The Hindu Business Line : ‘It’s a turning point for ISRO’

Bangalore, Nov. 18 The October-November 2008 Chandrayaan-1 gave India its Moon and caps the dauntless spirit of the 40-year-old national space programme: the wholly indigenous agenda kept its head up amidst external adversities most of its time.

If it met pressing national needs of communication, broadcasting and disaster management in its early 30 years, it chose to harvest the investment in it by going commercial during the late 1990s with its launch and satellite services. ISRO in Version 3 says it has matured enough to start an exciting but challenging journey on its own into deep space. Excerpts from an interview that Dr G. Madhavan Nair, ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, gave as the Indian lunar tryst was climaxing:

What does the success of Chandrayaan-1 mean to ISRO and the country?

It’s a turning point for ISRO. Of course, in the last few years we have seen very unique ones - the space capsule recovery experiment; the launching of 10 (small) satellites at a stretch; and now Chandrayaan-1. All this shows the maturity of our technology.

I think we have established (the fact) that our systems are globally competitive and we will be able to get a really good share of the global market, whether it is satellite building or launch vehicles.

We are also in the process of formulating the next phase of space vision for 2025. That is unfolding. We have been working on it for almost a year now.

The important elements in that are the human space flight, the recoverable and reusable launch system; hyperspectral (64-colour) imaging, microwave imaging and wide-band communication system. So this formulation should find better support from all quarters in the light of Chandrayaan-1. In addition, we have the responsibility of meeting day-to-day national needs.

In terms of business?

I’m sure it will reflect in business as well. You see, we already have two full satellites being built here. One of them (the W2M for Eutelsat) has been shifted and the second one (HYLAS for Avanti) will follow within a year. In launches also, we hope some more opportunities will come in the light of this event.

The Chandrayaan-1 trajectory was very tricky and the results are remarkably on the dot. We had practically no deviation in any phase of the mission. The first lunar injection came within 10 km of accuracy. To get this over 4 lakh km is really unique (for a first time shot).

Now people recognise that our launches are reliable and perform well. This will definitely build up the confidence of the customer.

Do you expect other agencies to increasingly seek to partner with ISRO? Or a smoother path to getting technologies that you need quickly?

Other space agencies are appreciative of a difficult feat achieved. But basically international cooperation will remain on space exploration and space science.

On the technology side, I’m afraid even today, competition is very stiff.

I don’t think we will get much benefit out of collaboration on that front. But we may be able to exchange our products and many sub-systems needed for satellites which could be sold in the international market. Similarly, we also would be looking at buying some things in the international market based on the strength of technology and cost-competitiveness.

What is the finance required for all these projects?

For the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), we have projected a budget of around Rs 35,000 crore .We hope we will be fully supported.

Do you foresee the present global economic slump affecting the activities of ISRO and its customers?

These are high-end (areas) not affected by normal commercial events. Of course, the availability of funds can sometimes affect programmes. Our R&D is fully funded by the Government, which has normally been considerate with the space programme and not reduced the budget. We hope we will be able to maintain the pace of our growth.

Projects already committed should sustain for the next 2-3 years. By then the economic situation may improve. In fact, we expect Antrix to grow 25-30 per cent. (ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix Corporation had 2007-08 revenue of Rs 940 crore.)

Surprisingly, the Indian satellite market demand is quite high and the demand from our commercial channels continues to grow. We don’t have a single spare transponder - all are sold out!

These new missions also throw up a large hardware requirement in the coming years.

Indeed, our activities are multiplying and we are developing new technologies. We are talking of Rs 12,000 crore to be spent over the next six-seven years. A major chunk of this will be pumped into Indian industry. More than 60 per cent of our budget is spent on Indian industries. This policy will continue.

Has it been easy to find suitable vendors?

People already working for us have caught on with space quality. But if you ask me about the growth rate of the aerospace industry, it has not been as much as what we would have liked it to be. Big players like HAL, L&T, MTAR and Godrej have invested and are doing a major part our work. But to take on major space systems, perhaps other than HAL, the rest have not matured into that level of technology. But we will keep up the dialogue and enthuse them to take up more and more work load.

Why is it so – the Big Brother waits but the suppliers are missing?

The basic philosophy of our industry is that probably they are looking for quick returns. Whereas return on investments in a high-tech area like space will come later. You need to have patience and our industry may not be prepared to wait.

In the US and Europe, industries themselves invest in R&D, human capital and infrastructure. Here they don’t have a long-term vision to build themselves up. So the Government is forced to invest in many such areas.

How is the human mission plan progressing? Have you given a name to the Indian in space?

As for a name, we are going to declare this as a national competition for schools and select an appropriate name from among those entries.

The Space Commission has cleared the human mission and it’s being submitted to the Government. It is a multi-disciplinary task. We have to create simulation facilities first and then open up other disciplines. We are in dialogue with the Institute of Aviation Medicine (under the Ministry of Defence). It selects fighter pilots (- a process which has) so many elements common with training astronauts also. We will make use of their expertise. That is the reason for our selecting Bangalore as the site for the astronaut training centre.

Not only the physiology, psychological aspects also come into picture for meeting the environment in space.

How will require training overseas?

Training is one of the challenges. With this kind of facility it can all be totally done here. The centre should start working in about three years. In another two years we will start training the people.

The Russians and the Americans start with some 200 candidates and converge on four or five for the work [space trip]. We have to go through a similar process.

Are there partnership offers from NASA or Russians who have the experience?

At the moment there is no concrete proposal. However, we are in constant dialogue with them.

What is the status of your plan to send an orbiter to Mars?

We already have a projection for the Mars mission in the next five-year plan. We are in the process of selecting the scientific experiments and a formal proposal will follow. If everything goes all right, we should have that mission in 4-5 years.

How will the manpower requirement be met? With more recruitments?

The first year is over (for the batch of nearly 150) at the Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology at Thiruvananthapuram and the results are very good. That will feed half of the manpower needs for the future. For the remaining we still depend on the open market.

Our policy is to sub-contract to the maximum extent. We won’t be increasing more than 1,000-1,500 in the next five years across centres to replace retiring ones and for new recruits. That would be 300 scientists added each year on an average. On the business side, it’s separate for Antrix.

Many non-resident Indian scientists are said to have contacted you after Chandrayaan-1.

I have not received a single request like that from anybody. I have come across many people who work in the same areas (overseas) but frankly, I don’t think they anywhere match the quality, knowledge base or the type of overall specialisation that we now have. Of course, if some bright ones do turn up, we would welcome them.