With demand for launches doubling, the space agency wants industry to step up. What will it take for the two sides to pull this off?
A rocket blasting into space doesn’t make news today, such routine are satellite launches and so mature is technology. But, in May, a rocket launch by Californian company SpaceX made news. In fact, it made history as it became the first commercial vehicle to visit the International Space Station (ISS). The launch also signalled an era of private enterprise entering space—US space agency Nasa’s biggest bet in recent times of entrusting small, private companies with big, public responsibilities.
At Antariksh Bhavan, Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) headquarters in Bangalore, Chairman K Radhakrishnan is shuffling his cards for a somewhat similar bet: Of entrusting Indian companies with the task of building rockets and satellites. Isro has a nearly 30-year-old partnership with the Indian industry. Its enduring tango with 400-odd companies has often been cited as a model for the defence sector to emulate.
But what Radhakrishnan is now proposing is of a much higher order: It requires the industry to put its skin in the game. He wants the industry to form a consortium and build a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)—Isro’s workhorse with 21 consecutive launches—by 2017.
The project may sound over-ambitious, but, in reality, Isro’s time is running out. The 12th Five-Year Plan has sanctioned at least 58 missions in the next five years, as against 29 in the previous five. This boils down to almost one launch a month. The outlay has also doubled from Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 39,750 crore. As Isro can’t double its internal resources, its flight path terminates at the industry.
Globally, this is how most space agencies have built their programmes as well as their local space industry. The US has a tradition of major firms competing for business, with Nasa acting as a managing and contracting organisation. Russia is also catching on, though they have some competing state-run firms too. China is an enigma for most, but experts believe it is taking the Russia route.
A few years ago, Isro made a substantial investment in Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani). A state-owned company in Hyderabad, Midhani makes special purpose metals and alloys. That was a pioneering step that led to our self-reliance, says MV Kotwal, whole-time director and president, heavy engineering, L&T. Now, the private companies can tap Midhani for materials that match Isro’s strict guidelines. “This will free up Isro’s resources. As a company, we are competent to take the responsibility of materials; just as we do in nuclear fuel,” Kotwal says. L&T, which makes rocket casings, says it is capable of integrating the complete rocket. “We don’t have a track record with Isro, but we have integrated complex systems for defence. Working with Isro, we’ll do it,” he says.
These challenges may ring familiar to Isro. In the mid 2000s, some of its large industry partners had proposed building satellites for it. The idea didn’t fly beyond ground evaluation. Industry says the issue of contractual agreements proved a dampener; Isro says the industry lacked technological maturity. Over the years, the industry has matured; and Isro, even if forced by burgeoning national demand, is willing to make amendments. For all we know, it is already doing so in select cases.
(This story appears in the 23 November, 2012 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)