Q/ When not a rocket scientist, what are you?
A/ I like listening to old Tamil film songs and gardening.
When I am in my garden, I forget I am a rocket scientist.
There, I am completely connected with the earth.Q/ That is reminiscent of The Martian, where the as-
tronaut grew potatoes on Mars. Could humans do that
someday?
A/ Why not? Our understanding of planetary systems is
improving. In some decades, humans could make Mars a
very different planet.Q/ What is the progress with Gaganyaan?
A/ The system concept reviews are over, the engineering
system (orbiter and service module) is finalised. They will
shortly go for manufacturing. After that, the flight system
will be realised and we will fly.
We have submitted a requirement document to the Indi-
an Air Force for crew selection and training. The Defence
Research and Development Organisation will tie up for life
systems.
The academia is preparing experiment proposals for the
three flights. In addition, 550 private organisations from
small startups to big industrial houses will be manufactur-
ing the components.Q/ What is the next deep space mission for ISRO?
A/ The next target is Venus. We made an announcement
of opportunity for the payload and got a lot of proposals.
The challenges of Venus will be different. It has a harsh
thermal environment, severe atmospheric conditions and
is more hostile than Mars. However, Mission Venus is not
an approved project yet.Q/ Has India’s space vision changed from societal ben-
efits to explorations to now space as a military frontier?
A/ Societal programmes remain top priority. We recently
developed NavIC messenger, a gadget based on the NavIC
navigation system, which is already being used by fish-
ermen. Going into deep space exploration was the next
logical step for us.Q/ What is the progress with air breathing technology
for rockets?
A/ Air breathing uses atmospheric oxygen for burning fuel,
and reduces on-board oxygen. In 2016, we demonstrat-
ed a successful supersonic compression, or scramjet. Air
breathing can only be done in the atmospheric stage of a
rocket’s flight, where there is oxygen. But the atmosphere
also has a drag, which works against propulsion. Our next
demonstration will show that the thrust of the air breath-
ing rocket is more than the drag. This experiment is in the
preliminary stages.Q/ There is a new space race now between China and India.
A/We are not racing. We are actually trying to establish a
collaboration with China.Q/ The choice of women is interesting—M. Vanitha
as project director, Ritu Karidhal as mission director,
and V.R. Lalithambika to head human space direc-
torate.
A/ They were the right persons for the job. At ISRO, we
do not consider gender when selecting a person. The
gender ratio, in both the scientific and administrative
sections, is 4:1, and women have occupied high posi-
tions. One of our senior-most women colleagues was
Geeta Varadan, who retired as director of National Re-
mote Sensing Centre. Anuradha T.K. and P. Valarmathi
were satellite project directors.
Q/ Could a woman chair ISRO one day?
A/ Why not?
BHANU PRAKASH CHANDRAJULY 21, 2019 • THE WEEK 23