Science: PSLV: Coming of Age

India bids for a share of the $10 billion space commerce with a reliable and competitive satellite lauch vehicle.

insted of applying himself, Srinath gets bowled attempting a heave against Olonga

It is the kind of spectacle that brings out the child in everyone. Even Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee admitted to being "thrilled" as he sat in the visitors gallery at the mission control centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on May 26, waiting for India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV C-2, to lift off. In front of him in neat rows the country's top space scientists huddled over an array of computer consoles that monitored all the vital parameters of the spacecraft. Three huge video screens at the end of the hall constantly flashed pictures of the 14-storey high indegenously-built PSLV, painted a gleaming white with rust red bands and parked at the launch pad 5 km from the centre. The loudspeakers in the hall crackled with information about the last-minute checks being carried out.

Five minutes before blast-off Vajpayee brushed aside security considerations and went outside to the balcony to see the launch rather than watch a video screen. He wasn't disappointed. At precisely 11.52 a.m. a brilliant orange ball of fire lit up the launch pad as the PSLV's powerful first stage motors ignited. The spacecraft lifted off with agonising slowness but within seconds gathered a speed of over 3,000 KMPH and blazed across the firmament sending out a tongue of flame almost 100 ft long. Then like rumbling thunder on a stormy monsoon day, the roar of the PSLV's rocket's motors came rolling down with a bass pitch so deep no rock music band could ever hope to reproduce it. As the spacecraft vanished into the overcast sky, the flame from its engine lighting up the clouds for miles, the sonic boom it created in its wake rattled the window panes at the control centre.

Vajpayee headed back to the gallery at the mission control and stoically watched a green blip on the giant video screen plot the PSLV's progress as it made what is known as a "dog-leg manoeuvre" to avoid overflying Sri Lanka. A red track on the screen showed the path that the PSLV was expected to follow and as the green blip deviated briefly from it K. Kasturirangan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), looked anxiously across at his colleagues seated at their computers. The PSLV was travelling 140 KMPH faster than it should. The second stage motors also overperformed pushing the craft by another 100 KMPH more than desired. S. Srinivasan, director of ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram which built the PSLV, signalled to Kasturirangan that it was still well within the planned limits. The auto-pilot aboard the launcher -- a computer equipped with painstakingly constructed software to deal with precisely such exigencies -- corrected the anomaly by shutting the fourth stage motors eight seconds earlier than planned. By then the PSLV was travelling at 25,000 KMPH at a height 700 km above the earth near Antarctica.

Now came the tricky part. For the first time ISRO scientists had designed a mission to fly three satellites and eject them into pre-determined orbits one after another. The three satellites -- two of them of foreign origin -- were secured in the nose cone of the PSLV and protected by heat shields capable of withstanding temperatures of over 3,000 degrees centigrade as the vehicle sliced through the atmosphere. The Indian-built satellite called Oceansat-1, meant for gathering oceanographic data and weighing 1,050 kg, was the first to be ejected into its orbit. Fifty seconds later, Kitsat-3, a micro-satellite weighing 110 kg built by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology to study high energy particles that bombard the earth's atmosphere, was propelled into space. After another 50 seconds, the 45 kg research satellite DLR-Tubsat built by the DLR Institute of Space Sensor Technology and the Technical University of Berlin, both German institutions, was nudged into its orbit. The moment the mission was accomplished the scientists at the centre whooped with joy and clapped each others backs. Kasturirangan ran across to Vajpayee and pushing aside formalities hugged him.

There was every reason for them to be jubilant. Although the success of the PSLV launch was overshadowed by the war in Kargil, it signalled the coming of age of India's mammoth space programme. For the first time India had also made a foray into the highly competitive multi-billion dollar international market for space technology by selling its launch vehicle capability to foreign buyers. Though the earning of $1.2 million (about Rs 5 crore) that the Koreans and Germans paid for the launch was, as Kasturirangan put it, "modest", the successful launch established ISRO's reliability. Last week's launch was the fifth PSLV. The first launch of a PSLV in 1993 failed but the vehicle has performed well since then. True, ISRO is still way behind the big boys of the exclusive space club like the US, Russia, France and China in technological capability. But if it was optimistic about marketing the PSLV it was because there is a growing niche for smaller launchers of its class which the space giants are not too interested in.

