The Naughty Boy Rocket

Speaker 1 Welcome back. Speaker 2 Hindustan kiliye Chand Ki kahavata badalgai Chanda Mama Bass humseh Chand kadam Ki dori per hi. Its second moon mission Chandrayaan 2, launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sri Harikota. This lunar exploration missions main goal was to find out where and how much water there was on the lunar surface. Speaker 3 765-0321. Speaker 2 Zero right on schedule. The liftoff was smooth as ISRO inched towards the moon. Excitement levels across the country also soared in anticipation. Most of the attention was focused on the Lander that was lodged inside the moon rocket, the Vikram Lander named proudly after the man who started it all. Vikram Sarabhai Through the day, news channels flashed animations of the Four Legged Vikram Lander sauntering on the moon surface. By the time of the launch, this robotic creature had become a household name, a symbol of national pride. A successful soft landing would make India the 4th country to accomplish such a mammoth mission after the Russians, the Americans, and the Chinese. The Lander wasn't the only unique entity in the mission, though. Traveling along with it was Pragyan A6 wheel Rover powered by the Sun. When Chandrayan 2 was originally planned, the Russians were supposed to build and deliver this Rover to us, but even by 2015 they weren't close to delivering the Rover. So I, SRO decided to build a Rover on its own. None of this was a small feat by any measure, but looking back at the footage from that day. What stands out to me is not Vikram or Pragayan, but the giant white launch vehicle that carried them, the GSLV Mark Three, the latest vehicle in the GSLV launch program. I couldn't help thinking about what a journey the GSLV program had had, by this time from being nearly scrapped thanks to the epic geopolitical drama with Russia and America, and then stalled because of a scandalous espionage case. Here it was. Finally taking us to the moon. By this time the GSLV had acquired a nickname of its own, a name that eluded to its panchon for controversy. The naughty Boy Rocket. Oh, I have to agree with this nickname. The GSLV story didn't end with the new Russian deal with GLAV Cosmos. What started then was a brand new chapter full of more controversies and crises. From ATS Studio, this is Mission Isaru, a Spotify original podcast on how India reached space. I'm Harsha Bhogle. In the previous episode, I told you how the CBI cleared the names of all the six accused in the ISRO spy scandal. The Kerala government, however, wanted the case to be investigated again and the Kerala High Court even gave orders for a reinvestigation. Nambi Narayanan, SK Sharma and K Chandrasekhar appealed to the Supreme Court to quash the High Court order and finally, in 1998, the Supreme Court declared all the six of them innocent. The National Human Rights Commission then passed strictures against the Kerala government for destroying Nambi Narayanan's life and his reputation as a renowned scientist. It also ordered the government to pay ₹1,00,00,000 as compensation to him. The others accused in the case have also similarly sought compensation. But justice has eluded a few of them. For instance, SK Sharma died in 2018. While he was still waiting for his compensation, on November the 1st, 2018, he lost a long battle with cancer. His daughter continues to fight to fulfill her father's last wish, Narayanan's own fight for justice. Isn't over yet. Going by the CBI reports, the espionage case was fabricated. So question that Narayanan is still asking is who fabricated it? The case baffles most people because there doesn't seem to be 1 conspiracy but multiple conspiracies surrounding it. A few stories talk about personal vendetta by the Kerala police, A few others linkage to local politics in Kerala. Then a few other theories even take the cases origins all the way to the geopolitical saga involving Russia and America. The policemen involved are adamant that Nambi Narayanan and others are guilty. Today, the top court has directed CBI to probe the 27 year old ISRO espionage case. As we release this episode, the CBI is investigating the case again. This time, they're investigating the role of the Kerala police and the Intelligence Bureau. Will they uncover the mystery behind the case? Only time will tell, right? Let me get to the story I want to tell you in this episode, the story of the GSLV. According to the new deal with GLAV Cosmos, in 1994, Russia was going to supply 7 cryogenic engines to ISRO. But right from the get go there