ISRO announced and successfully launched the GSLV-F17 mission after my last blog post. I am not claiming my blog post had any role in the launch or the success thereafter. Only, that the launch happened.
It seems that there were efforts on to undermine ISRO by not letting it launch missions that were ready and already at Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC, Sriharikota).
It seems that the questions raised by Madhavan Nair (in Malayalam, in English) and (perhaps) in parallel by Unions within ISRO (another story) about the privatisation of the full range of ISRO launch vehicles (PSLV and LVM3).
This is in response to a speech given by the Chairman of IN-SPACe, Pawan Goenka –
You will note the rocket behind him that is branded as IN-SPACe in the video. Usually rockets carry only two names – ISRO and India. The news story written by India Today actually makes it sound worse when they paraphrase him.
This led to this clarification from him on X:
However, going against the spirit of this separation of powers, IN-SPACe has been “productionalising” LVM3 and handing over operations of Kulasekarapattinam space port.
This makes it look like there are multiple power centers (Pawan Goenka and Dr. V Narayanan) within the Department of Space.
Even the release of this clarification by the Chairman, IN-SPACe makes it look like the Secretary of Department of Space cannot speak for himself or that Goenka has a bigger say in how things are run.
While I was writing this, another un-signed clarification came from ISRO. Again, its not clear from whom within ISRO is this statement from. Is it from the Public Relations Officer, the ISRO Chairman, the Secretary, Department of Space, the Chairman, IN-SPACe?
India’s private sector has its own growth trajectory to follow. While there have been successes – these are too small and will not help in missions of national importance. ISRO must be allowed to pursue those missions at the minimum until the private sector can develop its own prowess.
I feel that the private sector is at least a decade away from developing that prowess. At the very least, wait till they can deliver three missions demonstrating this prowess.
For this, the institutions within the Department of Space must work. The direction for this must come from the top – the Indian Parliament. We have a love for working in legal grey areas but we do not have any way to protect the ecosystem when the system implodes.