM3 and SSLV. Its historical and developing programmes also include SLV-3, ASLV, the human-rated launch vehicle for Gaganyaan, and the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV)

List of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Launch Vehicles

S. No.	Launch Vehicle	Payload Capacity / Orbit	Category / Role / Status
1	SLV-3	About 40 kg to low Earth orbit	India's first experimental satellite launch vehicle; retired after successfully demonstrating indigenous launch capability.
2	ASLV	About 150 kg to low Earth orbit	Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle; experimental five-stage solid-fuel rocket programme, now retired.
3	PSLV	Up to about 1,750 kg to a 600 km sun-synchronous polar orbit	Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle; operational medium-lift rocket used for Earth-observation, navigation, scientific and commercial satellite missions.
4	PSLV-CA	Mission-dependent	Core Alone PSLV variant without solid strap-on boosters; used for selected satellite launches.
5	PSLV-DL	Mission-dependent	PSLV variant with two solid strap-on boosters.
6	PSLV-QL	Mission-dependent	PSLV variant with four solid strap-on boosters.
7	PSLV-XL	Up to about 1,750 kg to a 600 km sun-synchronous polar orbit	High-performance PSLV variant with six extended strap-on boosters; used for major scientific and interplanetary missions.
8	GSLV Mk I	About 1.5–2 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit, depending on configuration	Earlier Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle configuration using Russian cryogenic upper-stage technology; superseded by later variants.
9	GSLV Mk II	About 2.2 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit	Operational GSLV variant using an indigenous cryogenic upper stage; primarily launches heavier communication and meteorological satellites.
10	LVM3 (GSLV Mk III)	About 4 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit or 10 tonnes to low Earth orbit	Operational heavy-lift launch vehicle; used for Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3, commercial satellite launches and planned Gaganyaan missions.
11	Human-Rated Launch Vehicle (HRLV)	Mission-dependent	Human-rated version of LVM3 being developed for India's Gaganyaan crewed spaceflight programme.
12	SSLV	Up to about 500 kg to a 500 km planar orbit	Small Satellite Launch Vehicle; operationalised small-launch rocket designed for rapid, flexible and cost-effective satellite launches.
13	SSLV-D1	Mission-dependent	First SSLV development flight in August 2022; failed to place its payloads into the intended orbit.
14	SSLV-D2	Mission-dependent	Second SSLV development flight; successfully placed its payloads into orbit in February 2023.
15	SSLV-D3	Mission-dependent	Third SSLV development flight; successfully placed EOS-08 and a co-passenger satellite into orbit in August 2024.
16	Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV)	Target capacity of up to about 30 tonnes to low Earth orbit	Planned next-generation heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to increase payload capacity and support future space-station and human-spaceflight ambitions.
17	Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD)	Experimental vehicle; not rated as an operational orbital launcher	Technology demonstrator programme for reusable space transportation, autonomous landing and orbital re-entry technologies.
18	RLV-LEX	Experimental landing demonstrator	Reusable Launch Vehicle Landing Experiment series; demonstrated autonomous runway landing technologies.
19	RH-125 Sounding Rocket	Suborbital; capacity depends on payload configuration	Small sounding rocket used for atmospheric and scientific research.
20	RH-200 Sounding Rocket	Suborbital; capacity depends on payload configuration	Two-stage sounding rocket used for atmospheric studies and scientific experiments.
21	RH-300 Sounding Rocket	Suborbital; capacity depends on payload configuration	Sounding rocket used for upper-atmosphere research and scientific investigations.
22	RH-560 Sounding Rocket	Suborbital; capacity depends on payload configuration	Larger sounding rocket used for advanced atmospheric and space-science experiments.
23	Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV)	Experimental suborbital vehicle	Experimental sounding rocket used to test advanced propulsion and hypersonic technology concepts.

Notes:

PSLV, GSLV, LVM3 and SSLV are India's principal orbital launch-vehicle families.
PSLV-CA, PSLV-DL, PSLV-QL and PSLV-XL are configurations of PSLV, not entirely separate rocket families.
GSLV Mk III is the former designation of LVM3; the two names refer to the same launch-vehicle family.
HRLV is the human-rated LVM3 configuration planned for Gaganyaan, rather than a separate operational rocket family.
SLV-3 and ASLV are retired programmes. RLV-TD, RLV-LEX and ATV are experimental technology programmes, not operational orbital launchers.
Payload capacity depends on the target orbit, rocket configuration and mission requirements. The figures above are approximate.
NGLV is a development programme; its target payload capacity should not be interpreted as an already demonstrated capability.

Official sources:

List of Indian Space Research Organisation Launch Vehicles

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