was trouble. Speaker 1 When the USSR collapsed, everything collapsed in Russia. Speaker 2 This is RV Perumal, the project director. Speaker 1 Of JSLV you don't know people were not even getting food there and then. I mean our people felt miserable living there. I mean seeing their condition. So you I don't think there is anything like they. It's a kind of force measure situation for them. Speaker 2 The Russians were financially worse off than us. Certainly it's a disaster for economy and for the country that Yeltsin is not on the scene. In the crisis, the situation was so bad. That four years after the new contract was signed, the Russians still hadn't delivered a single cryogenic engine. The mighty USSR that had helped India in the past was now limping for its own survival. ISRO, in the meantime, was focusing on building the rest of the vehicle, but without the cryogenic stage, the project was getting nowhere. RV Perumal decided that he had to do something to lift the spirit of the team, and what better way to do it than with the deadline? In 1998, he suddenly declared that the following year, that is 1999, would be the year of the GSLV. Speaker 1 In fact, made a calendar to that effect everywhere it was displayed so that all the team can be motivated and work for it. Speaker 2 The Russians were terribly upset by this declaration. Speaker 1 They said, how can you declare like this? How can we deliver the way you are asking us to deliver? Speaker 2 Perumal and his team tried their best to persuade the Russians to get the work done. But ultimately they had no option but to wait patiently and hope that the Russians would deliver. 1998 was another year of controversy for ISRO and India. Once again, America was furious with India. It all started on May the 11th, 1998 Operation Shakti. Speaker 1 Today at 1545 hours, India conducted 3 underground nuclear tests in the focal range. Speaker 2 This is the voice of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announcing the second nuclear tests conducted by India on May the 11th, 1998. Speaker 1 These tests conducted today there with a fission device, a lowering device and a thermonuclear device. Speaker 2 The Indians were ecstatic, but on the other side of the globe, the US was livid. This was quite a blow to the already hostile equations between the two countries. And what made matters worse was that the CIA had no idea that India was planning Operation Shakti. It was a huge intelligence failure for them. In his book Engaging India, Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb Stroke, Talbot, the deputy Secretary of State, writes about how U.S. President Bill Clinton reacted to the news of Operation Shakti. We are going to come down on those guys like a ton of bricks, he said as he opened a meeting in the Oval Office. Speaker 1 I asked India to halt its nuclear weapons program, enjoying the 149 other nations that have already. Signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Speaker 2 America wasn't the only country that was enraged. Canada and Japan were upset to the UN Security Council also censured India. America also wasted no time in imposing a series of sanctions against India. Some of them affected our space program too. For instance, among the companies banned by the US was the one that supplied steel to ISRO. Reacting to the sanctions, I, Sr. O's Chairman Kasturi rung and told a journalist, and I quote sanctions have become a real life problem for ISRO. We have learned to live with it in a sense. End Quote. ISRO scientists and engineers kept their heads down and figured out ways around the sanctions and the embargoes. The launch vehicle program was their priority and they could not slow down any further. Thankfully, amidst this chaos, somehow by September 1998, GLAV Cosmos managed to deliver the first cryogenic engine to ISRO. But there was a complication. The engine was heavier than what was promised in the contract. This meant that the launch vehicle would also become heavier. That wasn't good news because then the weight of the payload the vehicle can carry would have been reduced. Speaker 1 Basically, they were promising the dry mass of the progenic states, I don't know, somewhere around 2100 to 2200 kilograms. But finally when they realized it was something like 2600 kilograms, that means straightforward loss of 400 kilograms in the payload capability of GSLV. Speaker 2 This led to a series of arguments between ISRO and the Russians. Speaker 1 They're extremely sticky people, and then they hold on to their views. Even to convince