An evening with Dr K Radhakrishnan

On Friday, April 1, we had a fascinating session by Dr K Radhakrishnan, former Chairman, ISRO. This was the 50th webinar in the ICFAI WiseViews series. A great speaker for a befitting occasion. Congratulations to Prasad and Sudhakar for keeping the ICFAI flag flying high for about a year now.

About Dr K Radhakrishnan

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan is former Chairman, ISRO. He is presently the Chairman of the Governing body of IITs, and Member National Security Advisory Board. Dr Radhakrishnan began his professional journey exactly 51 years back on April 1, 1971.After a brief stint of only one month with a private sector company, he joined Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO.

Dr. Radhakrishnan headed ISRO between November 2009 and December 2014. He is known as ‘Mars Man’ for the successful mission to Mars. Prior to this, he was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (2007-2009) and Director of National Remote Sensing Agency (2005-2008) of the Department of Space. 

As India's space chief from November 2009 to December 2014, Dr Radhakrishnan led ISRO to 37 successful space missions including several historic feats: Mars Orbiter Mission; Indian Cryogenic Engine on GSLV; the first experimental flight of the GSLV Mk III; a re-entry experiment of an un-manned crew module; new space capabilities through IRNSS (1A, 1B, 1C) for navigation; GSAT-7 for strategic communication; and RISAT-1 for microwave radar imaging.

During his tenure, ISRO completed two joint satellite missions (Megha Tropiques and SARAL) with the French National Space Agency and inked another agreement with NASA to jointly build an advanced Radar Imaging Satellite. India's standing in the global space market was enhanced as PSLV launched 18 commercial satellites for 11 countries.

During his tenure as chairman, the Chandrayaan-2 mission was redefined with indigenous lander and rover and the application of space technologies and tools was extended to all central ministries. Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) was conceived, planned and executed, within four years (2010-2014), establishing India as the first country to have a successful mission to Mars in its maiden attempt, and at significantly low cost (INR 4.5 Billion).

In 2014, Dr Radhakrishnan received the Padma Bhushan Award for his contribution to Science and Engineering, especially in the field of Space Science and Technology. He has been conferred Honorary Doctorates by IIT Kharagpur and 12 Indian universities. Dr. Radhakrishnan is an accomplished singer and Kathakali artiste who effectively uses arts and music for relaxation.

About leadership

Dr Radhakrishnan began by pointing out that people start off as contributors, then become managers, subsequently leaders and finally mentors of leaders, the phase in which Dr Radhakrishnan is currently. Leadership involves four phases:

• Observing others and studying them
• Evolution: practise and refine
• Performing as leaders
• Mentoring future leaders.

Leadership involves engaging with people of different aspirations, skills, cultures, some with a positive attitude and others with a negative mindset. The job of the leader is to bring them all together for a common purpose and help them identify with that purpose. The different individual strengths must be synergized. A leader must build relationships with people both formally and informally. In an environment of constraints, uncertainty and fast changing technology, leadership has become a demanding task.

A good leader encourages differences of opinion. By ensuring that the best solution is chosen, she achieves team excellence. A leader should be accountable. A great leader takes ownership for failure and shares credit with everyone when things go well.

Coping with failures

In his first year as Chairman of ISRO, Dr Radhakrishnan had two major GSLV failures. In one case, the cryogenic engine after igniting failed. It was a difficult situation. Thousands of engineers had put in years of work. But both Dr Radhakrishnan and his colleagues in ISRO were resilient.

Dr Radhakrishnan immersed himself in music for a couple of weeks. Within 15 days, he was ready to make the next attempt. ISRO did a detailed study on what had gone wrong. In 2014, ISRO achieved the successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine on GSLV.

Mangalyan was the first inter planetary mission of India. The journey to Mars was a complex mission involving 300 days in orbit around the Sun. Some 660 million km of distance had to be covered and the propulsion system had to work for 300 days.

Tips for leaders

Learnability is important. We have to believe in continuous and lifelong learning. College should not be considered the end of education. It should only teach us how to learn more. There is something to learn from everyone. As a leader, we must sense the opportunities to advance and capitalize on them. We should be students forever. We should be good at converting knowledge into action.

We must also become holistic individuals to face the world boldly. We need both conceptual skills and details orientation. We should be able to see the forest and count the trees.

We should avoid saying: “I did it.” Individual excellence cannot take us far. We need the excellence of all.

To build trust we should be consistent in what we say. The best way to achieve this is to tell the truth always.

