On Friday, October 21, we had an inspiring session by Dr A S Kiran Kumar, former chairman of ISRO. The session was moderated by Prof R Prasad and Prof Sudhakar Rao.
The full recording of the session is available at:
About Dr A S Kiran Kumar
Dr A. S. Kiran Kumar is Vikram Sarabhai Professor at ISRO, Bangalore and Member of the Space Commission, Govt of India. During 2015-2018, he served as Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation.
Dr Kiran Kumar holds an M.Sc. Degree in Physics (Electronics) from Bangalore University and an M.Tech. Degree in Physical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Dr Kiran Kumar has steered the implementation of the applications oriented Indian Space Programme, in many important spheres: earth observation, communication, navigation, meteorology, as well as the development of indigenous launch vehicles and related technologies for providing assured access to space. He has led the design and development of more than 50 Electro-Optical Imaging Sensors flown on various Space borne platforms starting from Bhaskara in 1979. Further, he has played a significant role in the success of the Chandrayaan-1 and Mars Orbiter sessions.
Dr Kiran Kumar has been the Chair of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) in 2012. He has made valuable contributions to the Coordination Group of Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), the Expert Team on Satellite Systems – World Meteorological Organization (ETSAT of WMO) and the Indo-US Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation.
Dr Kiran Kumar is the President, Aeronautical Society of India. He is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences India, Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Institution of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineers, Indian Society of Systems for Science & Engineering, Indian Meteorological Society, Indian Society of Geomatics, Gujarat Science Academy, Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences. He is also an elected member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He has been conferred with Honoris Causa and DSc by 18 Indian academic institutions.
Dr Kiran Kumar has co-authored 85 publications in various national/international scientific journals/conferences/symposiums.
History of India’s space industry
India was a fledgling democracy, trying to find its feet after independence, when the superpowers were competing for space supremacy. The Russians had put a man in space. So, the Americans had to prove that their space capabilities were in no way inferior to those of the Russians.
It was Dr Vikram Sarabhai who shaped the country’s space program. He was a visionary who sensed a great opportunity to harness space technology for the development of the country. He wanted Indian scientists and engineers to assemble kits and launch rockets and get valuable experiential learning.
Dr Sarabhai connected with his friends across the world (Germany, France, Russia, US) and convinced them to use Thumba, a small fishing village near the Trivandrum airport, for space research. Located close to the earth’s magnetic equator, Thumba was ideal for low-altitude, upper atmosphere and ionosphere studies. Thumba was also a safe venue, being one of the farthest points from Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The story of how Thumba became a focal point for our space program is indeed very interesting. The local fishermen were not initially prepared to vacate their land and go elsewhere. Dr Sarabhai had to take the help of a Christian priest who convinced the fishermen that the country would benefit from the space experiments. The fishermen obliged.
Dr Sarabhai’s promise to the fishermen did not turn out to be empty. From 1999 onwards, thanks to the information provided by our satellites, fishermen on the Indian coastline began to know where exactly they could find fish. (The satellites identify this location by studying the colour of the ocean which indicates where there is chlorophyll, food for the fish and consequently where there will be fish.)
Now even if this information is available, it must be disseminated to the fishermen. Earlier, it was done through pagers. Now it is done in a more sophisticated way. As we all know, there is no tower connectivity in the middle of the ocean. This is where ISRO’s GPS called Navigation with Indian Constellation, NaviC plays a critical role. It is a regional navigation satellite system that is designed with a constellation of 7 satellites (a smaller number compared to other countries thanks to the ingenuity of our engineers) and a network of ground stations operating 24 x 7.
Thanks to this small battery-operated gadget fixed on the fishing boat, fishermen get alerts on their mobile phone in their own language and know exactly where they need to go. They also get weather alerts.
The benefits, due to better use of time and lower transportation costs, are estimated to be about Rs 10,000 crores per year. This is a great example of how technology, if well-conceived, can serve the needs of even the illiterate people.
Dr Sarabhai also realized that satellites could be used for broadcasting. In the mid-1970s, only Delhi, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta were connected to the broadcasting network. Dr Sarabhai borrowed the ATSF (an advanced technology satellite of the US) to conduct an experiment using geostationary satellites. He demonstrated how people across the country could receive information in real time. This was the world’s largest socio technological experiment. If we had tried to connect the country through microwave towers, it would have been expensive and time consuming.
