Emergence of India as Global Space Power
Conquering The Skies
Both PSLV and GSLV type rockets, when utilized as war missiles, are capable of hitting a target with a heavier thermonuclear device, lying at a distance of over 5,000 km to 6,000 km. Moreover, the ability of PSLV to carry more than one satellite indicates that when used as a missile, it could carry multiple warheads and hit several targets at a time.
On October 22, last year, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C3) into space from the Shar
Centre at Sriharikota, a small island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. The
14-storey tall spacecraft carried three satellites up to a height of 572 km and
placed them into their respective orbits. The satellite were ISRP’s Technology
Experiment Satellite (TES), weighing 1108 kg, Germany’s Bispectral and Info
Red Detection Satellite (Bird), weighing 92 kg, and Belgium’s project for On
Board Autonomy Satellite (Proba), weighing 94 kg. Or in other words, the vehicle
lifted total payload of 1294 kg up to a height of 572 km for 970 seconds from
the lift-off. The satellites were secured in the nose cone of the four stage
spacecraft and were protected by a heat shield capable of withstand in a
temperature of 3000 degree Celsius. This PSLV-C3 was the sixth flight of
ISRO’s mammoth PSLV programme and the previous flight PSLV-C2 took place
nearly two and half years ago, on May 26, 1996, which also carried three
satellites into space having an aggregate weight of 1205 kg.
ISRO chairman K. Kasturirangan expressed his satisfaction over the
successful launching and told the press, “I am happy to say we had a very
successful flight.” He also said that TES was the first satellite to be placed
in the orbit at a height of 572 km and it would facilitate imaging the earth
surface with the help of an imported high resolution camera with advanced
focusing technology incorporated into it. “With this one-metre resolution
camera we shall be able to look at areas anywhere on the earth and locate
buildings, vehicles, flood areas, etc”, he pointed out. The satellite TES with
one-metre resolution comer is what the armed forces have been demanding for
years, especially after the Kargil war in 1999. They were complaining that they
could not take pictures of people moving on the ground. Or even vehicles, with
their camera of large resolution and hence were failing to detect Pakistani
intruders. So the Defence Image Processing and Analysis Centre (Dipac) had to
buy satellite images from private satellite owners like Ikonos at a high cost.
Such satellite service provides usually charge $20 to $25 for each square foot
of ground photographed, making it prohibitively expensive. Besides high costs,
they make unusual delays in delivering the pictures, which is totally
unacceptable during the time of crisis. Now such delays would be totally
eliminated when the camera in TES starts working and, at the same time, the
photographs would be much cheaper and much more refined with additional details.
It should be mentioned here that the Americans had cameras with 10 cm resolution
nearly a decade ago.
PSLV-C2
On May 26, 1999, PSLV-C2 was lifted off from Sriharikota precisely at
11.52 a.m. and carried three satellites into space, two of which were of foreign
origin. The ISRO-built satellite, called Ocean sat-I, meant for gathering
ocean-geographic data and weighing 1050 kg, was the first to be ejected into
space and the first to be ejected into space and the second satellite, called
Kitsa-3, was ejected 50 seconds later.
This satellite weighing only 110 kg and built by the Korean Advance
Institute of Science and Technology was meant for studying high-energy cosmic
particles that bombard the earth’s atmosphere. After another 50 seconds, the
third satellite DLR-Tubsat, weighing only 45 kg and built by the DLR Institute
of Space Sensor Technology and the Technical University of Berlin, was released
into the space. In fact, the successful launching of PSLV-C2 signaled the coming
of age of India’s mammoth space programme and put India in the exclusive club
of space powers that have as its members only Russia, America, Japan and the
Consortium of European Nations led by France. It was for the first time India
had also made its entry into the highly competitive multi-billion dollar
international market for space technology by selling its launch vehicle’s
spare capacity to foreign buyers like Korea and Germany, for which ISRO earned
$1.2 million. This was PSLV’s fifth flight. The first launch failed in
1993, but ever since the vehicle performed well.
With its PSLV programme, ISRO is able to make significant strides in
selling data obtained from its remote sensing satellites to six countries
including USA, and at present account for nearly 15 per cent of the total market
share. In 1998, its earnings from selling such data were
$ 5 million and are expected to go up to
$50 million in the coming years. ISRO also earned
$ 1.5 million by selling satellite components and subsystem to big
companies of the world including the American space giant Hughes.
GSLV
– D1
ISRO
displayed its most spectacular achievement when nearly seven months ago it
successfully launched Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D1) on 18th
April last year. The rocket blasted off precisely at 3.30 pm lifted a satellite
of INSAT category weighing 1.53 tones and placed it into an orbit, 36,000 km
above the earth. A previous attempt failed on 28th March as one of
its four strap-on boosters did not work property. The fault was a minor one and
could be detected and rectified within a month. While commenting on the failure,
K. Kasturirangan said: “Space is the most unforgiving wife. Even a minor error
can lead to a major catastrophe.”
In a geo-stationary orbit the satellite matches the speed of earth’s
rotation and hence it appears motionless from the earth. Such an orbit is needed
for communication satellites like the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT)
that transmits the Doordarshan and other TV signals and facilitates long
distance telephone calls. Previously such satellites were lifted by Ariane
rockets at a cost of $75 million for each launch. So Shri Kasturirangan, after the
successful launching of GSLV-D1, said, “It is a quantum leap in our
technological competence.”
So far as satellite technology is concerned, India has acquired the
mastery of making IRS-type remote sensing satellites and INSAT generation of
communication satellites, which we had to purchase earlier from foreign
countries, mainly USA, at a high cost. But we did not have the rockets for
placing the satellites into their orbits. Now with GSLV generation of launching
vehicles, ISRO would be able to save at least one-third of the launching cost
for each INSAT launch. At the same time, ISRO has earned the capability of
competing in $ 10 billion
communication-related space business.
