1

Prof. U.R.Rao
ISRO
Pradeep Naga (123)
Presented By:
Soundarya R (087)
Jagrajan Randhawa (115)
Adithya Ravisankar (001)
Harsha Vardhan (054)
Vinita Dhongani (145)
Ajay Kanithi (044)
Debashish Kundu (049)
Anto Sebastian (046)
Divyashree Y (053)
 | INTRODUCTION 2

ISRO was in humble beginnings in He began his career as a

1960 the pulpit of church in Kerala, was
yet to be established from its
1975 cosmic ray scientist and
contributed significantly
parent organization, the Indian and spearheaded several
National Committee for Space projects from Aryabhata
Research (INCOSPAR) to the Mars Orbiter
Mission

Dr. Raos space journey Dr. Rao succeeded Satish

1972 blossomed under the

tutelage of Dr.Vikram
Sarabhai, his doctoral
guide and later boss at
ISRO
1984 Dhawan as ISRO
Chairman and Secretary,
Department of Space,
going on to have the
second longest tenure in
the high post ten years.
 | INTRODUCTION 3

Dr. Rao ensured that a remote sensing

satellite was launched from a Soviet He was also the first Indian space

1991
spaceport amidst extraordinary
conditions. IRS-1B was launched under
the presence of Dr. Rao. He laid the
2013 scientist to be inducted into the
prestigious 'Satellite Hall of Fame' in
Washington DC on March 19, 2013, and
foundation for the GSLV by signing a the 'IAF Hall of Fame' in Mexico's
pact with the Russians in 1991 for the Guadalajara.
cryogenic engine technology for its
third stage

After taking over the reins of ISRO,

1992 Prof. Rao shifted his focus towards

developing rocket technology. He
was responsible for the successful
launch of ASLV (Augmented
Satellite Launch Vehicle) rockets in
1992 and the PSLV (Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle) in 1994
 44
SOVIET UNION LESSONS
Had much to gain from cooperating in space science research with the USSR
Between 1963 and 1975 some 350 rockets of American, British, French and Soviet design were launched from Thumba

The Soviet Union in turn saw a The cooperation with the Soviet Union,
cooperative relationship with India as particularly in the areas of system
something that would enhance its ties manufacture and satellite monitoring,
with one of the leading countries of the was to be crucial in the development of
non-aligned movement. an indigenous Indian solid-fuel rocket
later in the decade.
Agreement on the inclusion of an Indian
cosmonaut in the Intercosmos
India has space co-operative
programme had been reached in 1980
agreements with countries like USSR
on Thumba Equatorial Rocket
India went on to develop its own remote-
Launching Station, German Aerospace
sensing satellite, Insat, IRS-1A and B
Centre, National Institute of
which was launched in 1982 on a Soviet
Aeronautics and Space etc.
launcher
India deeply resented the US decision to impose sanctions against ISRO in 1992 after India
4
concluded an agreement with Russia for the purchase of cryogenic engine technology
 5
HELP FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

USA FRENCH German

Indian version of scout was Frances main contribution to India Germany helped India in 3
developed with the help of NASA was in the field of liquid propulsion indispensable missile technology
technical reports and German training allowed India
to make space launchers

India was cooperating with France to

US agreed to supply an advanced Indians learned composition
manufacture the two-stage Centaure
ring laser gyroscope to help guide manufacturing quality control error
rocket. Which was crucial in terms of
India a new missile detection and also to make space
Indias national programme.
launchers

Indias SITE (Satellite Instructional In particular it has been alleged that

Television Experiment) programme Liquid for rocket motor and SLV the Federal Republic of Germany may
was inaugurated on 1 August 1975 have played a critical role in the
using the American-launched ATS-6 development of the Agni missile
satellite.29
 CRYOGENIC CHALLENGE 64

1982 The GSLV project including the Soviet component

was approved by the Space Commission and the
The Indian delegation was led by Prof. Rao ,his Government in October 1990 at a total cost of just
most important role during the conference was Rs 750 crore
to settle a major dispute between the US, the
UK, Canada, Australia and Luxembourg on the
question of the militarization of space

It threatened to impose a two-year ban on all licensed

However, 15 months later, the US accused the GSLV exports to India and Russia, all imports into the US
programme of being in violation of the Missile from these countries and the suspension of all
Technology Control Regime. government contracts between

Unfortunately, the US also threatened to

impose these sanctions retroactively which
would have affected ISROs purchase of some
components from American companies for its
INSAT 2 satellites.
Prof. Rao had to intervene, and met with the then
US Vice President Al Gore in 1993. The outcome of
this meeting was the US willingness to remove the
retroactive clause on a case-wise basis,

But by this time, the Russian government, buckling under US

pressure, terminated the Glavmoskos contract and left the GSLV
programme in limbo. Soon after, the long and arduous task of
mastering cryogenic engine technology began, followed by
producing the first indigenous version.
 |
INDIAS ODYSSEY INTO SPACE BEGAN ON 7

BICYCLE, BULLOCK CART!

