ISRO's 100th Rocket Launch A Trial By Fire For Its New Chief

As ISRO gears up for a milestone 100th rocket launch, scientists at the Indian space agency are carefully monitoring the health of the 50-metre tall rocket that stands at the second launch pad at Sriharikota. 

For Dr V Narayanan, the new chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), this is a trial by fire, as it is the first big launch under his command.

The rocket and the satellite have the new ISRO chief's imprint all over it. Dr V Narayanan is a well-known specialist on cryogenic engines, a technology India took nearly two decades to master as legions of ISRO engineers toiled to give this challenging technology to India.

On this 17th launch, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle F 15 (GSLV F-15) is being flown with a swadeshi or an indigenous cryogenic engine.

"It is a very complex technology to harness and now India has mastered it," said Dr Narayanan speaking to NDTV from the launch port after inspecting what he called was team ISRO's "100th beautiful baby", which stood magnificently in the moonlight weighing nearly 420 tonnes.

"I was the associate vehicle director for the GSLV D-5, ten years back when the first indigenously made cryogenic engine succeeded," said Dr Narayanan recalling the January 5, 2014 launch, adding it has been "a fulfilling journey".

Cryogenic engines pack the best punch to launch satellites in space. The fuel they use is liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and it was this technology that was denied to India by the then USSR under pressure from the US.

Dr Narayanan, then a young engineer, was drafted into the project to make an Indian cryogenic engine and after 20 years of active tinkering, ISRO did succeed and today all the heavier rockets launched by India use the Indian cryogenic engine.

"It has been a divine blessing to have worked on cryogenic engines and it has been a very satisfying journey," said Dr Narayanan.

When asked if he had jitters about the one hundredth launch, Dr Narayanan said he was confident the launch will go off well since India has learnt from its mistakes.

On being asked if the ISRO had taken any special measures to make sure the one hundredth rocket launch does not fail, Dr S Unnikrishnan Nair, Director of India's main rocket lab the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, in Thiruvananthapuram, said, "It is as robust as previous one. Like any other launch. We make every launch robust to the best of our ability. It will be successful."

The first big rocket to liftoff from Sriharikota was the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) on August 10, 1979, and now nearly 46 years later the Department of Space is ready to hit a century. On the one hundredth launch, ISRO hopes to place in orbit a navigation satellite weighing nearly 2,000 kilogramme.

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is India's independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide accurate Position, Velocity and Timing (PVT) service to users in India as well as the region extending about 1,500 km beyond the Indian landmass, which is its primary service area.

"Launch number one hundred is a historical milestone for ISRO," said Dr Narayanan, adding that SLV-3 could only carry 40 kilogramme to space, now India's own rockets can ferry up to 8,500 kilogramme to space.