Honoring India's space pioneers by capturing the best anecdotes from their careers

Spaceport SARABHAI, a new space think tank that we formed recently created a ‘space history’ project where we’ve recorded some really great anecdotes and stories of ISRO pioneers who were involved in the development of the space program. Below is a brief summary of some of the recordings we’ve published so far.?

Sudarshan P talks about his experiences of indigenous development of 100 critical technologies by ISRO to realise space missions in the 70s making sure Western country sanctions won’t affect India’s space program.

Arup Dasgupta talks about experiences from building antennas for SITE experiment to developing remote sensing satellites including Bhaskara and IRS as well as development of Image and Information Processing systems.

Dr V S Hegde shared experiences from exploration of groundwater to provide drinking water in villages; landslide hazard zonation in the Himalayas; developing locale-specific integrated action plans at watershed level for management of land and water resources; and environment impact assessment for setting up polluting industries & developmental projects.

Recruit of Prof. Dhawan as a management graduate from IIM, Chandra spent more than 20 years covering all parts of the programme - satellite, rockets as well as the applications of space technology especially remote sensing. He was also involved with activities related to international co-operation and has represented and led Indian delegations to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Dr V K Dadhwal is known for his contribution to the development of remote sensing applications in agriculture, including crop forecasting and irrigation management. Dadhwal also served as the Director, NRSC, Dean, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, and Director of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram.

Sridhara Murthi was responsible for corporate level policies for technology transfer & promotion of industry cooperation. He guided over 200 Tech transfer projects from ISRO to the industry. He served as Scientific Secretary and went on to become Managing Director of Antrix Corporation Limited.

George Joseph started his research career in 1962 at the TIFR, where he was involved in the study of cosmic rays. He has been the guiding force in the design and development of all the earth observation cameras on board all IRS and INSAT missions. He served the ISRO in various capacities including director of its Space Applications Centre and took keen interest and initiative to ensure the fruits of space technology reach common man.

Vasudevan Gnana Gandhi was instrumental in the technology acquisition of Vikas engine from France during 1976 to 1979 and was responsible for the Cryogenic technology acquisition from Russia in 1993. He has made pioneering efforts in Cryo rocketry in India. Under his overall leadership and guidance, Cryogenic upper stage engine has been developed and successfully tested demonstrating this most complicated technology. He is involved in the realization of Hydrogen bus with TATA motors. He now serves as Sr. Vice President - Propulsion at Indian rocket startup, Skyroot Aerospace.

Dr Mukund Rao has served ISRO in shaping the Indian Remote Sensing and National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) programme and has led development of number of EO/GIS applications for national developmental sectors – Natural Resources Information System (NRIS), National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), National Urban Information System (NUIS) and National GIS. He has led defining national policies for EO and for National GIS.

I hope you’re able to watch and learn about the very interesting times of infancy of the Indian space program. Do consider sharing these with any of your colleagues or young enthusiasts who want to learn about how a developing country like India was able to systematically build such a space program.??