My Writings

BOOK ON " I S R O "

From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet ; Edited by P.V.Manoranjan Rao; Published by Harper Collins ; Pages 689 ; Price Rs.999/-

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The Chief Editor of the book P.V.Manoranjan Rao retired from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre as Group Director. He is the author of the book “A Brief History of Rocketry in ISRO” which bagged for him an Award from the International Academy of Astronautics. The Co-Editor B.N.Suresh is a Director of VSSC and a Padma Bhushan recipient for his seminal contributions to the development of launch vehicles in ISRO. The other Co-Editor V.P.Balagangadharan is also from VSSC and he expanded the outreach activities of ISRO.

The first Act in India’s Space Drama was enacted in a fishing village in Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram. The first rocket was launched on 21^st November 1963 and the rocket, the payload, the radar, the computer, the helicopter—all items required for the launch were obtained from outside the country.

When ISRO launched its Mars Orbiter Mission ( MOM)—Fifty years later from Sriharikota—all the components were indigenously manufactured.

Ten months after MOM took off on 24th November 2014, India became the first country in the world to put a satellite around the Red Planet and that too on the first attempt.

The book under review is a magnificent recounting of “ India’s Space Odyssey ” from its modest beginning to its rendezvous with the stars. With the help of articles, interviews and reminiscences representing three generations of ISRO professionals. The first generation of visionaries and pioneers laid the foundation of the technological giant called “ ISRO”. The second generation that designed and developed operational satellites and launch vehicles and the third generation that is presently engaged in reaching for the stars.

There are in all fifty contributors to this book. To highlight a few of the distinguished contributors to this volume on our Space-Saga --they include Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, Yash Pal, M.G.K.Menon, Abdul Kalam. U.R.Rao and K.Kasturirangan.

The introductory chapter “Overview” provides the background required to appreciate how ISRO mastered the various technologies to make India a “Space Faring Nation”. It throws a flood of light on how ISRO harnessed these technologies for the country’s development.

In the early days Trivandrum itself was like an outgrown village. In the land acquired for TERLS the only decent building available was a church----the St.Mary Magdalene Church. India’s space programme was born in this church. "The church was our workshop and the Bishop’s house was our Office”, wrote one of the early recruits of Vikram Sarabhai. Development of many of the technologies for rocketry was initiated in this church.

Vikram Sarabhai answers the question, “ Why Thumba was chosen to launch India’s Space programme ?” . Two reasons. One scientific and the other humanitarian. Thumba is located on the Earth’s Geo-Magnetic Equator. The other was how many people would be displaced by the project. The smallest number was in Thumba. Also, if any of the rockets collapsed the debris would fall in the adjoining sea.

The untimely demise of Vikram Sarabhai led to the problem of a worthy successor. Indira Gandhi chose Satish Dhawan, according to M.G.K.Menon. The first decade of ISRO is explained by E.V.Chitnis. He was the first to locate Sriharikota island, where now ISRO’s premier launching range is located. Prof.Yash Pal writes eloquently of “ The Romance of the Indian Space Programme”. R.Aravamudhan contributes a personal account of the evolution of ISRO.

Part Two of the book deals with Rockets. Abdul Kalam who was Project Director of SLV-3—India’s Space Launching Vehicle—gives a detailed and fascinating account of the launch vehicle which transformed India into a space-faring nation. There is an excellent account of PSLV by N.Narayana Murthy who was the Project Director of PSLV during 2002—07. The PSLV is the pride of ISRO—It was the rocket used to lift up Chandrayan—1 and recovery missions. It also launched the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) known as “Mangalyan”

“Satellites” is the subject matter of Part Three. Dr.U.R.Rao is the ultimate authority on Satellites in ISRO and he gives a graphic account in “ Origins of Satellite Technology in ISRO”—the story of Aryabhata. Rao was the Founder Director of Isro Satellite Centre and Chairman of ISRO. We have articles on India’s indigenous communication satellite APPLE. “ Remote Sensing Applications” are covered in a number of articles. Dr.M.S.Swaminathan writes on the use of Remote Sensing in the field of agriculture.

ISRO’s “SITE” was described by Sir Arthur Clarke “as the greatest communications experimented in history”.

There are four articles on Chandrayan I. This moon mission was conceived when Kasturirangan was Chairman of ISRO, We have a comprehensive account of the maiden moon mission of ISRO. The Project Director of MO, Dr .S.Arunan writes on the “ Mars Orbiter Mission”.

ISRO has been fortunate to have good leaders like Dr.Kasturirangan, Dr.Madhavan Nair and Dr.Radhakrishnan.

The book has contributions from all the Chairmen of ISRO from the first Vikram Sarabhai to the latest Kiran Kumar and is an outstanding contribution to literature on Space.

Tit Bits—All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy !

Dr,K,Radhakrishnan was Chairman of ISRO when MOM was successfully accomplished. ”During my tenure as Chairman I continued to be a student of Carnatic music and found five to six hours a week on average for music practice.” He has sung in the Chembai Sangeth Mahotsavam.

Remember Albert Einstein played the violin and Thomas Edison the piano !