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Premature congratulations?
By successfully putting two foreign satellites into orbit on its 100th mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation, or Isro, may have shown its cost-effectiveness as a commercial satellite launcher — but has also revealed how far it must yet go to pose a real challenge to its competitors. Isro's satellite-launching cost per kg of satellite weight is reportedly around $20,000 (approximately Rs 11 lakh), on the low side of global average costs for commercial launches — which are between Rs 11 lakh and Rs 28 lakh a kg depending on the orbit location and other parameters. However, cost is just one of the many criteria for success in the multi-billion dollar international commercial space market. That market is dominated by launchers capable of handling satellites that are much heavier than the ones carried by Isro's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C21 on this 100th flight. This was Isro's heaviest commercial lift so far – but the two foreign payloads, the 712-kg French earth observation satellite, SPOT-6, and a 15-kg Japanese satellite, PROITERES, are classified as small and micro satellites, respectively. Other organisations' satellite launch vehicles carry loads of several tonnes.
Clearly, Isro's cost advantage is relatively meaningless unless it steps up its load-carrying capacity manifold. This might happen when its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), capable of launching satellites weighing more than two tonnes, is operational. Yet tests of the GSLV have not been smooth; its last flight without Russian-made cryogenic engines ended in a fiasco. It landed in the Bay of Bengal soon after take-off due to a component's malfunctioning. Indeed, Isro's 50-year record in space does not survive comparisons not just with advanced countries but also with China, although the People's Republic's space programme is of relatively recent vintage. Admittedly, it has had to deal with limited resource availability and occasional sanctions. In addition, with 12 operational Indian remote-sensing satellites orbiting the earth today, India is among the world leaders in the remote-sensing data market. Much fuss also attended the success of Isro's lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, in October 2008, and its discovery of water crystals on the moon. That did demonstrate Isro's ability to cross over from the earth's gravitational influence and enter into that of another celestial body, and has thus paved the way for a much more ambitious odyssey – to Mars – for which preparations have already begun.
Such ambitions, however, require Isro to develop new technology and a more dependable launch vehicle. Some of the new technology may, in fact, come handy even for the planned Chandrayaan-2 mission, a joint Indo-Russian venture, on an Indian GSLV launcher which would have an Indian rover and Russian landing equipment. Congratulations are premature. If India has to come on a par with the other members of the global space club, it appears more attention, resources and focus are needed on its space programme. India's rocket scientists are yet to display that their efforts are truly on a par with those of the rest of the world.
Premature congratulations?
By successfully putting two foreign satellites into orbit on its 100th mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation, or Isro, may have shown its cost-effectiveness as a commercial satellite launcher — but has also revealed how far it must yet go to pose a real challenge to its competitors. Isro's satellite-launching cost per kg of satellite weight is reportedly around $20,000 (approximately Rs 11 lakh), on the low side of global average costs for commercial launches — which are between Rs 11 lakh and Rs 28 lakh a kg depending on the orbit location and other parameters. However, cost is just one of the many criteria for success in the multi-billion dollar international commercial space market. That market is dominated by launchers capable of handling satellites that are much heavier than the ones carried by Isro's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C21 on this 100th flight. This was Isro's heaviest commercial lift so far – but the two foreign payloads, the 712-kg French earth observation satellite, SPOT-6, and a 15-kg Japanese satellite, PROITERES, are classified as small and micro satellites, respectively. Other organisations' satellite launch vehicles carry loads of several tonnes.
Clearly, Isro's cost advantage is relatively meaningless unless it steps up its load-carrying capacity manifold. This might happen when its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), capable of launching satellites weighing more than two tonnes, is operational. Yet tests of the GSLV have not been smooth; its last flight without Russian-made cryogenic engines ended in a fiasco. It landed in the Bay of Bengal soon after take-off due to a component's malfunctioning. Indeed, Isro's 50-year record in space does not survive comparisons not just with advanced countries but also with China, although the People's Republic's space programme is of relatively recent vintage. Admittedly, it has had to deal with limited resource availability and occasional sanctions. In addition, with 12 operational Indian remote-sensing satellites orbiting the earth today, India is among the world leaders in the remote-sensing data market. Much fuss also attended the success of Isro's lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1, in October 2008, and its discovery of water crystals on the moon. That did demonstrate Isro's ability to cross over from the earth's gravitational influence and enter into that of another celestial body, and has thus paved the way for a much more ambitious odyssey – to Mars – for which preparations have already begun.
Such ambitions, however, require Isro to develop new technology and a more dependable launch vehicle. Some of the new technology may, in fact, come handy even for the planned Chandrayaan-2 mission, a joint Indo-Russian venture, on an Indian GSLV launcher which would have an Indian rover and Russian landing equipment. Congratulations are premature. If India has to come on a par with the other members of the global space club, it appears more attention, resources and focus are needed on its space programme. India's rocket scientists are yet to display that their efforts are truly on a par with those of the rest of the world.
Premature congratulations?
