India – A Fast Emerging Space Power
“Kalam! If one does not do anything, one does not experience any problem. But if you do any mission, any task, problems will arise. That problem should not become your master. You should become a master of the problem; defeat that problem and succeed.” This was a piece of advice given by Prof. Satish Dhawan to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 1972 when the latter was asked to be the Project Director for the first Satellite Launch Vehicle at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). The first experimental flight on August 10, 1979 failed on account of a leak of the oxidizer—red, fuming nitric acid. The experiment failed, but Dr. Kalam did not fail. He made constant visits to work centres to see to it that the zeal of the scientists did not flag on any score. It was a proud moment on July 18, 1980 for India when Indian space scientists launched the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3) rocketing India into the space club. The rocket put the 3805 kg Rohini satellite into an orbit in just 12 minutes.Twenty-five eventful years have gone by and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has scripted one success story after the other. It has become a space organization with manifold programmes and achievements and has won kudos from both developing and developed countries. The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the space agencies in Europe and Russia are keen to foster joint venture programmes with India. The scientists never stop growing or learning. India was the sixth nation to join the elite space club in 1980, and the world took note of it. Due to this firm foundation which was laid in 1980; India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) can today launch a payload of 5000 kg. Except for a solitary failure in 1993, every Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight was a success over the past 12 years. As far as communication satellites are concerned, what is required is a launch capability of 3.5 tones and ISRO has come out with a configuration of GSLV (Mark III) that would have the capacity to carry a payload of four tones. The launch is scheduled to take place in the late 2007.The new vistas on distance education were opened up recently when the President Abdul Kalam inaugurated the first interactive network on EDUSAT—an Education Satellite that could index its reach by promoting the self-learning method of education by laying emphasis on the question and answer methodology. It would also utilize digital library facilities that are now being put in place so that it could be made accessible to students in remote areas. Eventually, EDUSAT would be connected with the village knowledge centres, being set up in different parts of the country. As a result, about 1000 primary schools would benefit from EDUSAT. Though VSSC has been able to realize the vision of Vikram Sarabhai in respect of remote sensing and communication technology, the organization focuses on launch vehicle technology since it does not get inputs from anywhere.President Kalam himself has set forth a vision plan for our space programme for the next 15 years. One is already well known, chandrayaan-1 programme, a programme already underway, for putting a spacecraft into an orbit around the moon. ISRO is also working on re-usable launchers; these re-usable rockets will come back after putting the satellites in orbit. One such re-usable system is called hyperplane with 100 take-offs and 100 launches. Hectic days are ahead for India – a fast emerging space power. Many of the global players who have themselves gone ahead in space exploration are keen to tie up with India in different facets of space probes. For instance, India may launch Russian satellites for a global navigational system in 2006. The launch will take place under an Indo-Russian accord on the joint use of the Russian satellite communication, GLONSS, signed in December 2004 during the Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin’s visit to India.

Category: Science
Author: Gargi Kalra
Date: 25 - Nov - 2010