Dept of Space vacancy rate at 25-year high; nearly 3 in 10 posts lie vacant

BENGALURU: The Department of Space (DoS), which has tightened exit rules to stem a “spate of voluntary retirements and resignations” from scientists working on flagship missions, is grappling with a bigger challenge quietly building inside India’s space establishment: a growing manpower crunch.DoS employment data analysed by TOI shows nearly three out of every 10 sanctioned posts remain vacant at the end of 2025-26, the widest staffing gap in at least 25 years. Against a sanctioned strength of 20,269 posts, DoS has only 14,637 employees, leaving 5,632 vacancies and a staffing level of just 72.2%. In fact, the 2025-26 employee strength of 14,637 is lower than 14,847 in 2001-02. A key difference is that the sanctioned posts in 2001-02 was just 16,423, putting the then vacancy rate at under 10%.