The last two years 2010 and 2011 were not good times for the World Space Launch Industry as a whole. In 2010 the rockets refused to fly.
2011 was only marginally better, but both Russia and the US, suffered setbacks. By my count Russia had 5 failures including the spectacular Mars Phobos-Grunt and the reliable workhorse Soyuz.
NASA for a change also had a failure - the Glory mission, which was blow to everyone, not only the US - since the Glory’s mission was to observe the Aerosols in Earth Atmosphere and Solar Irradiance, which would enable us to understand Climate Change better.
Back home, not be let out, we had our own spectacular GSLV failures, one after another. The beauty was that no head rolled.
When the Russians said extended heat shield was probably the cause, our smart guys had an immediate come back - ‘but we tested similar heat shield with our own cryogenic engine driven GSLV. It did not fail at the 1st stage’ - conveniently forgetting that the indigenous cryo-powered GSLV D-3 *did* veer off course and dived into the Bay of Bengal.
As it came out, ISRO did not restrict their failures to rockets; they failed to follow proper procedures while marketing satellite transponders too - the transponders of the successful satellites, that is.
The GoI at last woke up to the fact that there is something funny in 2011, after a CAG audit expressed apprehension. That raises a question of its own.
AFAIK, the Antrix-Devas deal was signed in 2005. If so, it should have been the subject matter of CAG audit and queries (again AFAIK) by 2006.
Do they mean that for something like 5 years the CAG audit objection was buried and let to rot? Which raises another question about the actions of the ex-ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair, who has been black-listed by the GoI a few days back.
Till sitting down to write this post, I never understood the actual nuance of Madhavan Nair’s statement that the present Chairman of ISRO has a ‘personal agenda’ to discredit Nair and others. As I strung up the last paragraph, it became clear. I suspect that the present Chairman K. Radhakrishnan didn’t want to leave his term with the CAG audit query hanging over his head and put up an ‘appropriate’ reply (and also held on to it during 2 enquiry panels). No wonder Madhavan Nair is angry.
I cannot prove the above for the simple reason that ISRO refuses to release any documents to public, even under the RTI act.
So leaving aside speculation, how come Madhavan Nair claims that he will get those documents under RTI act?
To me it seems that this wise man has resorted to playing politics.
My Wicked half whispers, ‘didn’t George Bernard Shaw say that Politics is the last refuge of scoundrels?’
>:->
2011 was only marginally better, but both Russia and the US, suffered setbacks. By my count Russia had 5 failures including the spectacular Mars Phobos-Grunt and the reliable workhorse Soyuz.
NASA for a change also had a failure - the Glory mission, which was blow to everyone, not only the US - since the Glory’s mission was to observe the Aerosols in Earth Atmosphere and Solar Irradiance, which would enable us to understand Climate Change better.
Back home, not be let out, we had our own spectacular GSLV failures, one after another. The beauty was that no head rolled.
When the Russians said extended heat shield was probably the cause, our smart guys had an immediate come back - ‘but we tested similar heat shield with our own cryogenic engine driven GSLV. It did not fail at the 1st stage’ - conveniently forgetting that the indigenous cryo-powered GSLV D-3 *did* veer off course and dived into the Bay of Bengal.
As it came out, ISRO did not restrict their failures to rockets; they failed to follow proper procedures while marketing satellite transponders too - the transponders of the successful satellites, that is.
The GoI at last woke up to the fact that there is something funny in 2011, after a CAG audit expressed apprehension. That raises a question of its own.
AFAIK, the Antrix-Devas deal was signed in 2005. If so, it should have been the subject matter of CAG audit and queries (again AFAIK) by 2006.
Do they mean that for something like 5 years the CAG audit objection was buried and let to rot? Which raises another question about the actions of the ex-ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair, who has been black-listed by the GoI a few days back.
Till sitting down to write this post, I never understood the actual nuance of Madhavan Nair’s statement that the present Chairman of ISRO has a ‘personal agenda’ to discredit Nair and others. As I strung up the last paragraph, it became clear. I suspect that the present Chairman K. Radhakrishnan didn’t want to leave his term with the CAG audit query hanging over his head and put up an ‘appropriate’ reply (and also held on to it during 2 enquiry panels). No wonder Madhavan Nair is angry.
I cannot prove the above for the simple reason that ISRO refuses to release any documents to public, even under the RTI act.
So leaving aside speculation, how come Madhavan Nair claims that he will get those documents under RTI act?
To me it seems that this wise man has resorted to playing politics.
- First by accusing his successor of pursuing ‘personal-agenda’,
- Second by trying to play smoke-and-mirrors with the RTI act,
- Not to forget the original point on why (if) the CAG queries weren’t replied to satisfactorily during his (6 year) tenure, and
- the politicians in the GoI are suddenly scampering to accommodate him.
My Wicked half whispers, ‘didn’t George Bernard Shaw say that Politics is the last refuge of scoundrels?’
>:->
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