SENSATIONAL! Who In Delhi Stopped The GSLV Launch?

'An instruction came from somebody in Delhi saying, "don't go with the launch".'

It all began with a comment by Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) Chairman Dr Pawan Kumar Goenka.

ISRO, the IN-SPACe chairman said, would eventually stop manufacturing launch vehicles, and the production would be taken over by the private sector or PSUs.

Angered by the comment, nine employee associations, representing thousands of staff at ISRO, asked for a written clarification from ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan.

Even though Dr Narayanan addressed the employees soon after, the staff were unhappy as they felt the ISRO chairman did not answer their questions.

"You should leave ISRO to perform as usual instead of creating unnecessary controversies," retired ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair tells Rediff's Shobha Warrier in the first of a two-part interview.

'It is beyond Goenka's position to make such a comment, so unwanted'

Even after the ISRO chairman addressed the employees, they are not satisfied and the confusion remains.... Do you feel the comments by Pawan Goenka was unwanted?

I personally feel it was unwanted. IN-SPACe is another regulatory authority. It is neither a policy maker nor the implementing representing agency. Certainly, it is not in his mandate to make such comments.

Everything was quiet till Pawan Goenka made a speech. That was the beginning of all the confusion and uncertainty.

Yes, it is beyond his position to make such a comment, so unwanted.

In fact, ISRO has been tapping the potential of industries, and it was augmented. Right from the 1970s onwards, we are doing that.

Industry is already a partner of ISRO. But for industry, we would not have achieved anything.

Industry is already working with ISRO in various capacities, and about 80 per cent of the budget is spent through industry only.

ISRO has got a manpower of roughly about 15,000. About 10,000 people are working in various industries for ISRO and maybe another 3,000 people are working in academic institutions for ISRO.

This is how the ISRO network is working.

ISRO's main intention of holding some of the key technologies back with them is because of the potential of dual use.

If you replace the satellite with a warhead, it becomes a missile. You don't want that type of technology to fall into wrong hands.

For example, defence has kept the production of large missiles like Prithvi with BDL, which is a defence production organisation. As they require small missiles for anti-tank or anti-aircraft etc in large numbers, they have opened it up for industry. There is nothing wrong in that.

But here, we are talking about a rocket that has intermediate range ballistic missile -- IRBM -- capability being offered to industry for peanuts.

I would say that is a thoughtless action. People have not assessed all the aspects of it.

Why do you think this has happened?

It is all because of the regulator taking the executive role without proper consultation with the Space Commission or the government.

Why is the government not stopping this?

I cannot find a reason for it.

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You spoke about how the GSLV launch that was supposed to happen in February was purposely delayed and it happened only in August.... This also created confusion in the minds of many.

GSLV was supposed to carry the Geostudy Earth Observation Satellite.

And everything was ready.

It is the launch authorisation board created by ISRO that takes into account all the aspects and decides on the launch. That practise was diluted.

I heard that an instruction came from somebody in Delhi saying, 'don't go with the launch.' It is very unusual and strange.

Normally, holding back a 'ready to launch' vehicle is a risky affair. As time passes, it's reliability comes down and there could be problems.

In fact, if I remember correctly, ISRO had to work overtime to check everything once again and even refurbish the cryogenic stage to ensure this launch would be a successful one.

So, it was additional work for ISRO.

Everybody was worried about on what ground this launch was delayed and why suddenly it was cleared.

The clearance came in August and within a month, in September, the launch took place.

Do you suspect political interference?

ISRO is one of the prime performing organisations as far as R&D in India is concerned.

It can create jealousy internally as well as externally. Some of these jealous elements may be acting behind the scenes. That's the suspicion.

How worrying is it? Incidents like these have created uncertainty in the minds of all the people who work at ISRO...

I cannot comment on that. It is for the investigating agencies to find out what is behind this. Unless the government takes a serious note of this issue and conducts a comprehensive review at the highest level, the issue will come back again and again.

Another worrying thing that is happening is, some vested interests are creating a wrong impression of the space industry.

The other day, I saw a national television channel projecting Indian's space economy as an $8 billion industry whereas international surveys give it not even $2 billion in their books.

Look at the gap between $2 billion and $8 billion!

I found that the direct space business which include rocket launching, satellites, etc may be around $1.5 billion. It is the government that spends the amount, and ISRO is responsible for it.

The rest, the $0.5 billion, comes from services like DTH, the transponder leasing, data connection between banks and the stock exchange and such things.

What you call space-based services which will be worth $3 billion or $ 4 billion is not. It is just commercial activity making use of space assets. These two combined together is the figure of $8 billion some people are quoting, and it is an exaggerated number.

It is unnecessarily creating unnecessary hype and false hope in the minds of people.

What do they gain by creating unnecessary hype?

I think it is creating false hopes in the minds of youngsters. They are being misguided.

I have great respect for the space startups. They have a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm to do things, but it has to be channelised in the right direction. That is what is missing today.

• PART 2: 'Leave ISRO ALONE!'

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff