‘Chandrayaan will launch by the third quarter’

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: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) made history on April 28 by placing a record ten satellites in their respective orbits in a single launch. It was a day in the sun for Indian space science and Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair, who says the mission launcher—the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV)—has now found a place in the global market. With his focus firmly on the upcoming Moon mission, Chandrayaan, slated for the year-end, Nair is aiming for a 10% slice of the $2-billion global launch business. Nair, who is also the chairman of Indian Space Commission, discussed Isro’s missions, future business and the launch market with FE’s Reema Jose. Excerpts:

The PSLV has proved its mettle with the recent launch. However, Isro is yet to see similar success with the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV). What is the progress on the indigenous cryogenic engine for the GSLV?

For the GSLV, we initially made use of a Russian cryogenic engine. Now, we have a programme to replace it with an indigenous system. The system has reached a stage where all the qualification tests have been completed. After the initial tests, a stage has been fully configured and it also underwent testing. Right now, we are in the process of preparing the flight stage. That should be ready by the end of this year. We can target a GSLV launch with an indigenous system by this year-end.

Will the next launch be of a foreign payload? How would revenues alter once the GSLV is stabilised?

At the moment, we don’t have any proposal from any foreign company. There aren’t very many satellite manufacturers in the medium segments. We are one. We are trying to sell some satellites to our foreign customers and are also trying to offer launch services along with them. If those succeed, yes, we will have more launches in connection with the GSLV.

Would the role of Isro’s workhorse PSLV change once GSLV stabilises?

The PSLV is placed in a slightly different area. It is mainly meant for low-earth orbit and sun-synchronous orbit. It has a very unique marketshare there. We’ve recently launched two exclusive satellites and eight micro satellites. So, PSLV will continue in that role. But the GSLV is essentially for communication satellites.

How has progress on the Chandrayaan launch been? What caused its postponement?

Progress has been quite satisfactory; now, satellite building is going on and the launcher will be PSLV. Ground station-wise, we have commissioned the deep space tracking network near Bangalore. Everything is falling in place. We hope that we will be ready by the third quarter. The reason for the postponement was, I think, the sheer volume of work.

How do you plan to achieve the target 10% marketshare of the $2-billion global launch market?

We have reached around $60 million. Making it to the target is an uphill task. It is not only about price and reliability, but political factors also come into the picture.

Earlier, you mentioned concerns about US restrictions with regard to space technology. How much do such hurdles impact business?

Today, many major Isro centres are on the US ‘entity’ list. That means high technology products from the US cannot be sold to these centres. We are not too worried about that because we have alternatives. But the US is losing business. In fact, right now, hardly $15 million a year is our business with the US, but it could expand to $60-$70 million if these restrictions are removed.

What growth targets have you set for the commercial arm, Antrix?

We are touching close to Rs 750 crore (in revenues). For the last two years, we are maintaining a growth of 20-25%. That is a good achievement for Antrix, which has been declared a mini-Navratna company. We think we will be able to multiply or continue more or less with the same range of growth. There are multiple channels of revenue. Image sales will account for around 20% of the revenue. Then we have launch services and satellite building, which almost contribute an equal share of revenues.

With global competition from established players, what is India’s USP in the launch business?

Basically, our launch vehicles are reliable ones—and they are also cost effective. Of course, for heavy payloads, Europe’s Arianespace seems to be holding the market. The US has Titan, which is used for communication. Russia has its Proton and others. Those vehicles, by and large, are for their own programmes and to some extent commercial. We are in dialogue with Ariane to come to an agreement where smaller payloads will be deflected to Isro while they take on the bigger ones. If such an arrangement falls into place, then we can get a better marketshare.

Is there scope for similar collaborations in any other field?

By and large, we are a self-reliant organisation. We develop the technologies, industry does the production and then we provide end-to-end services. We are involved in many remote-sensing application projects for infrastructure development, wasteland reclamation, etc. What really has become a strong commercial aspect is the fast growing direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting. Today, all our transponders are sold out. That business is around Rs 300 crore. V-Sat is also expanding very quickly.

Telemedicine and tele-education are run almost as social projects. We enable various organisations to provide these services, especially in rural areas and backward places. There are also other spin-off technologies.

What prompted the launch of the Indian Institute of Space Technology? Is there a dearth of scientists?