MMA organized a discussion on the theme of the book, ‘Rocketing Through the Skies – An Eventful Life at ISRO’.
The author of the book Mr G Madhavan Nair, Former Chairman, ISRO was in conversation with Mr S K Das, IAS (Retd), Former Member (Finance), Space & Atomic Energy Commission and Honorary Advisor, ISRO, Dept of Space.
Mr S K Das
Former Member (Finance), Space & Atomic Energy Commission and Honorary Advisor, ISRO, Dept of Space
I would like to talk about three particularly glorious moments of ISRO’s history. One is the development of the PSLV Rocket. PSLV has now emerged as the most successful rocket worldwide. Out of 59 launches, PSLV has been successful in 56, taking the success rate to 95%. That’s an overwhelming number. The PSLV rocket is Mr Madhavan Nair’s baby. He built it from scratch. It is gratifying to note that PSLV has carried not only Indian satellites, but also foreign satellites—not merely to the earth’s orbit, but to the faraway Moon and Mars as well.
Another noteworthy event was the launch of Chandrayaan-1, India’s stepping stone to planetary exploration. ISRO did this successfully with Mr Madhavan Nair at the helm. The remarkable thing about Chandrayaan-1 was its historic confirmation of the presence of water on the surface of moon. The third one is that as Chairman of ISRO, Mr Madhavan Nair was instrumental in establishing village resource centres in a large number of India’s villages. It is a tribute to him that he was able to improve the quality of life in ordinary villages of India by bringing them the benefits of space-based projects.
Mr Madhavan Nair
Former Chairman, ISRO
ISRO is a fantastic organization, and perhaps a unique one globally. It has established its credibility through innovative solutions to practical problems. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai was a great visionary who envisioned that India should acquire high technology rocket science and its applications, so that the quality of life of the common man can be improved. This has been the driving spirit of the Indian space program, and I feel fortunate to have been a part of it.
I had the opportunity to work in the high-tech area and contribute something useful to the country. More than that, I am grateful for the opportunities that independent India and its institutions provided. I am just a specimen of that. I did my schooling in the early days of independent India, in a very remote village. My college education was at a government institution in Trivandrum, and later, I had the opportunity to join the Bhabha Atomic Research Center.
India’s Giant Steps
In my early days, the biggest mechanized device in my village was the bullock cart. From that situation, to reach the moon and put our national flag on its surface is indeed a very fruitful journey. We can all be proud of that. In the early days, the government invested in laboratories for research and development for various applications. The agricultural revolution was headed by Dr. Swaminathan, the atomic program by Dr. Homi Bhabha, the space program by Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, and the missile program by Dr. Abdul Kalam. Their efforts are live examples of how Indian homegrown technologies and scientists can achieve great heights of glory and produce results of global standards.
The fact that recently we were able to land very precisely on the south pole of the moon in the first attempt itself and have our Rover going around the moon for a couple of weeks, collecting data, shows the excellence of the Space Technology that we have achieved. I am really proud to be an Indian; to be a homegrown Indian; and to have had an opportunity to work in a domestic program without any foreign aid. I recognize the encouragement I got right from the beginning, in the days of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai onwards. Dr. Abdul Kalam was my guru in all aspects – in rocket science, in management, and in handling complex issues. We also had fine gentleman scientists like Prof. Sathish Dhawan, Prof. U R Rao, and others. Such an ecosystem helped me to increase my knowledge base.
Of course, I had to keep my eyes and ears open and take up the challenges associated with the development of huge rocket systems. PSLV has emerged as one of the most reliable and cost-effective launch systems in the world today. I am really proud that we have achieved that. We did not have anything other than elementary textbooks on rockets in India at that time. There was no foreign aid or foreign collaboration in this field. Our own Indian scientists and technologists worked with their arms, blasting rocket motors, and sometimes putting the satellites into the sea, rather than the orbit. We went through all the trauma, but it has been a rich experience. From 1967 onwards, for 45 years, I was associated with this program at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station and later with the Chandrayaan moon mission.
