The Indian Space Programme
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[639]. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P27.
[640]. Rao sought instructions from Sarabhai on how the negotiations with the USSR should proceed, but Sarabhai gave him a free hand. Rao, U. R. 2013. India's Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P28. However, writing elsewhere, Rao suggests that India had to persuade the USSR “We had a four-day meeting at the Academy in which the USSR finally agreed, after considerable discussion, to provide a free launch for our first satellite.” ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P212.
[641]. As a result of his death, quite the opposite happened with the project on the semi-cryogenic engine. Upon Sarabhai's death, it ceased. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P156.
[642]. Perhaps, Rao's memories of the loss of another visionary leader provided a stronger emotional commitment. Rao had started out as an Assistant Professor at the University of Dallas on the very day that Kennedy was assassinated. Kennedy was on his way to the University where Rao and others were waiting to meet him.
[643]. Joseph, George. 2016. India’s Journey towards Excellence in Building Earth Observation Cameras. First edition. Notion Press. P45
[644]. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P212.
[645]. Jayaraman, V. 10 June 2014. Living Legends in Indian Science: Udupi Ramachandra Rao. Current Science 106 (11): 1581–1591. Retrieved from http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/106/11/1581.pdf. Explorer 34 and 41 were launched after U. R. Rao had returned to India in 1966. Rao is one of ISRO’s most industrious staff members having been in post for half a century. He had had some remarkable experiences working with many US and Russian scientists and engineers throughout his eventful career, which continues to this day. I have had the privilege of interviewing him in his office at the ISRO HQ several times. One such interview is available online here: https://astrotalkuk.org/isro-the-early-years
[646]. In M. G. K. Menon’s words “This (satellite) needs a different type of programme because of electronics support”. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P47.
[647]. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P37. This purchase mechanism was subsequently copied by other teams in ISRO.
[648]. R. Aravamudan, one of the engineers that Sarabhai handpicked in 1962 for India’s space programme, recalls how SDSC-SHAR acquired its first Satellite Telemetry Ground Station that was used to receive signals from Aryabhata. Under Sarabhai’s guidance, he bought a fully functioning British Satellite Tracking Station from Australia following the termination of the ELDO programme. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P77.
[649]. In an interview with Professor U. R. Rao on 16 August 2013, he stated “I knew the prime minister was most likely to pick Aryabhata because Mitra was a little obscure and she would not have selected Jawahar because of the resemblance to her father’s name.” Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s first post-independence Prime Minister.
[650]. It was agreed that India would issue postal stamps on the day of the launch to commemorate the successful launch of Aryabhata. As with all rocket launches, there was a potential for delay, and therefore, stamps with two launch dates 19 and 20 April were printed. Following the successful launch on the 19 April, stamps bearing the launch date of 20 April were destroyed. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P214.
[651]. Rao, U. R. September 1978. An Overview of the ‘Aryabhata’ Project. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Engineering Sciences) C 1(2): 117–33. P127. doi:10.1007/BF02843538.
[652]. In his book Emerging Space Powers, Brian Harvey records details of the technical problems related to the TV camera this mission suffered “Although the radiometers worked properly, the television cameras were not turned on for nearly a year because of gas trapped in the camera system. They were used only during passes over India and were switched off otherwise to save power. About ten pictures were received every day. The cameras provided information on snow melting in the Himalayas, river flooding in northern India, desertification in Rajasthan, rainfall off the coast of India and mineral resources in Gujarat”. Harvey, Brian, Henk H. F. Smid and Theo Pirard. 2011. Emerging Space Powers: The New Space Programmes of Asia, the Middle East and South-America. Springer Science & Business Media.
[653]. For example, the following paper published in 1980 was still reporting erroneously that Aryabhata had ended after the first five days. Velupillai, David. 28 June 1980. ISRO: India’s Ambitious Space Agency. FLIGHT International. P1466.
[654]. Perhaps, it was in response to the misreporting that Rao and Kasturirangan penned the following paper with the title carrying their central message. Rao, U. R. and K. Kasturirangan. 1 December 1975. Aryabhata, Eight Months of Life. Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of India Volume 3: 75.
[655]. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P39.
[656]. Soviet Launch of Aryabhata. 30 April 1975. WikiLeaks. Retrieved from https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975NEWDE05789_b.html
[657]. Harvey, Brian, Henk H. F. Smid, and Theo Pirard. 2011. Emerging Space Powers: The New Space Programs of Asia, the Middle East and South-America. Springer Science and Business Media. P149.
[658]. The United Nations defines remote sensing of the Earth from space as “the sensing of the Earth's surface from space by making use of the properties of electromagnetic waves emitted, reflected or diffracted by the sensed objects, for the purpose of improving natural resources management, land use and the protection of the environment”. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/41/a41r065.htm
[659]. In the 1970s, the recently established National Remote Sensing Agency used several aircraft, including Canberra, DC3 and a HS748, to conduct aerial remote sensing from aircraft. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P309.
