Sreedhara Panicker Somanath was appointed as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on January 15 this year. He is known for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, and pyrotechnics. He also served as the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. Somnath is now also the Secretary of the Department of Space and the Chairman of the Space Commission which makes him the head of ISRO. Following are his thoughts on some key subjects:
To integrate private sector in space programme
“It can be private players or big industries. There is technological and business content in this. We are trying to privatise the business part, planning how this can be turned into a business opportunity and used commercially. We need to develop our space sector as a business opportunity for them and as a part of our economy. This is the target and it is a big responsibility.”
Space sector not being privatised
Not like BSNL and Air India; these two are service-oriented while ISRO is core technology-oriented and therefore, cannot be privatised as it researches and develops technology.
Space start-up ecosystem
“They are enthused and active in working on it… It is not easy…a lot of knowledge is required… Sharing of knowledge from ISRO is necessary for them to succeed… I am looking forward to seeing them succeed, with their own initiative and with the support of skilled people created by the space programme.”
Need to hike space budget
Keen that the space budget goes up from the Rs 15,000-16,000 crore to Rs 20,000-50,000 crore. “But the increase in the space budget cannot be by Government funding or support alone. Just like the changes which happened in the telecom and air travel sectors, the same should happen here too. With that, there can be more job opportunities and an increase in research and development.”
Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme
“It is not easy as we have to develop techniques as support from outside may be meagre or even little. We have started our technological work, including tests in the crew escape system, long ago. But Gaganyaan is the first step of our long journey. It is quite easy to launch a person into space, but quite difficult to bring him back.”
Evolution of rockets for future missions
“Winged reusable rocket still has some merit and provides certain operational flexibility, we continue to work on winged reusable rockets and we have an ongoing programme to work on the orbital reusable vehicle. We have not started working towards making current expendable rockets into reusable rockets, we have to initiate that programme and it will be linked with engines we need to develop.”
Change is of essence
“We need to align ourselves accordingly. We need to create new legacies.”
