Space Jam

WHAT goes up must come down? The spirits of the nation's space scientists which threatened to attain escape velocity last week with the "textbook" launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)—science's "greatest homage" in the 50th year of blah-blah: I.K. Gujral—were earthbound soon after. First, the PSLV-C1 placed the IRS-1D satellite in a lower, elliptical orbit instead of the intended circular. Midweek, the swank Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bangalore was flooded. Then, INSAT-2D, launched in June by the French Ariane-4, had to be switched off due to a major on-board power failure. At stake: Rs 525 crore. And pride.

The INSAT-2D snag came on a holiday, October 2, sparing players on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) heart attacks and enabling ISRO to transfer its load to other working INSAT satellites. Three transponders on the ailing bird were switched on by the Master Control Facility in Hassan on Thursday night, but it wasn't enough: NSE operations came to a halt on Friday.

What saved ISRO further blushes was the fact that only seven of the 24 transponders on INSAT-2D had been loaded since its launch four months ago. DD was still to begin using its transponders.

All through, ISRO officials maintained a cool exterior. Every space programme has its irritants. These are just two of them, they said, having obviously no control over rainwater entering their workplace. INSAT-2A had similar orbital problems as IRS-1D, they said; and INSAT-2C had a similar power glitch as INSAT-2D.

But by week's end, things were getting quite hot inside Antriksh Bhavan. "It's serious," said an ISRO scientist on the state of INSAT-2D: "We will see over the next 7-10 days how the three switched-on trans-ponders work before switching on the others. If it doesn't improve matters, it will be abandoned like INSAT-2C." Meantime, things were better with IRS-1D. But only just. As bossman K. Kasturirangan went into a huddle on Friday, its orbit was upped 65 km by ISRO's telemetry and tracking network by firing its thrusters four times. Further efforts to correct its orbit were to continue phase by phase to take it beyond 560 km. As the manoeuvres continued, such sagely heads as space commission member Prof. Satish Dhawan counselled patience.

"There is no danger of the satellite burning out," said Prof. Dhawan. "The satellite's orbit is low but it's safe out there. It's entirely feasible to put it into a higher orbit.... I don't know how this burnout aspect cropped up. There are several satellites orbiting as low as 300-600 km." Dhawan, however, would not speculate how long the satellite would last. Considerable fuel will be expended to correct its orbit. But privately, ISRO scientists conceded IRS-1D's normal three-year lifespan would be curtailed in a major way.

ISRO officials say it will take at least a week to know why the fourth stage of the rocket—suspected to be the cause—did not push IRS-1D up. But

Business India science writer, R. Ramachandran, says a valve leak in the propellant tank probably failed to provide the requisite thrust. In INSAT-2A'S case, the thrust was too much.

The space programme has been a qualified success compared to that other sacred cow, the atomic energy programme. There are at least 12 working and out-of-use satellites hovering above us.

But the programme has also seen setbacks. The reason so much interest is being evinced in IRS-1D's fate, intended as a standby for the very successful IRS-1C, is that the Indian space programme is on the threshold of a commercial leap in spite of American embargoes on technology transfer:

It isn't as easy as it seems. At the moment, PSLV can only place satellites in a sunsynchronous orbit, 817 km above earth. But the market is not so big for remote sensing satellites which are placed there.

What's more, PSLV is not equipped to put large (2,800-3,500 kg) communications satellites in the geosynchronous orbit, 36,000 km above the equator. And it's not equipped to put a series of Iridium satellites into space. But a small step has been taken. "We've to first make sure the PSLV is an operational vehicle," says Prof. S. Chandra-shekhar of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Adds Ramachandran: "We've to reconfigure PSLV's payload capacity, optimise its parameters and look at the replacement market." Analysts say the twin setbacks last week show that although the space programme has come of age, the loose ends are still to be tied up. The ancillary base for such a high-precision industry is weak. Nearly 150 private industries work with ISRO but it's still a largely informal arrangement.

To change that situation will take a while. It was easy for French, Chinese and Russian launch systems because they met military requirements earlier. ISRO wise-heads believe India can buck the trend. Says one: "Regardless of what happens to IRS-1D and INSAT-2D, which are anyway heavily insured, ISRO has great capabilities. All it's got to do is think long term."