A better job could've been done with the money

Contrary to what some reports have suggested, I have never been against the Mars mission. My dissatisfaction was because of the compromises made and a minuscule set of instruments carried in the Mars orbiter.

Like in Chandrayaan, Mars Mission was supposed to originally carry around a dozen instruments so that proper mapping of Mars and the Martian atmosphere can be carried out. Unfortunately, the GSLV rocket was not ready and a compromise was made with PSLV whose payload capability is less. As a result, some vital instruments could not go.

Also the spacecraft that was launched does not have sufficient fuel to achieve a circular orbit. The orbit which is being targeted is highly elliptical which is not suitable for proper remote sensing of Mars.

As the number of instruments are less, from the highly elliptical orbit it will not be able to achieve some good scientific breakthrough. We could have done much better with the Rs460 crore spent just to demonstrate that we have also gone to Mars. A much better job could have been done with the kind of money available with the department and with the kind of technology available with Isro.

If anything has to be done, it should be done at the right time and correctly. Isro has always been credited for its foresight, accurate planning and successful implementation.

But here, PSLV, which was required for our other priority missions like augmenting transponder capacity, the regional navigation system, earth observation system, etc, was used for the Mars Mission. Sending a miniscule payload to Mars at a huge cost is an example of misplaced priority.

During Chandrayaan-1, a lot of data was collected and needed to be validated. Chandrayaan-2 was precisely that, but the spacecraft that was to be used for it has been cannibalised to realise the Mars mission on fast track.

ISRO had definite plans to development landers and rovers. As the proper priority is not allotted, Chandrayaan-2 will take at least a couple of more years down the line and by then, the job would have been done by others.

China is going to have an almost identical mission to moon this December or in January 2014. It will have a lander and rover similar to our Chandrayaan-2. Their mission is ready. China is actually far ahead of us now. We have lost the advantage we had five years back.

Just before I demitted office, I had submitted a 2020 vision plan to the government which included goals like a very comprehensive manned space programme, expansion of India’s communication capabilities, creation of larger rockets and so on. This was something which was doable as ISRO has been getting a good rise in its budget every year.

We could have done all that. Instead ISRO’s programme in the last five years is virtually at a standstill. Practically no new programmes have been initiated. Programmes for which approvals were in place in 2008-09 are being rolled out at a snail’s pace. The net result is that India has lost out in space. Had we done what we were supposed to, we would have been test-flying manned missions by now. The time frame from approval to sending man to space orbit is five-six years.

But we kept sleeping on all these projects.

However, the Chinese have systematically gone ahead during this period. They have already sent 10 astronauts to space. They are getting ready with a full-fledged space station by 2015 and as NASA is going to de-commission its space station soon, China will have a huge advantage. They are going to emerge as a leader not only in the Asia-Pacific but also in the world. They will certainly have an upper hand and we have virtually lost out on a great opportunity.

ISRO has got a fantastic team of scientists, technology and world-class facilities capable of doing miracles. It is only that they are not encouraged, are not enthused and not given the leadership.

These are all to be done by a single person who heads ISRO, DOS and also chairs the space commission right now.

Others leap-frogged in space while India slept. We are already behind China by five years. We will take at least 10 years to catch up with them; that too if we decide to put our best of efforts from today. What needs to be done is a thorough shake up in ISRO which needs someone who has a vision and is willing to lead and encourage all those working at ISRO… someone who can lead and guide in advanced technologies with the courage to shoulder the associated risks. If the hunt begins, one can find at least half a dozen people in ISRO right now.

(As told to Mayank Aggarwal)

G Madhavan Nair
Nair is former chairman of Isro; he accomplished 25 successful missions during his 6-year tenure