Today our satellites are serving various sections of society and providing valuable benefits:
- Enabling the drilling of bore wells at the right location.
- Improving crop yields.
- More accurate weather forecasting based on satellites, enables early warnings to be issued during cyclones and saves thousands of lives.
- Improved communication. Before the advent of satellites, one had to go to a post office to make long distance phone calls.
- Defence and surveillance
- Precise landing and location of aircraft in remotely located airports using GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation).
- Our Chandrayaan I (2008) was the first space vehicle to locate water molecules on the Moon.
- Our Mangalyan was not only highly cost effective (when compared to the inter planetary missions of the developed countries) but also completed 8 years in space, compared to the expected 6 months.
- We have developed a powerful telescope for researchers, even more powerful than the famous Hubble telescope. This is useful for researchers.
- We are among the few countries today with end-to-end capabilities in space technology.
The following are some of the other notable scientific achievements of our space program:
Space is a $ 1 tn industry offering exciting opportunities. As a result, Space is no longer the domain of nation states. Companies are also quite active. Thanks to the vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai and later Dr Satish Dhawan, government support, the efforts of later leaders and ISRO engineers, we are well placed to play a significant role in the global Space industry.
Q&A
ISRO vs NASA
The comparison is unfair. NASA began much earlier. The mandate of NASA was to demonstrate Space capabilities that were superior to those of the Russians. The focus was on military applications. The resources for NASA were unlimited .
ISRO was not set up with military objectives in mind. The resources were also limited. In fact, the total spending by ISRO over the years does not add up to a fraction of a single year’s budget for NASA. ISRO also faced major challenges in accessing technology from the developed countries.
Despite all these handicaps, ISRO has worked hard, done things differently and come up with various frugal/disruptive innovations. Later in the Q&A, Dr Kiran Kumar added that the ingenuity of small subgroups within ISRO has played an important role in coming up with these innovations. Setting aggressive targets has also helped. Even if all the targets have not been met, people have stretched themselves and worked at a faster pace.
Many of the programs have been pioneered by ISRO and there are no comparable benchmarks. So ISRO has had to set its own standards. Despite all the resource limitations, ISRO has made good progress over the years.
Later, Dr Kiran Kumar added that ISRO’s budget as a percentage of the country’s GDP has not increased much over time. Only when the country becomes economically strong, can we think of larger budgets. As of now, there is no plan to send an astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS), a multinational collaborative project.
To be taken seriously in the international community, talk alone is not enough. We must demonstrate capabilities. ISRO has played a big role here.
Thanks to ISRO’s work, NASA is treating us with more respect. Consider the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR satellite, which will use advanced radar imaging to map the elevation of Earth's land and ice masses. It is designed to observe and measure some of the planet's most complex natural processes and can be useful in areas like earthquake prediction.
The contribution of ISRO leaders
The first leader of ISRO, Dr Vikram Sarabhai was a phenomenal individual with interests and expertise in a wide range of areas. He also came from an illustrious business family (the Ambalal Sarabhai Group). He was doing research on cosmic rays at the time of independence. Dr Sarabhai’s interests varied from science to sports to statistics. He set up the Operations Research Group (ORG), the first market research organization in the country. Some of the notable institutions/organizations he helped set up are IIM Ahmedabad, the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) in Kalpakkam, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd in Hyderabad, and Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in Jaduguda (in Bihar then, now in Jharkhand). Unfortunately, Dr Sarabhai died when he was only 51.
Dr Satish Dhawan, who succeeded Dr Sarabhai, shaped the culture of ISRO. At the time of Dr Sarabhai’s death, he was on a sabbatical at the prestigious Caltech. When the phone call came from Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi to take charge (following the untimely demise of Dr Sarabhai), he was giving a lecture at this university. Dr Dhawan spoke to Mrs Gandhi only after completing the lecture. He laid down three conditions before accepting Mrs Gandhi’s offer. He should be allowed to complete his sabbatical. He would remain a Director on the board of IISc. He would be based in Bangalore. In short, Dr Dhawan had an independent streak.
