Click to play videoNew Delhi: Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C14), carrying India's ocean monitoring satellite Ocean SAT-2 and six European nano satellites, blasted off from the SHAR Range at 1151 hrs IST at Sriharikota on Wednesday.
ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair spoke to CNN-IBN from Sriharikota.
CNN-IBN: Congratulations on the successful launch.
G Madhavan Nair: Thank you very much. I really had a wonderful day. We had a fantastic success in the PSLV C 15 with the Ocean SAT 2.
CNN-IBN: No comparisons between the missions, but a month after Chandrayaan aborted, how important was today’s success of sending 7 satellites into space for ISRO?
G Madhavan Nair: These are two independent issues. With Chandrayaan we had certain objectives. It was launched last October and for 315 days it lived in the orbit. We are happy with Chandrayaan performance. It has given us satisfactory results. Recently we had a review with the international scientific community as well as our own scientists, they all concluded that Chandrayyan was a perfect mission. Coming to this launch, for ISRO, it is very important because our Ocean SAT 1 is at the fag end of life. It was designed for 5 years. It has survived for 10 years and now it needs replacement. Ocean SAT 2 is designed for the colour monitor to be replaced and in addition, we have two sophisticated instruments, namely a statrometer and GPS occultation receiver for atmospheric studies and win vectors over the sea surface and so on. So the mission of Ocean SAT 2 is very important. In addition, we carried 6 nano satellites for other university students and scientists for other countries.
CNN-IBN: Were you a bit nervous before the launch?
G Madhavan Nair: I can’t say nervousness because these launches are a part and parcel of our daily lives in ISRO but it’s a fact that we have come across a number of glitches during the preparation and they have been set right satisfactorily before giving the clearance for the launch. But the most satisfying thing is that the date for this launch was fixed sufficiently in advance and we could make it happen precisely on the time and date and also achieve 100 per cent success.
CNN-IBN: Shortly after terminating Chandrayaan, you put up a brave face, saying ‘India must still be very proud of the mission’ - in hindsight, was Chandrayaan a big blow for you or do you still count is as a successful mission?
G Madhavan Nair: On the contrary, at that time I had given indication that the Chandrayaan was 95 per cent success as far as science mission is concerned but now looking at the volume of data which has come and the response of the scientific community, I would say that Chandrayaan-1 was a 100 per cent successful mission.
CNN-IBN: No questions in your mind that you lost control of Chandrayaan a little too early?
G Madhavan Nair: We lost the satellite little bit early but that does not compromise the mission objectives. Our first objective was to go to the moon, orbit the satellite around the moon and realise the satellite with 11 instruments of various kind, again make them work satisfactorily and collect data of scientific interest. All these have been met. For example, going to the moon in the first instance itself is a grand feat because other countries could do it in their fifth or sixth attempt. India could do that kind of thing in the first attempt itself.
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