Editorial: Looking beyond setbacks

A spate of failures, including the recent unsuccessful GSLV-F10 launch mission, has come as a setback to an otherwise glorious track record of ISRO

Despite technology denials for decades, India’s space scientists have demonstrated remarkable technological prowess and carried out over 100 space missions, including interplanetary and lunar missions, earning a place at the high table among the space-faring nations. However, a spate of failures, including the recent unsuccessful GSLV-F10 launch mission, has come as a setback to an otherwise glorious track record of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Globally, failures in space missions are not uncommon. The extremely complex nature of these endeavours and a host of variables beyond human control make them highly vulnerable. It is the resilience, grit and the ability to learn from past mistakes that bring in long-term success in these specialised scientific missions. ISRO is resilient enough to bounce back and resume the mission with much more vigour and greater resolve. The recent setback involving a GSLV-F10 rocket, with an earth observation satellite (EOS-03) on board, was because of a technical anomaly that resulted in the failure of ignition in the Cryogenic Upper Stage. The entire nation is solidly behind the scientific endeavours of ISRO and has complete faith in its capabilities. Space scientists should not lose heart because the cryogenic stage is the most difficult component as compared with all other rocket propulsions. In fact, ISRO has acquired a distinct edge in the commercial arena of satellite launch services and mastered the cryogenic technology over the years and its track record on this count is reasonably good compared with European countries and Russia where the failure of the cryogenic stage is about 20%.

Despite the monumental effort, the ‘Vikram’ lander of Chandrayaan-2, a technology demonstrator, failed to make a smooth soft landing and crashed on the lunar surface in September 2019. The Chandrayaan-1 orbiter became inoperable following nine months in orbit in 2008, bringing the mission to a premature end. Such setbacks should not make space scientists feel disheartened. Each failure in such complex missions serves as a lesson to further fine-tune the technologies. The Indian space scientists have scripted success stories overcoming major hurdles in the past. In fact, Chandrayaan-1 made a path-breaking discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface and new rock types with unique chemical composition, a feat duly acknowledged by NASA. It gave a major fillip to the Indian space programme as it was the country’s indigenously developed technology to explore the Moon. The world will be keenly watching both Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan-3 missions as ISRO has emerged as a genuine global pioneer of aero-spatial cost compression on several fronts. In the coming decades, India, with a cost head start, is required to pay greater attention to space competitiveness.

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