At Long Last, ISRO Makes It

GSLV on its launchpad

At last, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) did it in style. The country’s first geo-synchronous satellite GSAT-14, to be carried on an indigenously built rocket reached orbit yesterday, heralding a new era of great potential in the field of communications. Several trials had gone waste earlier, and I too had posted two notices in this blog, piqued by ISRO’s repeated failures when they ought to have done better. Even though it is now a thing of the past, those posts are available as When the Only Tool You Own is a Hammer and GSAT-8 and ISRO's Impossible Dream published in May and July 2011. Whatever is said and done earlier, ISRO’s resounding victory with GSLV Mk II rocket yesterday is indeed a feather in the nation’s cap and the scientist-engineers of ISRO deserve a grand round of applause.

Even though ISRO had been successful in blasting off a probe to Mars, christened Mangal Yaan in November last, I was a bit vary. No doubt the successful launch and the equally successful transfer of orbit to Mars were events of great technological prowess. But, any project involving leaving the earth orbit should be an international affair. Probing the surfaces of moon, mars, titan or europa are questions of pure science that need to be addressed by humanity as a whole. It should be taken up by the combined forces of all interested nations with shared resources and manpower. The results also must be shared with the entire planet. There are no industrial or military secrets to be learned in mars or titan, at least for the time being. So, why can’t it be a joint effort? India and China both fruitfully sent exploratory vessels to the moon, but if they had pooled their resources, wouldn’t it have reached titan, saturn’s satellite which is a promising destination to harbour life. Funding for science is dwindling everywhere and it is irrational for each country to finance a small project than to join forces and pull with a greater objective in mind. The current scenario brings to mind the fable of a man stupid enough to dig at several places in search of water, instead of digging a deep hole at one place. Even those countries now standing apart from space research, because of the cost may be roped in, if they are burdened with only a fraction of the total liability. On the other hand, geo-synchronous orbit is a market place where every country displays its wares for a better price, in the form of cheap launch vehicles and transponders for communication purposes. India stands at the threshold of grabbing a big chunk of the market share with its cheaper launching cost.

At the same time, we must not forget that we have a long way to go. Our GSLV Mk II, with a maximum geo-synchronous payload capacity of 2250 kg is a minnow among the schools of giant machines on offer. Compare GSLV Mk II’s 2250 kg with France’s Ariane 5ECA (10,500 kg), US’ Atlas V 551 (8700 kg), Russia’s Proton (6000 kg) and China’s Long March 3B (5500 kg). Even the upgraded version of GSLV – the Mk III – planned in 2014 is ‘only’ capable of lifting 4500 kg. Bear in mind that our northern neighbour is planning an upgrade to launch Long March 5, with a capacity of 14,000 kg, the world’s biggest, if at all it is completed. Why aren’t we thinking big? Being the best is an economically sound alternative too. The cost of developing a 9000 kg vehicle will always be less than twice the cost of developing a 4500 kg one, as is being planned. Returns from a more powerful rockets will balance the additional cost, as it can carry more satellites on a commercial launch.

Let’s hope the outstanding success of GSLV Mk II yesterday would prompt ISRO to develop more powerful rockets and bring in a new era when the world would flock to Sriharikota to launch their geo-synchronous satellites.

Congratulations to ISRO.