PSLV to GSLV: Isro needs to cap its achievement by increasing launch power

The Indian Space Research Organisation, or Isro, added to its reputation when on Wednesday it sent 104 satellites into space from a single launch vehicle. Isro’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV, has flown 38 times before; with extra boosters attached, it has been made capable of handling the almost 1,400 kg of weight that the 104 satellites presented. Calculating and managing the various trajectories for these satellites was a fiendishly complex task, and Isro deserves to be complimented for its achievement. The main payload – over half the total weight – is the fifth Cartosat earth observation satellite. Other than that, however, there are over 100 “nano-satellites”, almost all of them from a California-based company called Planet Labs, which is sending a “flock” of 88 nano-satellites it calls “Doves” into orbit. Planet Labs believes that a flock of smaller satellites can more effectively track activity on earth than a few large ones. Much of Planet Labs’ data – which, after this launch, will provide daily images of every spot of landmass on the earth’s surface – is sold to Google.

It is clear that the mini- and nano-satellite market is a large and lucrative one, and that Isro is doing well to exploit it. This is particularly credit-worthy since it is, after all, a government agency. In April 2008, PSLV-C9 took 10 satellites into orbit, a world record then; last June, PSLV-C34 took 20; and now the PSLV-C37 will take over 100. On an average, Isro carries out four to five launches a year. Of course, there have been many other non-commercial successes, such as the 2008 Chandrayaan moon mission and the Mars Orbiter Mission. Isro has also successfully launched rockets with cryogenic engines. However, it is unwise to praise the agency’s frugality and cost arbitrage too much. Linking its success to cost arbitrage, as is being done at the moment, places the sort of artificial limits on growth that are today strangling the Indian information technology industry. While putting four or five launches to put almost 1,400 kg in orbit is a great achievement, it is worth noting two things: China launches almost 20 times a year and the commercial market now expects launches to carry at least above 3,500 kg. 

Doing so with a PSLV rocket is a difficult proposition; it does not have sufficient power. Isro needs to get its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, or GSLV, into the market as fast as possible. There have been many false starts and failed tests. The problem is that, while GSLV itself seems to be stable technology for Isro now, it was created using Russian engines originally. A locally-made cryogenic engine is quite a different proposition. However, in September last year, an indigenous cryogenic engine was used for the first time on an operational GSLV flight. If Isro – and its commercial arm, Antrix – are to live up to their ambitions, then it is important to keep an eye fixed on ensuring it gets up to cutting-edge power in its rockets, and not be permanently distracted by the cost arbitrage provided by the mini- and nano-satellite market.