The real potential is in the area of communications satellites where almost 2,000 of them are expected to be launched in the next decade. With American and Russian launchers capable of launching a range of eight to 16 satellites in one spacecraft, naturally telecom giants such as Iridium gravitate towards them. Iridium has launched over 70 satellites to ensure global connectivity. But where India can score is in the replacement market. With the launchers of the big boys booked for years, it would take time for companies to replace single or twin satellites that fail. India is in a position to offer the one-off launches with much quicker lift-off windows. Didier Aubin, director sales and marketing of the Arianespace, the European conglomerate that dominates the space business, points out, "By offering launches at competitive prices ISRO can dominate the replacement market." ISRO is in a position to earn at least $40 million (Rs 168 crore) a year if it can beef up its capabilities.

There are, however, major stumbling blocks. ISRO with much difficulty has been able to upgrade its PSLV launches to two a year. With domestic demand itself extremely high it has very little spare capacity to go commercial internationally. To its credit, ISRO has made some strides in selling data from its remote-sensing satellites to six countries including the US and now accounts for 15 per cent of the total market share. Last year its revenue from selling such data was $5 million. Sales could go up to $50 million in the coming years. ISRO has also begun selling satellite components and sub-systems such as transducers and solar array mechanisms to space biggies such as Hughes and Matra Marconi. Last year, Antrix, ISRO's marketing wing, was able to bring in close to $1.5 million in such sales. Yet as N. Sampat, executive director, Antrix, says, "It's an uphill task unless Indian industry is willing to take over and build the necessary infrastructure." ISRO has made it clear that it would like to remain a research and development organisation. The onus now lies on the Union government to give incentives to Indian industry to get involved and exploit the potential that ISRO has created. Otherwise it will remain a mirage that could vanish as quickly as its rockets speed into space.

INTERVIEW: K. KASTURIRANGAN
"Industry must take the lead now"

ISRO chairman K. Kasturirangan spoke to Deputy Editor Raj Chengappa soon after the launch of the PSLV C-2. Excerpts:

Post-launch Kasturirangan presents a model of Oceansat to Vajpayee What do you think last week's launch achieved?
It proved we have a robust vehicle and gave us the confidence to commit this capability as a launch service to a variety of users.

Where does the market for the PSLV lie?
The market lies primarily in the constellation of communication satellites estimated at around 2,000 that are to be placed in orbit in the next decade. It is a tremendous opportunity for us.

But isn't our capacity to carry out only two such launches a year rather low?
It is a chicken-and-egg problem. You have to have a certain demand to build the capacity. You really can't have capacity lying idle. But on the other hand, if the demand comes and you don't have capability you can miss the opportunity. So we have to make a trade-off.

How competitive is PSLV?
It is reasonably competitive. We are not cheap. I don't think we can quote much lower than international prices which are $25 to 30 million for a typical PSLV launch. The point is we can be as reliable as customers want us to be, plus provide a quick turnaround time for a launch. Otherwise they may have to wait two or three years if they go elsewhere. These are the kind of things that make us attractive. We can also cut costs by around 15 per cent if we have plenty of orders.

How does ISRO compare internationally?
Right now I wouldn't want it to be compared internationally because nationally we have a fairly heavy agenda to meet in terms of communication and remote sensing. We need to expand our capacity and through put just for this. So our strategy is to use only the additional capacity created for marketing our services abroad.

Why can't ISRO be made more commercial?
We have to move slowly on this. We just cannot jump into the commercial arena and go all over the place. We need to build the infrastructure and organisation required. Investment decisions have to be made. The government cannot be the source of borrowing. So we have to go to financial institutions. We do not currently have the scale and type of operations and organisational structures called for to make a large commercial foray. All I can say now is that we are putting elements of all these things in place.

Shouldn't ISRO become a big player in space marketing?
That should not be ISRO's job. ISRO will always be a facilitator. We don't want to enter into a commercial world like Ariane. That should be the responsibility of industry in India who should take the lead.