ISROs in new orbit, says Dinesh C Sharma: The successful launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying five satellites from the spaceport of Sriharikota on Monday morning is yet another landmark in the journey of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). PSLV is now truly the workhorse of the space agency, with 25 continuously successful flights till April 2014. It has firmly established itself as a superb launch vehicle with multi- payload, multi- mission capability. It was PSLV which injected two of Indias most high visible missions - the Chandrayaan- 1 and the Mars Orbiter Mission.Mondays launch, therefore, was an important one for reasons other than scientific and technical challenges.It was the first one to take place after the installation of a new government at the centre.The presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi signaled continued political support to the space programme. The support to the space agency was perceived to be dwindling after the unsavoury public controversy involving Antrix Corporation, commercial arm of the ISRO, over the issue of spectrum allocation a few years ago. The presence of the Prime Minister during the launch also boosted the morale of Antrix since the mission was primarily a commercial one involving as many as five satellites from France, Singapore, Germany and Canada. The largest of them was SPOT- 7 built by French firm, Airbus Defence and Space. The successful launch of these satellites witnessed by top political leadership has sent strategic and commercial message to the world about Indias growing commercial space capabilities.The Prime Minister, who spent a night at Sriharikota and met a number of scientists, asked ISRO to extend its launch capabilities to include heavier satellites. The space agency has had a successful launch of homebuilt Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle ( GSLV) but it still far away from commercial launches. A few more successful flights of this vehicle are necessary before it can become a workhorse like PSLV. The Indian space programme is the best example of scale, speed and skill, as the Prime Minister described. The space programme is also frugal. For instance, the cost of its Mars mission was lower than the production cost of Oscar- winning Hollywood blockbuster on space Gravity, as Prime Minister Modi pointed out. The need is to build upon these advantages and emerge as a major player in the multi- billion dollar space business.The Indian space programme has grown in a linear fashion - taking one step at a time, unlike the Chinese space programme which has leapfrogged to human space missions in a very short period of time.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 06:49:45 +0000
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