Like Dr Sarabhai, Dr Dhawan wanted to harness technology for the benefit of the community. He believed in intense reviews of all the programs. For this, he would invite outside experts. But at the end of the day, the ISRO managers were empowered to take the final call given the time and cost constraints. Dr Dhawan shaped a culture of tolerance for failure. He also emphasised that indigenisation should not be carried to extremes. If multiple suppliers were available, imports could also be considered. ISRO began to look at industry as a partner for implementing various programs.
Indian talent
There is little doubt that India has plenty of talent. The real challenge is to create the required infrastructure and enable them to perform. We should also get out of the way where required, such as by removing unnecessary regulations. Whether it is managing covid or fintech, India has demonstrated the rich talent available in the country.
Today, Big tech is dominating the AI/ML landscape. Our talent should be encouraged to rise to the challenge. The intellectual capability of Indians is being exploited by tech companies based in other countries. We should see how we can use this talent to our own advantage.
Role of the private sector
In the early days of the industry, all space activities were handled by the nation states. The liabilities, the risk and the money involved were such that only governments could do it. The industry was also small. But as the industry has grown and matured, a much larger role has emerged for the private sector.
Now with new opportunities such as space tourism (with people willing to pay even $100,000 for a short trip to feel the zero-gravity experience), asteroid mining, etc, emerging, the outlook for the private sector looks bright. A consortium led by L&T is building PSLVs. A private company in Ahmedabad has set up a satellite manufacturing facility. The private sector can take advantage of the end-to-end capabilities already created by ISRO. In short, Dr Kiran Kumar mentioned that the way we must deal with the private sector today is very different from what it was in the past.
SpaceX
SpaceX (founded in 2002 by Elon Musk) demonstrates the dynamism and innovative capabilities of a private sector enterprise. Thanks to reusability, SpaceX has been able to bring the costs down significantly. It may be recalled that the CEO of Skyroot, Pavan Chandana had mentioned in the ICFAI Wise Views Leadership Conversation on Nov 11, 2021 that reusability is absolutely essential if we have to make space travel affordable. Just as in the case of aircraft, if the same hardware is used multiple times, there will be huge benefits for society. This is exactly the point which Dr Kiran Kumar also made. SpaceX has made it possible for precision landing on the land or on barges in oceans. A large number of cluster engines enables testability at the launch pad. Of course, Space X has developed deep pockets through its success in other ventures. It is now investing this money in space technology.
Use of 3D printed engines is one way in which the assembly of engines has become faster and testing much easier. In India, Agnikool has demonstrated the use of 3D technology in making engines. Through 3D printing and reusability, ISRO hopes to compete with SpaceX.
Liquid fuel vs solid fuel engines
Solid fuel motors have a disadvantage in that once ignited we cannot stop and restart them. But the process is simple.
Liquid fuel engines can be stopped and restarted. But the process is more complicated. There can be complications, if the right mix of gases or the right pressure is not used.
GSLV vs PSLV
PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) are the two broad categories of satellite-launch vehicles (rockets) developed by ISRO. PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites into a lower orbit (600 - 900 Km attitude). GSLV has been designed for launching communication satellites into a higher elliptical orbit (36,000 km altitude). PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space. GSLV can carry weight up to 5,000 kg.
How young people should skill themselves for careers in the space industry
Young people must first make a broad choice between entrepreneurship (which would call for some amount of breadth) and deep expertise in a specific area. With shrinking product cycles increasingly, the norm, knowledge obsolescence is rapid. More than picking up any specific piece of knowledge, young people should develop general problem-solving skills. If they have this core capability, they can work in any domain.
On sustainability
The initial focus of any technology is to deliver the desired outcomes. But over time, sustainability becomes more important. When the objective is just to demonstrate a capability, sustainability may not be the priority. But once a technology matures and there are repetitive activities, sustainability becomes more important. Of course, we can always make design choices that support sustainability. Thus, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuels are carbon neutral.
Abort mission
India is also taking space tourism seriously. In the Gaganyan project, we are planning to send humans to space and bring them back safely. When people are involved, we need to have proper safety provisions. The abort missions are meant to test the systems that can help the crew escape from the spacecraft mid-flight in case of a failure. That includes a capsule which can be ejected to bring back people to the earth safely, in case of problems.
On collaboration with academic institutions
ISRO has a Capacity Building Program Office. This Office identifies opportunities internally and areas for collaboration externally, both with industry and academic institutions for the purpose of capacity building. There are many topics where research collaborations with academic institutions are already under way.