After the successful launching of GSLV-D1, A.I. Dounaev, chairman of the
Russian space agency Glavkosmos, said: “With this launch, India has become one
of the dominant space powers in the world. After a few more launches India will
soon be able to enter the arena of commercial launches.” Didier Aubin, the
director of the sales and marketing wing of Ariane, said: “It is a significant
step. Indians have shown that when they want to do something they can do it. It
takes time, but they have the will to succeed.”
It has been mentioned earlier
that commercial satellite launching market is a
$ 10 billion global business. It is growing very fast as every
communication company; every TV channel, big business houses and banks are
willing to have their own satellites. Today, Ariane accounts for over 60 per
cent share of the business, followed by the US and Russia, while China is trying
hard to catch up. Demand is also growing for launching heavier satellites of
four tonne capacity and GSLV, with its ability to fit a payload of two tonne,
may not find many takers in near future. Even ISRO may have to seek the
assistance of foreign launchers for its own new generation of heavier INSAT
class of satellites that are now in the pipeline. “To complete successfully in
the global market, we have to double our lifting capacity and at the same time
reduce costs by half. To make a mark, we have to show that we are more reliable
as well as less expensive than the rest”, says Madhavan Nair, director of the
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
But to capture a bigger share of the world market, ISRO is badly in need
of fresh investments. “It (ISRO) has all the potential to emerge as a big
player, but it need money to invest”, says Shri Aubin of Ariane. At present
ISRO has to restrict all its spending within the annual allocation of
$ 500 million and hence to adopt a “go slow” policy for its more
ambitious projects. It should be mentioned here that the annual budgets of NASA
of USA and Ariane of Europe are $
15 billion and $ 5 billion
respectively.
Cryo-Engine
It was for the first time that ISRO utilized the Russian-made cryogenic
engine for GSLV-D1 in its nearly 25 years history of venturing into space. In
1992, Russia agreed to sell a few cryo-engines and transfer its technology for
Rs. 235 crore. But America interfered with the deal and said that it violated
the Missile (MTCR), to which Russia was a signatory. The deal worried USA that
it could equip India with Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICMs). So Russia
withdrew its earlier consent and agreed only to supply seven cryo-engines for
future usage. Ever since ISRO is trying hard to develop such an engine
indigenously and has achieved more than 90 per cent success and hopes that it
would be able to mount an India-made cryo-engine on the third GSLV, scheduled to
be launched in 2003. On February 16, last year, ISRO conducted its test on the
first indigenously built cryo-engine at its Liquid Propulsion System Centre at
Mahendratiri, near Kanyakumari. The entire nations as well as many foreign
nations were keenly observing the progress of the test as the success of the
test would put India in the company of the big space powers.
On the day of test, the engine started perfectly well and, as expected,
50 bar pressure was developed in the thrust chamber. The engine was to run for
30 seconds, but after the 12th second had passed the automatic safely
device stopped the engine to an unexpected half. It
was found later that the inside temperature of the combustion chamber
went above the prescribed limit due to the failure of the water cooling system,
which was supposed to cool the nozzles to prevent overheating. The engine was
the result of sustained effort of ISRO for past seven years and expected to be
more efficient than the original Russian version. But unfortunately the
experiment failed due to a very minor defect. “No, we would not call it a
failure. On the contrary, more than two-third of the system worked,” said V.
Jananagandhi, director of the Cryogenic Upper State Project (CUSP). “I think,
compared to the experiences of other countries, our first cryo-engine test is a
success”, he added.
In fact, when the third stage of GSLV-DI was ignited, it seemed that the
Russian cryo-engine was under-performing. It embarrassed the Russian experts
present at Sriharikota, who failed to ascertain the cause. The deficiency had to
be compensated by using a part of the propulsion capacity of the satellite.
It is important to note here that cryogenic capability will make India
self-sufficient in space technology and open up more commercial possibilities.
At the same time, our scientists should have to develop better engines capable
of lifting two tonne and subsequently four tonne category of communication
satellites and hence to acquire better competence for entering the global
market. Both Russians and Americans have spacecrafts powerful enough to launch 8
to 16 satellites in a single flight and India has to look for attaining that
capacity.
ISRO began its venture into space with the launching of the first Indian
satellite Aryabhatta in 1975. The task for ISRO is two fold, firstly to make
satellites and secondly to build space crafts capable of placing those
satellites into their orbits in space. So far as satellite-makings concerned,
ISRO became self-sufficient as early as 1982-83, when it developed INSAT-I class
of communication satellites. Later in 1987, ISRO developed IRS-I class of remote
sensing satellites. The first major success in lifting these satellites and
placing them in orbits came in 1997, when PSLV-CI was successfully launched,
which placed IRS-ID remote sensing satellite into its orbit . Finally, India
emerged as a space power with the successful launching of GSLY-DI on April 18
last year.
Although ISRO is engaged in its task of peaceful use of the space, the
spacecrafts it developed have great military applicability. At present, Agni-II
is India’s most effective missile capable of delivering a nuclear device at a
target 2000km away. But both PSLV and GSLV type rockets, when utilized as war
missiles are capable of hitting a target with a heavier thermo- nuclear device,
lying at a distance of over 5,000km to 6,000km and thus bringing entire China,
entire Middle East and parts of Africa, Europe and Australia under its
foot-print. Moreover, the ability of PSLV to carry more than one satellite
indicates that when used as a missile, it could carry multiple warheads and hit
several targets at a time. And this would certainly help India establish itself
as a global military power and deter its hostile neighbours.
|
||||
