Column : Why ISRO needs some good marketing

The Indian Space Research Organisation?the primary body for space research in India?has done it again. Some months after its inaugural moon mission ?Chandrayaan-1?, the country?s space agency successfully launched seven satellites in 1,200 seconds with the help of its most trusted workhorse rocket, polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV C-14).

Written by JAYA JUMRANI

September 25, 2009 21:22 IST

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)?the primary body for space research in India?has done it again. Some months after its inaugural moon mission ?Chandrayaan-1?, the country?s space agency successfully launched seven satellites in 1,200 seconds with the help of its most trusted workhorse rocket, polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV C-14).

India is only the fifth country to have a re-entry vehicle. It is the only developing country to develop its own remote sensing satellite. India was the sixth country to launch its lunar mission after Russia, US, Europe, Japan and China. In sum, India?s space programme has come a long way since its inception in 1962 with the Indian National Committee on Space Research (INCOSPAR). Its successor, Isro, was set up with Rs 100 million in 1969 and six years later its first satellite ?Aryabhatta? was launched. Since then Isro has emerged as one of ?The Big Three? Asian space agencies along with China?s CNSA and Japan?s JAXA. Isro?s focus is mainly on communication satellites, meteorology payloads to improve weather forecasting and remote sensing satellites for mapping of national resources. India?s space infrastructure is becoming more sophisticated to reduce its dependence on foreign space agencies as well as to corner a share of the world?s lucrative satellite-launching market. Isro has decided to venture into a more ambitious series of missions which include Chandrayaan-2, around 2011; a mission to an asteroid or a comet in 2015 and a Mars mission in 2019. Also, there are tentative plans to initiate a human spaceflight programme which would cost around Rs 100 billion ($2.2 billion)?not an insignificant sum for an agency whose annual budget is around Rs 40.72 billion, frugal in comparison with international standards.

A good space programme besides catering to the defence and political needs, gives a competitive edge to the economy in both the short and long term.What Isro needs to do is market itself better so that its achievements register beyond the headlines.

jaya.jumrani@expressindia.com

This article was first uploaded on September twenty-five, twenty nine, at twenty-two minutes past nine in the night.