them technically, it takes a lot of effort. Speaker 2 In his book Reach for the Stars, The Evolution of India's Rocket Program, journalist Gopal Raj writes that around this time there were conspiracy theories that the Americans had a hand in this entire mess, that the Russians deliberately made their engine heavier to please the Americans. But ISRO dismissed such rumors. Ultimately, Perumal and his team had to reconcile themselves to the new weight of the vehicle. Instead of carrying a 2500 kg satellite, the GSLV would now only be able to carry a 1600 kg satellite. It was not going to be the big jump that ISRO had imagined. After all, the PSLV itself could carry 1000 kg satellite. The GSLV was supposed to carry double the weight, at least in their book. ISRO a personal story. Ramapharan Arvamudan and Geetha Arvamudan write that the Americans continued to meddle with our cryogenic deal with the Russians. They write. Speaker 4 The Americans tried all possible ways to disrupt the program. We faced embargoes all the time. The Russians were also frequently pressurized to change contractual clauses and cost elements or cancel parts of the contract. So we were constantly on our toes, looking out for alternate strategies and trying to find new sources. Obviously, all this caused considerable delays and derailed the schedules of many activities. Speaker 2 On top of everything, the press was also keeping a track of the progress of the GSLV program. In 1999, a journalist from the Frontline magazine asked Kasturidangan for a status update and he said. Speaker 3 We are in the process of assembling the engines. The first step is the engines. This itself is a very complicated exercise and we also have to develop critical components related to this for the thrust chamber, the turbo pumps and so on. We're working on all these in a parallel manner. The first step in evaluating the design should start this year, but it's going to be a long journey because these are inherently complex systems. I will keep my fingers crossed at this juncture. Speaker 2 Everyone's fingers were crossed. The launch of the first vehicle, the GSLV D1, was fixed for 2001. Two years after the Russian engine arrived at ISROA, lot of work was still pending at Sriharikota. ISRO began building facilities that could store and load liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants. A second launch pad also needed to be built for future, potentially advanced GSLV vehicles. Closer to the launch date, ISRO decided that it was time to test the compatibility of the Russian cryogenic stage with Isro's electronics. Would this indo Russian blend work at all? The Russian said that a new contract needed to be drawn up for this, so that was done too. Money changed hands, and finally it was time for the test. Speaker 1 Originally, the theogenic is supposed to have two ignitions in orbit. Speaker 2 The first ignition. Propels the rocket to reach what is called the parking orbit and then to get onto the elliptical orbit where the satellite will be released eventually. This is almost at an altitude of 6000 kilometers. Speaker 1 Unfortunately, in spite of the SO electronics performed to the boot, we are the two failures of the therogenic engine itself in Russia during this test with the result we couldn't complete such a successful stage test as per install norms or any other space agencies. ISRO now had to decide what to do, and Dr. Rangan was never comfortable with this two burn sequence, so we settled for a single burn sequence with the kind of two thrust levels. So instead of being ignited twice, the engine would only be ignited once and again. We redesigned the entire mission and then related software and whatnot, and finally that's what was flown. So we also reconciled to the fact that without a successful ground test, we will go and fly the kerosene stage. Speaker 2 There was number time for a hot test again. The fully assembled 3 stage GSLVD One was finally wheeled onto the launchpad on March the 28th, 2001. Was a gigantic and complex vehicle. The first stage was fueled by a solid motor, but strapped on its outside were four liquid motors. The second stage was the same as the PS:. LV. The last and final stage was the cryogenic stage, the one built by the Russians that morning. Everything was going as per plan. All the preliminary checks were done and the vehicle was cleared for takeoff. The computers then took over the countdown. Perumal was at the control room, watching the countdown nervously. He was accompanied by Kasturi, Dungan and Madhavan Nair. T -, 5 seconds, t -, 4 seconds. T -, 3 seconds, t -, 2 seconds, t -, 1 second. In the next second, the solid booster was going to be ignited, but at t -? 