We should tolerate criticism by junior colleagues. Productive conflicts are important. It is not about our view or their view. The truth may lie somewhere in between. When we disagree with good intentions, the best solution will also emerge. To do good things, we must embrace diversity. If we are in the comfort zone, we will never grow.

As leaders, we must make a difference. We should be known by 2-3 words. We should learn how to delegate. We must leave behind a legacy. We must inspire young people.

We should be first and foremost good human beings. We must love people and work with them. We should do what we can. Work life balance is important. We must take care of our family. Happy family life is important for professional success. Hobbies are important to help us to relax and cultivate mindful leadership. For Dr Radhakrishnan, music has been a great way of dealing with stress. At senior levels, we must be comfortable handling crises. We should know how to manage our time well.

Q&A session

What makes ISRO different?

The culture of ISRO was shaped by two pioneering leaders: a scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai and an engineer Dr Sathish Dhawan. Dr Sarabhai was a cosmic ray physicist who had a lab in Ahmedabad. It was Homi Bhabha, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) who pulled in Vikram Sarabhai in 1961. (Those days, the department of Space was under AEC.) Dr Sarabhai in turn pulled in Dr Satish Dhawan, an aeronautical engineer by training and Director of IISc. Shortly afterwards, Dr Sarabhai passed away and Dr Dhawan took charge.

They were great individuals, fine human beings, with a world vision and an outlook for life. They had the necessary focus and drive. They created a shared vision and took the entire organization along. For them, ISRO was not a job. They had already achieved a lot in their professional career. So when they joined ISRO, they were committed to selfless service to the nation.

How is India’s vision different?

In the late 1950, countries like USSR, US, China, etc were striving for technology leadership in a bipolar world. Their calculations were driven by geopolitical considerations. India looked at space exploration for serving the society in areas like sustainability, environment and disaster management. Now other countries are also appreciating India’s outlook towards space exploration.

Why is Mars so important?

Man has always been fascinated to know more about the universe. Another reason is the exploitation of celestial resources, ie bring back to the earth minerals, etc. In the current geopolitical environment, as space gets more crowded, there is a debate about the rules, etc. To have a say in this, ie a seat at the table, we need to have some capabilities in space technologies. When we invest in space technologies, there are spinoffs. These technologies can be used in other remote sensing and ground applications.

What does the journey to the Mars involve?

A minimum amount of energy is needed to take a satellite from the earth to Mars. The classical way of doing this is to go as near as possible to the sphere of influence of Mars. But that calls for a powerful rocket, which we did not have. We took a different route. We put the orbit in a smaller obit so that the satellite went around the earth for about 3 weeks. During this period, we tested all the instruments and then gradually moved the satellite towards Mars. We kept increasing the orbit till the satellite reached the influence of Mars. The direction in which the satellite moves away from the earth’s influence matters. Complex calculations are involved. Fortunately, the calculations of the ISRO engineers were accurate and there was minimum wastage of fuel. We were also able to break the velocity at the right place and ensured that the satellite reached Mars instead of moving in a wrong direction. The propulsion system also had to work over a longer period.

We achieved success in 4 years. The US took 11 years for its 22 nd mission. What is the explanation? Unlike the Americans, we were driven by a national cause and patriotic zeal. Moreover, we used disruptive technologies.

Note: About satellites and rockets

As the NASA website explains, satellites are launched by putting them on rockets carrying tons of propellants. The propellants give the rocket enough energy to pull out of the Earth’s surface. Because of the pull of Earth’s gravity, the heaviest spacecraft need the biggest rockets and the most amount of propellent.

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/launching-into-space/en/

Newton’s third law of motion is the most important principle behind how rockets work. The exhaust streaming out of the bottom of the rocket is nothing but the flames, hot gases and smoke that result from burning the rocket’s propellants. This exhaust provided the action force. In response, the rocket begins moving in the opposite direction, lifting off the ground due to the reaction force. But the Earth’s gravity is still playing spoilsport. The rocket needs enough propellants so that the upward thrust on the rocket is greater than the force of gravity pulling the rocket down.

A rocket needs to speed up to at least 17,800 miles per hour. It must fly above most of the atmosphere, in a curved path around the Earth to ensure that it is not pulled back down to the ground.

In case of a satellite that orbits the Earth, the rocket will launch the satellite. And when it gets to a specific distance from Earth, it will release the satellite. The satellite still has momentum pulling it in one direction. The Earth’s gravity pulls it in another direction. This balance between gravity and momentum keeps the satellite orbiting around Earth. Satellites that orbit close to Earth feel a stronger gravitational pull. To stay in orbit, they must travel faster than a satellite orbiting farther away.