Improving the Quality of Life
Having grown up in a village in an average family, I knew the difficulties of a common man in the villages. That was one of the driving forces for making sure that my energy, time, and knowledge were spent in improving the quality of life for the villagers in the country. To a great extent, I succeeded, and my successors have also carried the flag forward. Today, the Indian space program is one of the topmost and leading programs in the world. We converted serious failures and major drawbacks into opportunities for gaining knowledge and course-correcting for the future. The methodology and teamwork we have built up in ISRO are very unique.
Q&A
Q: Can you share some of the key milestones and challenges you experienced during your tenure as Chairman of ISRO?
Madhavan Nair: The most challenging task was the completion of the development of the cryogenic engine. We had tied up with Russia for technology transfer of the ionic engine. Unfortunately, due to geopolitical reasons, it didn’t materialize. We had to learn ourselves the ABC of the cryogenic engine, about various uses, the complex operating cycle, and the precision fabrication engineering associated with that. We created the facilities for testing the cryogenic rocket engine as well. This experience came in handy in our development of the GSLV Mark 3, 2010 engine.
But what has come to the public eye is the Chandrayaan mission and going to the moon for the first time, traveling all the way for 4 lakh kilometres with high precision.
Q: What inspired the initiation of manned mission to moon and space based services under your leadership at ISRO? How much support did you get from the government?
Madhavan Nair: It was Dr. Vikram Sarabhai’s vision that drove the Indian space program. In 2000, when we reviewed the situation, we had more or less accomplished what he had envisioned. During my tenure, the associated applications like telemedicine, tele-education, Village Resource Center, and disaster management had all been perfected. Naturally, the question was: What next?
We were toying with the idea of going to nearby objects like Moon and Mars for our exploration, simply because we wanted to understand better the science behind the origin of these planets and also see whether there are valuable materials that can be brought back for human consumption. Access to space by rockets and robotic instruments serves our purpose to a great extent. But at the same time, there are several other purposes that can be served only by the presence of humans behind the machine. India lags behind America, Russia, and China in this respect.
In the first decade of 2000, we initiated a study program, and all ISRO centers contributed significantly to the various scientific objectives, technology, and understanding the challenges associated with that. I was happy to take the manned mission project to the government. At the time, Montek Singh Ahluwalia was the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission. He gave a very positive recommendation and was about to approve the project. But unfortunately, it got stalled because of the scam associated with spectrum sale and the resultant confusion.
I’m happy to say that the first thing what Prime Minister Modiji has done is to take out those blueprints, brush it and give it a clean signal for going on. That is how the Gaganyaan manned mission has originated. We are well on the way. Maybe within a year or so, we will have our astronaut flying in our capsule in GSLV Mark 3 vehicle. That will be the proudest moment for our nation.
Q: How did working under Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam shape your approach to rocket technology and space exploration?
Madhavan Nair: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a very unique personality. He was a very simple person, down to earth in his approach and very positive in looking at various issues. He taught me the elementary lessons in rocketry. But more than the technical side, I learnt a lot on managerial side. He made everyone contribute to the best of their abilities. He gave ambience, encouragement and nourishment to the individuals. He was great in team building. The scientific community is fairly egoistic. Massaging the ego of the people is crucial for success. He put me in frying pan situations many times. I had faced a number of failures, but in those times, he would hold my hand, and encourage me.
Q: There is always a debate if we should spend so much money on exploring space, which is so vast. What are your comments on this?
Madhavan Nair: We have just tried to explore the solar system. There are millions of solar systems in the galaxy. There are several galaxies which make the whole universe. We all should be looking for an alternate habitat, in case something happens to our planet. That is one of our motives. We are also trying to find the resources in space which can be used in earth. For example, Helium 3 is a fantastic fuel for fusion reaction. There is plenty of that on the lunar surface. Can we bring it back? If we want to colonise Mars, what are the challenges associated with that? There is only carbon dioxide. How can we create life forms there? All these are big challenges. Exploring space will throw more light into the fundamental knowledge about the universe, and about the origin of life itself- the how and why of things happening, even to the human body. A lot of knowledge will come out of space studies.
Q: What would you consider as your most memorable moment during your tenure at ISRO?
Madhavan Nair: Every moment I spent in ISRO is alive in my memory. PSLV presented the biggest challenge and opportunity. For me, it was also our biggest achievement. More than anything, carrying the legacy left behind by great personalities was itself a great honour.