Nike Apache sounding rocket
It was a The The MINSK There was yet
rocket built by photograph of another picture
computer
National a technician
and the MI-4 which the world
Aeronautics carrying the
sounding helicopter watched in
and Space
Administration rocket from the used for bewilderment,
and had assembly line range a bullock cart
carried a to the launch ferrying the
clearance
sodium vapour pad on a
came from Ariane
payload from bicycle caught
global the then Passenger
France. It was
tracked by a USSR Payload
radar from the attention . Experiment
USA. (APPLE)
 An Overview Of The Aryabhata Project 84

Starting from the scratch was the challenge before

ISRO signed an agreement with the USSR Academy
while they began the Aryabhata project. Majority of
of Sciences in I972 for launching an Indian-built
the team members were new to this field. The time
technological satellite from a Soviet Cosmodrome,
given was just two and half years so that it could be
using an Intercosmos rocket carrier, in a time frame
flown in a Russian rocket
of 2-3 years.

The Aryabhata satellite project was initially pegged at

Building a clean room, thermo vacuum room and other
Rs. 3 crore but cost a little more, as furniture and
facilities were all new. However Bangalore had some other things had to be bought.
facilities like industrial sheds. They took six such sheds
each measuring around 5,000 sq.ft

A toilet in Bangalore was converted into a Russia gave us a free launch. For Bhaskara also,
data receiving centre for Indias first satellite and IRS 1 and 2 were also given cheap deals.
Aryabhata
 |How India Mounted the Worlds Cheapest Mission to Mars 9
Frugal engineering is a brand of engineering targeted at markets where there is a marked preference
for function over form, for getting the job done over making it look good while its doing it.

NASA's MAVEN, a Mars mission nearly identical

to Mangalyaan, had taken at least five years of
work and $679 million in costs. If the Mangalyaan
launch is successful, ISRO would have done it in
18 months

For Mangalyaan, the major adaptation was on

using the PSLV rocket. ISRO had been making
changes to this rocket for two decades. In recent
times, it has miniaturised the avionics, and built
its own chip and onboard computer.

To hold costs down, India relied on technologies

it has used before and kept the size of the
payload small, at 15 kilograms.
 ISROs MODULAR APPROACH KEY TO ITS SUCCESS 10 10

Harness Software, Work Fast

The second innovation in Mangalyaan, also involving
risk, was to make only one physical model of the
spacecraft. ISRO had done it in Chandrayaan and then
brought this experience to Mangalyaan.

Testing optimized
Saved Fuel Other factors helped too. Testing was
It saved on fuel by using a smaller rocket optimised as much as possible, and this
to put its spacecraft into Earth orbit first to saved costs and speeded up the
gain enough momentum to slingshot it development process.
toward Mars.

Aggressive schedules
ISRO made aggressive schedules that
Brainstorm were nearly always sacrosanct. These
Parallel teams Idea principles - technology adaptation and
instead of one large organisation driving aggressive scheduling reduced the
programmes centrally, it creates parallel freedom of its engineers to try
teams that compete against each other for completely new things.
key projects. This change was made in the
1990s and made NASA more efficient.
 From the First Rocket to the Launch of 104 Satellites 11

Prof. UR RAO : If you want to go to the moon and learn more about it, you dont just
carry a single camera. You need to have photographs, but also need to investigate the
wind, temperature, dust, etc. This will be achieved by launching composite setups
01 02
On the morning of February 15, 2017, India scripted a The worlds most cost-effective programme, ISRO built
new chapter in the history of space exploration with the the final model of the orbiter from the start instead of
successful launch of a record 104 satellites by ISROs building a series of iterative models, as NASA does.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in a single They carried out fewer but more efficient ground tests
and used components, modules and building blocks
mission.
from earlier missions.

03
ISRO also intelligently circumvented the lack of a
rocket powerful enough to launch the satellite directly
out of the Earths gravitational pull by having the
satellite orbit the Earth for a month.
04
This longer but cheaper route built up enough speed
for the satellite to break free from the Earths
gravitational pull.

Procurement Challenges
01
Space gyroscopes for example. They were complex
and we started making them here after initial
struggles.
03
The cryogenic stage, that involves handling fuel at very
low temperatures, is crucial to providing the extra
thrust required by the rocket to carry heavier satellites
deeper into space. ISRO got down to develop the
cryogenic technology on its own at the Liquid
Propulsion Systems Centre
12
02
We needed beryllium (a rare element), mirrors, lenses
so we built our own factories from scratch. We
approached a small company called Andhra Sugars and
asked them make propellants for us.
04
ISRO imports some metal alloys from Europe and Japan
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at low cost.
Nextenders Procurement solutions are used by ISRO to
manage its vendors
 Electronic Government Procurement 1313

System (EGPS)
An Electronic Government Procurement System (EGPS) has
been developed for ISRO/DOS and has been operationalized in
Semi Conductor Laboratory (SCL) for all the prospective
Vendors/ Suppliers of SCL .
The materials/ Capital/ other items identified for procurement
through EGPS are procured through registrations with the e-
procurement portal.
https://eprocure.isro.gov.in - Vendors/ Suppliers can visit the
portal for getting information and registration.
14
 Recommendations 1515

The problem with government is that they

Isro is racing SpaceX, Elon Musks
care more about the optics than the actual
company, to develop a reusable rocket.
advancements. Trouble usually starts with
Avatar, Isros reusable rocket project, is
the media, especially when they are
scheduled to take at least another nine
ignorant about the nuances in technology
years before achieving its aim.
and write damaging things.

Lower labour costs and an emphasis on locally

Having been unable to keep pace with
sourced equipment contribute to the cheaper
satellite fabrication ,The Indian space
cost of Indias space programme, though
establishment has crossed a new
generally the scientific capabilities of its craft
threshold, engaging for the first time a
are narrower than those launched by Nasa.
private sector industry to make a full
multi-crore, heavy duty satellite.

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