Why Isro’s Mars mission is an old story rehashed

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) should indeed be lauded for its “Mangalyaan”, not necessarily for its proposed Martian exploration, but for doing a cosmetic makeover of a 20-year old rocket and igniting the country’s easily excitable national pride. It’s been an unanimous thumps up from almost every one - as usual from the President, the Prime Minister, and the media - for Tuesday’s launch; but what many failed to recognise was that there was nothing new, at least till now. It was the same old PSLV, which Isro has fired umpteen times, that has gone up. [caption id=“attachment_121403” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India successfully launched its first mission to Mars on board PSLV C25 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (ISRO) at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. PTI Photo[/caption] The only difference was the payload, the object that the rocket carries to outer space. Instead of small satellites of the past, this time it’s a “Mars Orbiter Spacecraft” which Isro wants to go to Mars and probe its surface and atmosphere for whatever justifiable reasons it has. But has the “Mars Orbiter Spacecraft” reached anywhere near Mars? No, it will take at least ten more months. Is it really on its way to Mars? Not sure, we will know that only on 1 December Then, what is the success that we are celebrating? Yet another launch of the PSLV! But haven’t we done it so many times in the past? Yes, we did. In fact, we did it first 16 years ago. But public memory is so short. So, it’s a Mars makeover of the PSLV, right? Something similar to what the Hindustan Motors does with its Ambassador car from time to time? Yes, it looks like that. By the way, will this Mars mission be successful? Will the orbiter ever reach the Martian atmosphere? Even the Isro is not sure. It has in fact kept so many riders to pre-empt criticism if the Mars vehicle gets lost. Reportedly the Isro chairman has said that majority of the Mars missions have failed in the second stage. It’s also been highlighted that this is the first time India is attempting a mission in which the payload will depart the earth’s orbit and travel thousands of kilometres in an elliptical orbit and that it will have to survive the gravitational pull of the sun and other planets. So, in all likelihood, the odds are heavily against India reaching anywhere near Mars, right? Yes. Then why the hell did we celebrate a very old story? This is where the Isro has pulled a fast one on us, that too with a number of technical weaknesses that the scientific community has highlighted, most significantly the point that former Isro chief Madhavan Nair has made - that a 25 kg payload may not be able to offer much in understanding Mars. But what can the Isro do? PSLV cannot carry more than 1000-plus kg and most of it in the Mars mission is the fuel. So, what do we need to plug this gap? We need a better rocket which can carry heavier objects - the GSLV. Can’t ISRO make it despite so many years, so many scientists and engineers, so much money and tall claims? No, even with borrowed technology and materials, the GSLV has consistently failed to take off. So, is it possible that the Mars mission - which has a high possibility of failure and which cannot be called a success at least for ten more months - is a cover up for Isro’s long-pending GSLV-default? Possible. After the PSLV’s established success, GSLV was the next logical frontier if India really wanted to be somewhat independent in its space programme. The PSLV cannot take our communications satellites to their desired locations because the latter are too heavy for it and the task is always outsourced. The space organisation now says that it will launch the GSLV on 15 December. If it is successful, it can really celebrate. If it fails, the lingering Mars glory will save it. What a fantastic idea!