0 seconds The vehicle did not lift off. The computer had suddenly shut down the engine and it had done that at t -, .1 second. Yes, at the last possible second. There was silence in the control room. Everyone stared at the vehicle that stood on the launchpad, motionless. T -, .1 second. In the history of last minute dramas, this stood apart. Perumal was stunned. Speaker 1 Absolute silence. People were simply thunderstruck and they didn't know what to do. OK, I have a submission director, so I have to continue my operations. I continue. Speaker 2 The entire launch was shut down. The propellant was quickly drained from the vehicle. It was dangerous to leave it inside the standing vehicle. But what exactly went wrong? Speaker 1 Say, as part of the countdown procedure, the engines are ignited. After engine ignition all the engine parameters are checked, particularly the operating pressure whether it is meeting the minimum requirement of particular value. So it so happened in one of the engines it did not meet the minimum operating condition in terms of operating pressure. So as the built in logic which is checking this shut down the countdown and then shut down the engine. Speaker 2 There was panic and frustration in the control room, but there was also a sense of relief that the vehicle was still on the ground when the problem was detected. The rocket would have had an unbalanced flight Otherwise, the Bay of Bengal, which had seen many Slv's, Aslv's and Pslv's crash into its waters, would have added one more ISR or rocket to the list. The first GSLV was in aborted launch. The launch was rescheduled to April the 18th. This time, the liftoff was uneventful but successful. The first two stages of the rocket performed superbly. These were the solid and liquid stages which I SRO had built and designed. It was time now to see if the Russian engine would perform well. As the rocket neared its designated orbit, it was time for the cryogenic stage to be ignited. The engine was ignited, but the Russian cryogenic stage did not function as efficiently as it should have. It was burning fuel rapidly. The rocket managed to reach a height that was 4000 kilometers less than the designated orbit, so a lot of fuel had to be spent trying to get the rocket to its right spot. And that in turn meant that the satellite's life is going to be cut short. The satellite that the JSLV D1 was carrying was G SAT one, which was supposed to carry out communication experiments in space. Its life was now cut short by a whole year. With the GSLV trouble always seem to be around the corner. ISRO decided to celebrate the mission nevertheless. And that was understandable, especially after all that the space agency had been through by that time. Even if it wasn't completely successful, ISRO had managed to launch its first geosynchronous launch vehicle. On May the 8th, 2003, ISRO flew a second vehicle, the GSLV D2. This time, as Kasturi Ranga described it, the vehicle hit the bull's eye. It successfully delivered the G Sat 2 satellite, which weighed 1800 kilograms, into space. Perumal and team had slowly increased the weight of the payload that the vehicle could carry. The third GSLV launched two was a success with two back-to-back successes. ISRO was feeling confident. The curse of the naughty boy Rocket seemed to be wearing off. That's what it felt like, at least. Then came 2006. The GSLV started giving ISRO trouble again. On July the 10th, 2006, ISRO launched the GSLVF 02. This vehicle too had a Russian cryogenic engine. It took off smoothly, but the vehicle blew up while in midair and crashed into the Bay of Bengal. What made this launch even more tragic was the satellite that the vehicle was carrying, the INSAT 4C. ISRO had built this communication satellite on its own. This was also the first time that ISRO had attempted to carry a 2000 kg satellite to space and now that satellite had exploded into pieces and landed in the sea. The morale at ISRO was at an all time low. Scientist Rodham Narasimha, who was appointed to study the failure, declared that there was nothing wrong with the GSLV as a vehicle. ISRO needed to persevere. It had no other option. Now, while all of this was going on, ISRO was also building its own cryogenic engine. The most important goal of the deal with the Russians was to help ISRO eventually build cryogenic engines on its own. As part of the old deal, ISR O's engineers