Q: How did your colleagues and other officials contribute to your success?
Madhavan Nair: Everyone in ISRO -right from the lowest paid to the highest paid -contributed. There were also bureaucrats who deserve a special mention like Mr S.V Ranganath, Former Chief Secretary of Karnataka and Mr S K Das (Former Member (Finance) and Honorary Advisor, ISRO), who worked more like scientists than bureaucrats. Collaboration and cooperation with all these personalities made my tenure fruitful.
Q: How did you contribute to international space community, especially as the first non- American President of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)? What is the support that you got from scientists of other countries?
Madhavan Nair: It’s a very unique position. There are scientists from Europe, America, Russia, China, Japan and other developing countries. ISRO’s contribution to the societal development is very unique and I could sell that idea globally. Secondly, on the theme of what space can contribute to managing climate change, we conducted a number of seminars and conferences. That input has gone to global warming studies as well.
We also looked at futuristic projects like the space elevator and harnessing the solar power from space. Here again, my experience of working in ISRO, trying to synthesise the efforts of multidisciplinary people helped me. They looked, not at the colour of my skin, while accepting my leadership but rather my technical contribution. I had a very smooth and productive six years of tenure. Normally, it is a tenure for two years. I’m really happy that I could contribute something globally as well.
Q: What role do you see for India in the future space explorations?
Madhavan Nair: I think our Prime Minister Modiji has overtaken all of us in this respect. In fact, we used to go with proposals to the government and we had to struggle hard to convince the Delhi bureaucracy as well as the ministers. Now I understand when ISRO Chairman Somnath went for presenting the progress of the manned capsule recovery project, the Prime Minister listened to all those things and he blessed the mission. Immediately, he said that ISRO’s next task must be to have our own space station by 2035 and that we must have our man landing on the moon in Indian rocket. These are fantastic, visionary goals, a political leader can provide to the organization. We are really happy with such goals and ISRO will have a leadership position in the years to come.
Q: Can you shed some light on the significance of Chandrayaan 1 mission and its impact on Indian space program?
Madhavan Nair: Travelling 4 lakh kilometres in an unchartered territory, and making sure it goes in the right direction and ends up at the right point, without any GPS was a big challenge. For the first time, after a series of computer simulations, we were able to validate that and achieve success. We not only took photographs. We could map 95% of the area and capture the mineral content on the surface of the moon. We could also find out the presence of water and helium 3.
Q: How do you view the intersection of space technology and societal services such as disaster warning and tele education?
Madhavan Nair: ISRO’s main contribution is societal applications. No other country has taken such an initiative. Everywhere, the space products are sold on a commercial basis. Here, it is a government funded program. We plan and execute, so that in a severe cyclone or flood, we are able to give advance warning. The tele education and telemedicine which we demonstrated became handy during the COVID time.
Q: What advice would you offer to aspiring professionals in the field of rocket technology and space exploration?
Madhavan Nair: Space is very complex. The multidisciplinary activities require a huge investment. A private individual or private industry alone cannot manage the human resource and infrastructure requirements. Even if we take the example of SpaceX, which is one of the very successful stories, 90% of funding comes from NASA.
The second aspect is that in space, inventions and innovations are key driving factors. Elon Musk has made a reusable rocket. That’s a new concept. It is really good and he will make money out of that. So, unless, some new innovation and inventions come, the start-ups will not be able to make much headway. They have to be adventurous in taking up the challenges of space.
Q: What are the key factors that have enabled us to succeed as a global player in the space industry?
Madhavan Nair: As far as the space technology is concerned, we are on par with the developed countries. One area that we are lagging behind is the manned space flight. We will soon be doing that. In most countries, technologies are developed for military program, and later that is converted for civilian applications. In India, ISRO is in the civilian domain, under the government setup. Thanks to the long-term vision of our leaders and scientists and the commitment and hard work of the team members, we are able to do very well. As we were denied space technology, we were forced to develop it ourselves. That has challenged our youngsters to apply their knowledge, innovate and find solutions to very difficult engineering problems. What we have achieved is a result of sheer hard work, for over six decades and our focused efforts.
