Tuesday 21 February 2017

ISRO: Rising and Shining


The recent success of ISRO has brought a great pride to all the citizens of India. It is not for the first time that ISRO has made its mark on the global arena. We bring an analysis of ISRO's shining journey and its contributions to the space programs.




I. About the Organization:

  • Established: 15th August 1969
  • Head-Quarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka
  • Motto: Space technology in the Service of humankind
  • Managed by: Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of The Republic of India
  • Primary Spaceport: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
  • Chairman: Mr. A. S. Kiran Kumar



II. Distinct Achievements

  • Mangalyaan, 2014: Mars Orbiter Mission on a shoestring budget that was at least 10 times lower than a similar project by the US. The ₹ 450-crore project revolved round the Red Planet and to collect data on Mars’ atmosphere and mineral composition.

  • Chandrayaan, 2008: ISRO joined an elite list of just six space organizations to send an orbiter to the moon.

  • Launching 104 satellites, 2017: ISRO launched 104 satellites in a single rocket (PSLV-C37) and created a world record.

  • Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, 2016: an Indian-owned system will be particularly useful in times of war to gain positional accuracy apart from serving as navigation system for disaster management, fleet management etc.


  • Indian National Satellite system, 1983: The system is a network of satellites that facilitates communications and broadcasting across the south Asian region.




  • Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, 1993: PSLV remains a favorite among various organizations as a launch service provider and has launched over 40 satellites for 19 countries.


  • Reusable Launch Vehicle, 2016: the first stage of a fully re-usable vehicle, seen as the future of low cost, reliable and on-demand space access.

  • Aryabhatta, 1975: It was completely designed in the country and launched from a Russian facility in 1975.

  • Launching 20 satellites, 2016: ISRO launched 20 satellites in one mission, a record for the space agency.
III. Reasons for spectacular performance


1. Organizational Structure:

  • The entire structure functioned directly under the Prime Minister.
  • Absence of the otherwise mandatory layers of bureaucracy present in any government body is the obvious takeaway.
  • ISRO’s current chairman, A.S. Kiran Kumar, is also chairman of the Space Commission and secretary of DOS (Department of Space).


2. International Cooperation

  • ISRO has been able to work with the international scientific community since inception.
  • This has been a through-line from the first component of the space program right from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, established by Incospar, to the agreement between ISRO and the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration to work on future joint missions to Mars.
  • Mutual Cooperation between agencies across the world in space projects is very common as compared to other areas like defence where technologies and resources are highly guarded.

3. Accountability in the form of outcome budgets:


  • Outcome budgets were mandated in 2005-06.
  • Provides periodic oversight of the approved projects.
  • DOS submits an outcome budget that contains a detailed breakdown of ISRO’s projects. Other similar organizations like DRDO are exempted and this is one of the reasons of their divergence in performance.
  • Projects are focused on efficiency and costs. Impetus is given to frugal innovations.





IV. Is comparison of ISRO and NASA justified?


  • NASA was established in 1958 and ISRO was established in 1969. ISRO has achieved considerable success even after being 11 years younger. However, still it lags behind a big distance compared to its counterpart in the US especially in technology.
  • NASA has more budgets to fuel their projects. ISRO's budget is just three per cent of that of NASA
  • NASA's technology is much advanced than ISRO's. NASA has undertaken some huge projects like International Space Station which are still a long shot for ISRO.
  • NASA is said to have much better engineers than ISRO.


       A. Comparison between Mangalyaan and Maven
V. Challenges Ahead


  • One of the biggest challenge is likely to come in the form of launch technology disruption driven from the Silicon Valley in California. NASA has been increasingly turning over LEO access to private players while it begins to focus on deep space missions. It has come after the recognition of the fact that the old-way of doing things is just not profitable enough, fast enough and disruptive enough to make space more accessible.



  • Maintain its key resources: its most valued people. It needs to attract talent from major technical institutes to foster its performance  even further.

  • Needs an ecosystem of Indian companies and suppliers who can fuel its requirements for equipment imports from other developed nations.


VI. Benefits of ISRO for the nation


  • In the year 2015-16 alone, ISRO (through its commercial arm, Antrix) earned Rs 1,860 crore in revenues despite its miniscule share of the satellite launch market. This can easily be expanded leveraging the strong base of space-science research that India has funded for long years.



  • India’s own rising domestic needs in terms of eyes-in-space helping us with everything ranging from crop growth patterns to cyclone warnings to national security issues will tie in closely with any investments being made through participation in this new economy.

  • ISRO has already transferred over 300 new technologies to industries ranging from computer science to material sciences to electro optical systems. The benefits of seeding a hybrid market of hi-tech products and services and larger space industry ecosystem are even bigger.


VII. Is comparison of ISRO and NASA justified?

  • In the year 2015-16 alone, ISRO (through its commercial arm, Antrix) earned Rs 1,860 crore in revenues despite its miniscule share of the satellite launch market. This can easily be expanded leveraging the strong base of space-science research that India has funded for long years.



  • India’s own rising domestic needs in terms of eyes-in-space helping us with everything ranging from crop growth patterns to cyclone warnings to national security issues will tie in closely with any investments being made through participation in this new economy.

  • ISRO has already transferred over 300 new technologies to industries ranging from computer science to material sciences to electro optical systems. The benefits of seeding a hybrid market of hi-tech products and services and larger space industry ecosystem are even bigger.



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