could have been trained in cryogenics in Moscow. But after America meddled, ISRO now had to learn to build these engines on its own in ISR, who started working on this right from 1990. Speaker 1 Developing A kerogenic stage is very tricky. Basically, even to handle the hydrogen we need a lot of knowledge and experience. If you really ask me, I mean if as I enumerated, we started our kerogenic development way back in 1974. If you have stuck to that, yes, by 90 we would have made an engine. But then starting in 90, I don't think we would have made an engine in 10 years. Speaker 2 But what about the material that Alexander Dunayev and Nambi Narayanan brought to Thiruvananthapuram? Verumal said he did not know anything about it. Speaker 1 I don't think we have really got any, I mean imported or imported any parts from Russia at all. Maybe some raw materials. Speaker 2 Yes, we might have got like for example, copper plates, but the collaboration with Russia did help in giving ISRO a foundation in cryogenics. Speaker 1 Our fabricators, subcontractors went to Russia, visited the plants in which the engine is being fabricated. They have looked at it, they have viewed it and they have absorbed whatever they could absorb during their factory visits. And then we have that kind of a basic knowledge is there. Speaker 2 But Perumal and his team went through another rather bumpy ride in building their own cryogenic engines. Speaker 1 For example, we blew up our first engine on the test and we learned. Similarly we blew up our first stage hardware also on the test and so each failure is worth the under successes. So we learned a lot of things from that. Speaker 2 The first time an Indian cryogenic engine was flown, it exploded on its way to the skies. On April the 15th, 2010 at 4:27 PM, the GSLV D3 rose from the launchpad and thundered into the skies. Riding on plumes of flame and smoke, the four liquid strap on booster motors surrounding the first stage ignited on time. The second stage, powered by liquid propellants, also ignited on time. Then it was time for the third stage, the Indian cryogenic stage. As the engineers scanned the plot boards in the Mission Control center, their faces turned ashen. It was clear that the cryogenic engine had not ignited. The rocket was losing velocity and altitude, and soon it veered off its path and plunged into the sea. An idea that began 20 years ago, one that went through numerous controversies and nearly destroyed the reputation of ISRO scientists, was not going to be tested. The failure was embarrassing yet again. Was there no end to this jinx with cryogenics? Could the naughty Boy rocket not be tamed? The chairman of the ISRO by this time was K Radhakrishnan. In his memoir, he writes about this failure in vivid detail. Speaker 3 Failure is always an emotional moment when some choose to go into a shell. Post the event. There are others who accept the fact and look for solutions. The space engineering folks, by default, need to be in the latter category. Failures are part and parcel of this trade, and one needs to take it in one's stride. Speaker 2 One man in ISRO, however, took this failure rather badly, and he was V Narayanan, the ISRO engineer in charge of building the cryogenic stage. He was fondly nicknamed Mr. Cryo. Radhakrishnan found Narayanan in tears after the failure. Speaker 3 I pulled him along to my suite and I asked him a simple question. Narayanan. When your daughter started walking, did you never see her fall? She got up and walked again. He replied. I said that is the lesson for us now. Yes, we gulped water while swimming, but we didn't drown. He smiled. Speaker 2 The stories throughout this season have had one theme in common, resilience in the face of adversity. Right from the inset series to the ASLV, the PS:. LV and the GSLVISRO from the 80s to the 2000s has repeatedly battled multiple soul crushing failures. But every time their morale and spirit took a hit, they seem to have gotten up again to face their next challenge. And that, to me, is hugely admirable and inspiring. It took ISRO nearly two decades to get the GSLV working. Finally, on January the 5th 2014, ISRO finally managed to fly its own indigenous cryogenic engine aboard the GSLV. This was the GSLV D5 and the mission was an all round success. The Indian press was jubilant. Finally, we've broken the GSLV barrier, the taming of the naughty. Speaker 3 Boy and converting him into an obedient one has taken 2 decades. Speaker 2 The naughty Boy has an impressive statistic, a success rate of 86%. In fact, the