Why is ISRO so successful?
ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is a space agency (like NASA) of the Government of India. It’s headquarter is located in Bangalore, India. Its central vision is to harness space technology for national development while also pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.
ISRO was formed in 1969 superseding the then space agency INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research) that was established in 1962 by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister and Vikram Sarabhai, who is considered as the father of the Indian Space Programme. In 1969, the committee was replaced by the newly founded ISRO, again headed under Mr Vikram Sarabhai. In 1972, the ISRO was brought under DOS (Department of space), an Indian government department which is responsible for the administration of the Indian space program. It manages several agencies and institutes related to space exploration and space technologies. With this, the entire structure is functioning under the prime minister.
Now here comes an interesting question as to how ISRO has reached to such heights?
One aspect of their overwhelming success is the absence of the bureaucratic hurdles and hierarchies that are present in almost any government body.
Another important reason that has attributed to their success is the fact that specialists in the field and technocrats — starting with Mr Vikram Sarabhai himself . For instance, ISRO’s current chairman, Mr A.S. Kiran Kumar, is also chairman of the Space Commission and secretary of DOS.
In addition to that the low-cost launch of satellites. Take the instance that the PSLV rocket launch just cost about Rs. 100 crore while American company Space X Rocket Falcon 9 launch costs $57 million (about Rs 381 crore). A Russian Proton launch costs $68 million (roughly Rs 455 crore). Launches of the Japanese Rocket H-IIA, the Chinese rocket Long March, European rocket Ariane-5 and another American Rocket Atlas V each cost around $100 million (about Rs 669 crore).
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C37, on its 39th mission, broke the record with a launch of 104 satellites by ISRO, the highest number of satellites ever launched in a single mission. With this breathtaking achievement, India has stormed into the elite space club and surpassing the previous record of 37 satellites by Russia in 2014.
Today ISRO is giving a tough challenge to other space agencies of the world, take for instance Elon Musk’s Space X.
Indeed, it’s India’s pride.