ISRO Chief To NDTV, Strength Respects Strength: India & America Build A Life-Saving Satellite

0:00 There is a new found energy between India and America on the space program and India and America are planning through ISRO and NASA to launch the world's single most expensive civilian earth imaging satellite in the NASA ISRO synthetic aperture radar satellite. I have with me Dr. V. Naran the chairman of the Indian space research organization. Uh Dr. Narayan what is this stage for the Nissar mission. So Nissar is nothing but NASA isro synthetic aperture radar satellite and in fact the satellites having two major

0:46 payload. One is a LSR payload, another one is a SR payload. And one of the payload is realized by India, another one has come from USA. And the entire satellite bus is realized in India in Bangalore. And this is going to this is basically for earth operation related aspect. And it is going to be really useful in multiple aspects. And we are going to we are building the rocket. It is the GSLV Mark 2 rocket. And you know I was having a very happiest moment in the life when honorable prime minister Narendra Modi G was in USA recently and I was watching the their press meet and

1:33 I was so excited to hear our honorable prime minister addressing the press and stating that India and Indian Space Research Organization of India and the JPL USA has together built a NSAR satellite and which is going to bring lot of benefit to the both the countries life-saving satellite so life yeah it is a life-saving and two different satellite for different purpose and the happiest thing what for me was these two number one payloads have come from both the countries satellite was built in India and that is going to be launched by our one launch vehicle when she made that statement What type of happiness? What else is required? And that is the type of

2:20 feeling I had. This is going to be yet another great day for India because you know there is a saying Abdul Karam G always used to say strength only respect strength. Your country till 1975 we were not having satellite technology. 75 we built the first satellite Arupata under the project directorship of the great professor Urra you know it was fully supported by other country uh Russia supported and we launched from that country from that humbly humble beginning ' 70s the India was looking other countries for satellite technology from that we are gradually becoming occupying the leadership role and today two countries have built a important

3:06 satellite together and I'm extremely happy that it is going to be launched by our own vehicle from Indian so you are a rocket technologist that we are using what was once called the naughty boy of ISRO the geocynchronous satellite launch vehicle M2 you had a successful flight recently does that still worry you or do you want to shift to the launch vehicle Mark III which is 100% reliability say uh when we I took over as the chairman isro 13th of January and then the first launch when it came oh yes we had the option of a little delaying and

3:52 going with the PSLV but the GSLV M vehicle at one point of time it was in naughty boy it was told as naughty boy but today we understood everything and we are put in place and I was involved fully in the cranic uh development and then we understand it is a complex vehicle but I was not having any I of doubt otherwise being after taking over the chairman who will authorize that rocket to go first and today it is history the 100th launch on 29th of January from Siri Kota we used the so-called naughty boy but today it is a sincere obedient boy that GSLV marked vehicle and lifted off Ja Jantically and yielded the required result. So I don't

4:38 have any doubt that that will yield the required result and we are putting very systematic effort. The team uh ISRO is very very careful. They understand the importance of the satellite, importance of the vehicle and every aspect is thoroughly addressed. So we will not change the distance just like that going here and there that vehicle this vehicle is also if you say it is a 100 100% relable vehicle in my opinion. Sure. Fair enough. Now people also ask how come the Indian component of the NASA isro synthetic aperture radar satellite has been made in about.1.2 billion whereas the NASA component is close to a billion dollars. Why this difference in cost when we are not only supplying one payload we are also giving the rocket we are also giving the

5:25 launchpad. It's a very good question. Probably this question is arising in my mind also. But it is a see it is that type of working culture, type of testing requirement and what type of experiments people carry out all those things decide. I can comment fully because I have got full knowledge about the costing aspect of our portion but the NASA portion to be honest and frank I don't have full knowledge uh what are all their cost how it comes and what are all the testing costs and how much test they have done I know the required tests are done that much I know but then it is their costing methodology probably I cannot fully comment on that but is is it our frugal technology our culture

6:11 of putting in long hours without uh uh uh uh getting worried and also that we deploy our human resources over several different missions and also the same way our components does that bring our cost down and become uh a reliable lowcost uh opportunity. Say when you talk about costing first of all we should understand the stature of our country when we got independence when we started the space program. I am from a village background. Okay. Whenever for example take the cryogenic development marri I was leading I was the project director of the C25 career stage in the last phase. Of course, initially there were leaders including Kunumar and Gupta NK Gupta

6:58 survey and giving the leadership role and towards the last phase at least five six years I was the project director. Whenever we write a test plan, everything comes in the mind. What is happening in the village? What is happening in the country? Why should we do the test? Can't we do a digital simulation and do so that the cost will come down? And to our credit only with the three engines, first engine sea level test, second engine stage level test, third engine hat test and it was successfully flown. And none of the country has done nobody will do like this. The people have taken eight nine engines and they do a lot of things. So one has to be sensitive about your country, your citizens and and accordingly you have to act. So thereby my colleagues in Israel, yes we have to

7:43 do the testing, we have to do everything but then keep everything every aspect in the mind and surely wherever cost cutting is possible we must do. So that is the approach we are going through the program. So hereby the cost also is within very very under control. so excited about the Nissar mission and nature say please with another giant we have built a satellite together and our rocket is going to place the satellite what type of excitement we are going to have I'll be I will be as the chairman is secretary department of space and more than that as a technologist I will be so excited to see that successful mission thanks a lot for me Dr. Narayan so that was Dr. V. Narayan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization,

8:29 telling us about the NASA ISRO synthetic aperture radar satellite jointly made between NASA and ISRO and the world's single most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite ever to be made to be launched from India on an Indian rocket. It also shows how far Indo-ous relations have come in space. The first rocket we used the Nike Apache was an American rocket and now Indo-US relations shifting to a point where America is going to use the Indian rocket in New Delhi. Pala Bagla for NDTV.