[660]. This paper has been published multiple times, first in 1971. NASA saw ATS-6 as a realisation of Clarke’s vision, originally published in 1945. It was also added as the foreword to the ATS-6 final engineering report published by NASA. Wales, Robert O. (Ed.) November 1981. ATS-6 Final Engineering Performance Report. NASA Reference Publication 1080. Pxviii. Retrieved from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19820008274.pdf
[661]. P. R. Pisharoty recalls a meeting with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi organised by Vikram Sarabhai on the topic of remote sensing. The meeting was at her private residence, late in the evening with a small group. One of those in attendance was the Cabinet Secretary M. S. Swaminathan. At the end of the presentation, Swaminathan asked Pisharoty if remote sensing could assist with early detection of coconut wilt disease in Kerala. It was this meeting that initiated the use of remote-sensing technology in the detection of coconut wilt disease. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P320. A copy of the letter from Vikram Sarabhai dated 22 February 1969 inviting the Prime Minister to this meeting is included on page 123 in Joseph, George. 2016. India’s Journey towards Excellence in Building Earth Observation Cameras. First edition. Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Notion Press.
[662]. Krige, John, Angelina Long Callahan and Ashok Maharaj. 2013. NASA in the World: Fifty Years of International Collaboration in Space. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. P224.
[663]. Since its first EO satellite IRS-1A launched in 1988, India has developed expertise and associated ground infrastructure. In early 2015, ISRO had 11 operational EO satellites in orbit, Res
ourcesat-1 and 2, Cartosat-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques and SARAL.
[664]. The UNGA resolution 2600 (XXIV) of the International Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, 16 December 1969, contains the following “Invites Member States with experience in the field of remote earth resources surveying to make such experience available to other Member States which do not have such experience... taking particular interest of the needs of developing countries”. A few months earlier, the US President had told the UNGA that America would proceed with its Earth Resources programme so as to share the benefits of its work in this field with other nations “as this program proceeds and fulfils its promise.” Chapter 11 in the following book provides one of the clearest and detailed accounts of the collaboration NASA provided to the early Indian space programme. Krige, John, Angelina Long Callahan and Ashok Maharaj. 2013. NASA in the World: Fifty Years of International Collaboration in Space. NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
[665]. The historic Apollo 11 mission was launched on 16 July and returned on 21 July 1969. Apollo 12 was launched on 14 November, and it returned on 24 November 1969.
[666]. Although the term non-aligned was coined prior to the 1955 Bandung conference, at the end of this conference, India emerged as the leader of the group of countries that considered themselves to be non-aligned. Shimazu, Naoko. 2011. ‘Diplomacy as Theatre’: Recasting the Bandung Conference of 1955 as Cultural History. Singapore: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. P5.
[667]. Joseph, George. 2016. India’s Journey towards Excellence in Building Earth Observation Cameras. First edition. Notion Press. P46
[668]. Ibid. P49.
[669]. Ibid.
[670]. George Joseph describes the moment leading up to the switching on of the camera on Bhaskara-1 almost a year after the launch. Among those presents were Mr Goel, Head of the Controls Division, and the ISRO Chairman Satish Dhawan. The following conversation resulted in a bet.
Mr Goel was sitting next to Professor Dhawan and having a conversation.
Mr Goel: Sir, I am sure TV camera will work.
Prof. Dhawan: Are you very confident?
Mr Goel: Yes Sir.
Prof. Dhawan: Let us have a bet.
Mr Goel: How much?
Prof. Dhawan: All right, if the camera works I will give you half of my one-year salary I get from the Department of Space. At the time, Dhawan was receiving a token salary of 1 rupee as explained in Joseph, George. 2016. India’s Journey towards Excellence in Building Earth Observation Cameras. First edition. Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Notion Press. P56.
[671]. Kramer, Herbert J. 2002. Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors. Springer Science & Business Media. P348.
[672]. For those interested, the specifications were: Bhaskara-1: TV camera (two channels visible and infrared) 0.54-0.66 micron, 0.75-0.85 micron, SAMIR satellite microwave radiometer 19 + 23 GHz; Bhaskara-2: TV cameras (two channels) 0.54-0.66 micron, 0.75-0.85 micron, SAMIR microwave radiometers (three channels) 19.24, 22.235 and 31.4 GHz
[673]. Joseph, George and Praful Bhavsar. 1984. Activities at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Development of Space-Borne Remote Sensing Sensors. ISPRS Archives Volume XXV Part A1: 151-161. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: ISPRS. P154. Retrieved from http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXV/congress/part1/151_XXV-part1.pdf.
[674]. Professor S. Kalyana Raman, the Deputy Project Director of IRS-1A, recalls “Major items were satellite components including CCDs (charge-coupled devices) required for payload sensor, payload optics, Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTA), solar cells, Ni-Cd batteries on the satellite side and high-density digital tape recorders for payload data reception station at Hyderabad”. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P249.