current workhorse is the GSLV Mark Three, which can launch a satellite that weighs more than 3000 kilograms. From a 40KG satellite to nearly 3000 kgs. ISRO has really come a long, long way. It was the GSLV Mark Three that took us to the Moon the second time in 2019. But while the launch vehicle performed rather excellently, the mission ran into a series of problems. When the vehicle reached the lunar surface. On reaching the moon, the Vikram Lander began its descent onto the surface, but suddenly it deviated from its trajectory and crash landed onto the moon surface well. Speaker 1 Things are certainly not looking good, Vishnu. Speaker 2 This is NDTV journalist Pallav Bagla. Speaker 1 Around 1:51 AM, the data seemed to have gone off the. Vikram Lander The last few minutes something has gone. Speaker 2 ISRO as well as Dasa attempted to communicate with the Lander for about two weeks but they were unable to locate it. Sivan and the entire team of Chandrayaan. Two were Crest fallen. Speaker 1 Vikram Lander descent was as planned and the normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometer, subsequently the communication. From dander to ground station was lost. Speaker 2 A series of photographs of the Moon were released by both ISRO and NASA over the next few months. Each photograph and attempt to find Vikram lost somewhere on the Moon. But like they say, one does never cease. On October the third, nearly two months after the Chandrayaan 2 mission, Shanbhaga Subramanian, a software engineer in Chennai, happened to be idly browsing through the images of the moon released by NASA. Subramanian was an amateur astronomer and had been following the moon missions closely. Suddenly, he noticed something in one of the images of white speck. He looked at it closely and then compared the images with older images from the Moon. Then he wasted no time. He logged onto Twitter and tweeted, is this Vikram Lander 1 kilometer from the landing spot. Lander might have been buried in lunar sand. He tagged both ISRO and NASA. Speaker 5 Once I found out something that was there in the new image and that was not there in the old image, I confirmed that it should. It should be something like debris or something because even in July's or August image that is June images. I was not able to find that particular white spot. So I tweeted to NASA as well. I sent an e-mail to them and then I got a replace from them. Speaker 2 Today NASA credited Subramaniam for finding the Vikram Lander on the moon surface. It was unbelievable. Who would have thought this was the way they would find the Vikram Lander? We began this story with Indira Gandhi asking Rakesh Sharma Upar se Bharat kesa Dikta. It seems poignant and charming to me to end this with the opposite idea, the idea of India and Indians looking up at space not just in awe but with a sense of kinship, closeness and authority. Outer space is no longer a distant dream. Over the years, I, SRO has brought us closer to a fascinating universe and made it a part of our ordinary lives. They have persevered to bring the remarkable potential of space all the way to the doorsteps of every single Indian. And as far as missions go, isn't this the most successful mission that our space scientists have accomplished? I'm Harsha Bhogle and you've been listening to Mission ISRO, a Spotify original podcast created in association with ATS Studio. This podcast has been introduced by Gaurav Vaz with research and interviews by Archana Nathan. The episodes have been written by Archana Nathan with invaluable inputs from Siddin Vadhukut, who helps structure all our research into the narrative. Podcast you're listening to. Gaurav Vaz edited these scripts and Vidushi Singh transcribed all the interviews. Medha Venkat helped with additional research. The title track was created by Raghu Dixit and the sound design and background score for this podcast is by Madhav Ayachit and the podcast is mixed and mastered by Ankit Suryakanth. The podcast was recorded at Island City Studios in Mumbai by Shupratik Das. Audio production help was provided by Vijo Joseph at Multi Box Entertainment, Bangalore. All clips and voices used in this podcast are owned by the original creators and we have provided links to the sources in our show notes. To read full transcripts of our episodes and additional information about the podcast, please go to www.missionisro.com. ATS Studio is a division of All Things Small, a true stories focused media company run by Siddin Vadukut, Supriya, Nayar, Devaya, Bopanna, Sunil Doshi and Kauravaz.