With quantum jump in missions, ISRO to scale up outsourcing

"Quantum jump is taking place both in satellite and launch vehicles", ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, who also heads the Space Commission and is Secretary in the Department of Space, told PTI.

He noted that ISRO used to have one flight annually some years ago, which later went up to 2-3 every year and now stands at 4-5. Radhakrishnan said there is much potential for industries, particularly in the area of the "proven" Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle programme and standard satellites buses, in addition to transponders in C and Ku band as the works are "repetitive" in nature.

On PSLV, ISRO's workhorse rocket, he said: "We must have larger involvement of industries to produce them". ISRO officials said towards achieving shorter turnaround times for realising the missions, the space agency has been encouraging wider participation of industry.

Due to technology transfer and technology utilisation activities adopted by ISRO, industry is significantly contributing in all spheres of space endeavours, they said.  Raw data measured by ROSA are beamed back to Earth where the analysis of the phase delay on GPS signals crossing through the troposphere give a wealth of information.

From that it is possible to determine the temperature, pressure and humidity of the atmosphere, and thus to issue forecasts on the evolution and motion of weather fronts, to evaluate climatic trends, and to map the electron density as well as irregularities in the ionosphere in order to predict magnetic storms, according to a Thales Alenia Space statement.

"The radio-occultation method allows to achieve a better vertical resolution than other infrared or microwave sensors", it said. The instrument would complement a science payload also consisting in three other instruments, one of which was jointly developed by ISRO and CNES and the other two by CNES.

ISRO would control the satellite in orbit and also receive, process and distribute the scientific data from it. "There are lots of potential for other countries in the world to use it (Megha-Tropiques) for scientic purposes", Radhakrishnan told PTI. "So, that will give India an edge...".