[675]. In the state of Odisha, only 44 deaths were reported by 18 October 2013. The cyclone arrived on the 4 October. e http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/odishas-death-toll-after-cyclone-floods-climbs-to-44/article5247992.ece
[676]. Hegde, V. S. 2014. Indian Earth Observations Satellites and Applications: Reaping Social Benefits. Bangalore, Karnataka: Antrix Corporation Limited. P7. Retrieved from http://fgks.in/images/pdf/conf/Hegde-ISRO_Case_Study.pdf
[677]. In a similar event in 1999, a cyclone killed more than 10,000 people in Orissa. By 2013, the space-based assets and the experience of using them had matured so much that the impact could be dramatically reduced. Francis, S., Prasad V. S. K. Gunturi and Munish Arora 2001. Performance of Built Environment in the October 1999 Orissa Super Cyclone. In Conference on Disaster Management. Pilani, Rajasthan: Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences.
[678]. Hegde, V. S. 2014. Indian Earth Observations Satellites and Applications: Reaping Social Benefits. Bangalore, Karnataka: Antrix Corporation Limited. P8. Retrieved from http://fgks.in/images/pdf/conf/Hegde-ISRO_Case_Study.pdf
[679]. Ibid. P9.
[680]. Press Information Bureau, Government of India and Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. 16 March 2016. Forecasting of Natural Disasters. Retrieved from http://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=138072
[681]. Govt Unveils Satellite Surveillance to Curb Illegal Mining. 15 October 2016. The Hindu. Retrieved from http://m.thehindu.com/news/national/piyush-goyal-unveils-satellite-surveillance-to-curb-illegal-mining/article9224543.ece
[682]. GAGAN to save lives at unmanned railway crossings - http://icast.org.in/news/2015/feb15/feb27BSa.pdf
[683]. Interestingly, the PFZs are communicated to fishermen in a variety of ways. They are prepared in a number of languages (English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya and Bengali) and (i) displayed through electronic display boards installed at major fishing harbours, (ii) broadcast through electronic and print media and (iii) made available online and via SMS. The PFZs have increased the chances of an improved catch from around 30% to 90% generating around $700 million. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P345.
[684]. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P60
[685]. Latitude in degrees for some of the most common launch sites: Kourou 5.2, SDSC-SHAR 13.7, Kennedy Space Centre 28.5, Baikonur 45.9 and Kapustin Yar 48.4.
[686]. In telling the INSAT-2 story, P. Ramachandran explains that launching from near the equator can add two years of additional operational lifetime. “INSAT-2 satellites should have a design life of at least 7 years, the actual operating life being determined by choice of launcher. Launches from Cape Kennedy on STS or Delta would give a life of over 7 years whereas a launch from Kourou on Ariane or from SDSC-SHAR on GSLV-Mk I would give a life of over 9 years.” ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P236.
[687]. The launch site was established as a French facility in 1968, a function that it still fulfils, but it is now the premier launch site for ESA. Guiana is a former French colony located on the north-east coast of South America just north of Brazil. It is also known as Guiana Space Centre. It has its headquarters in the nearby town of Kourou and is sometimes referred to as the Kourou Space Centre. Following a Russian/ESA agreement, an additional launch facility has been developed for use by Russia to launch the Soyuz launcher, the first one of which was launched from there in 2011.
[688]. Ariane Payload Gets the Shakes. 20 January 1979. FLIGHT International. Retrieved from https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%200215.html
[689]. This is how Dr R. M. Vasagam, the APPLE Project Director, recollected this iconic bullock-cart incident. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India's Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P220.
[690]. Velupillai, David. 23 June 1980. ISRO: India’s Ambitious Space Agency. FLIGHT International. P1469. Retrieved
from https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1980/1980%20-%201537.html. The momentum wheel produced at VSSC fulfilled the role as a back-up. However, after the first year of APPLE operation, it was assigned as primary to assess its performance and data collection.
[691]. Professor Rao describes this as a passive thermal control system but goes on to add “along with the heaters to maintain the temperature of the satellite within the required range”. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. First edition. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Private Limited. P67. It seems more a hybrid rather than a passive thermal control system. However, the following reference indicates that the thermal covering was provided by the USSR. Nikitin, S. A. 1985. The Space Flight of the Soviet-Indian Crew. NASA TM-77615. P4. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19850012916.pdf
[692]. Raj, Gopal. 2003. Reach for the Stars: The Evolution of India’s Rocket Programme. New Delhi; New York, NY: Penguin Books India. P119.
[693]. In Chapter 9, Professor U. R. Rao provides a detailed record of the events surrounding the design, building, launching and operationalising of APPLE. Rao, U. R. 2013. India's Rise as a Space Power. First edition. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Private Limited. P65.