According to Table 4 in [1], a GSLV launch was $47 million in 2017, so a bit lower than e.g. a Falcon 9 launch ($61.2 million in the same table). Taking the $1

According to Table 4 in [1], a GSLV launch was $47 million in 2017, so a bit lower than e.g. a Falcon 9 launch ($61.2 million in the same table). Taking the $146 million quoted above at face value, that means 2/3 of Chandrayaan-2's cost was independent of launch cost. Let's say about $100 million. Another comment here is implying that those $100 million do not include labor. I find that hard to believe; it is (or should be) common knowledge that the bulk or aerospace project costs is labor [2], so it would make no sense to forgo standard accounting practice and only report what amounts to a bill of materials. But if we nevertheless assume that comment is correct, it would mean that you should at least double the estimated cost for developing something equivalent to Chandrayaan-2 at developed-country aerospace salaries. So you would be (optimistically) spending something like $200 million on the probe, and saving maybe $15 million out of a total cost ~ $250 million by launching it from India rather than e.g. the US. Once the added administration and logistics costs are taken into account, I wonder if you would be saving anything at all. [1] https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-609 https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-17-609 [2] Aerospace project management handbook (2017)