Getting to another planet is a different ballgame. We need a fast-moving rocket to overcome Earth’s gravity. We need speeds of up to around 25,000 mph. The timing is also important. For example, Mars and Earth come closest to each other, once in two years. This is the best time to go to Mars, in terms of time and propellants required. But the exact time of the launch is also crucial. The spacecraft and Mars must arrive at the same place at the same time.

How does ISRO develop leaders?

The first two leaders, Dr Sarabhai and Dr Dhawan came from outside when ISRO was a new organization. But subsequently, ISRO has always believed in developing leaders from within. There is no lateral entry in ISRO from the middle level onwards. Only at the first three levels, outsiders are recruited. Development of leaders is an important point on the agenda for ISRO’s senior management. In 2011, ISRO prepared a detailed succession planning document (2011-25). Many of ISRO’s leaders today were identified and groomed as per this plan.

Lessons learnt

The devil is in the detail. For the Sep 24 orbit capture, 200 people worked for 7-8 hours per day. They considered all the eventualities.

Leaders need both conceptual skills and attention to details. There is a need to galvanise thousands of people not with orders but by energising them from within. People work for 16-18 hours per day and sometimes sleep in the office.

The most unexpected things including what we would ordinarily consider low tech can go wrong. During one launch from the Pacific Ocean, due to a tornado, a diesel generator did not function and the launch was delayed by a month. So it is important not to overlook even the smallest things.

Should space exploration be a priority for India?

Many consider space exploration to be an exotic field that may not be relevant for a developing country. During the India Today conclave in 2014, Dr Radhakrishnan was asked whether we should have rotis or rockets. He replied that rockets are needed for rotis. Many of the space applications today are in agriculture. Dr Radhakrishnan has always looked at criticism of India’s space initiatives objectively. We should take the right signals and if there are any hurdles, we must energize ourselves to jump the hurdle. The satellites we develop are cost effective thanks to modularity, organization and testing methodologies. It is not just about cheap labour.

Expectations from bureaucrats /politicians

Strength recognizes strength. We should deliver. If we deliver, we will be respected. This applies to all stakeholders.

Collaboration in space

For successful collaboration, we should have our own niche where we excel. We should have something to bring to the table. For example, we have a tie up with NASA.

There is some dependence on foreign partners. In GSLV, 70-80% of the components are indigenous. In spacecraft, 50-60% are imported.

Within the country also, collaboration with other partners is important. ISRO does not believe in being a monolith. It has always believed in leveraging the talent available in Indian industry.

News Space India Ltd (NSIL) has been set up to enable Indian industries to contrbute to small satellite lauch services.

Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN–SPACe or INSPACe) is an upcoming organisation under the Department of Space.   The Centre will act as a facilitator and regulator of space activities in India. IN-SPACe acts as a single window nodal agency.

Start up ideas

There are various opportunities which can be classified as follows:

Downsteam services: This makes up 50-60% of the space economy. Most of the private sector activity is here. The risk is low, and the market is large.

Ground equipment: Includes navigation, handheld devices Satellites and launch vehicles: Most risky part, technology intensive India is currently ranked sixth in the world. To be No 2/3 in the coming decades we need technology leadership. Some of the IITs have set up space departments. Hopefully, we will be able to develop cutting edge technologies in the coming years

Space tourism

This may take off in 2-3 years. India has a program called Gaganyaan in this regard. Taking human beings to space and bringing them back to earth safely is a major health challenge. There are also technology challenges.

Smart satellites

Satellites must have some degree of intelligence and cannot depend totally on people on the ground. Many decision rules on the ground have been converted into algorithms inside the satellite. These algorithms enable the satellite to control itself and deal with any eventualities. There is usually a continuous dialogue between the ground controls and the satellite. But when the distance is large, this can take 20 minutes which is too long. So, the satellite must be smart and able to manage itself.

India is currently sixth in the world in terms of space research, except for human space capabilities. We make all kinds of satellites lunar, planetary exploration, some launch vehicles. We are only the fourth country to send a satellite to Mars. 30 out of 51 Mars missions have failed. Mangalyaan demonstrated the use of frugal engineering. The cost was only $ 75 mn. A team of bubbling youth and elders achieved wonders.

We thank Dr. Vedpuriswar for bringing out the highlights in the form of this note