My apologies to my well wishers for posting a blog after long time. In the meanwhile, I have written a book about my experiences during my one year break from school and back with a new resolve. I promise that I shall post a blog every week. Last Friday was a Red Letter Day in my life. Thanks to CII and YI (Young Indians), I got permission to visit inside ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu. We were a group of 35 and as usual, I was the only kid in the team.

We gathered at the conference hall inside ISRO and were addressed to by the Director-in-charge. There was a slide presentation about PSLV, GSLV MK-3. These rockets and the fuel propellants are manufactured, integrated and tested here and then shifted to Sriharikota for launch. ISRO, Bengaluru makes the satellites.

I asked the director “Why different fuel propellants are used in the three stages of the rocket? Solid propellant in the first stage, liquid propellant in the second stage and cryogenic in the third stage.” I was humbled that a man of such stature answered my question in detail. He said that the solid propellant provides huge thrust in stage zero. When the fuel gets exhausted then the rocket is ejected. The lighter rocket can be run by liquid propellant. Then the next stage is ejected. The last stage of the rocket is extremely light and needs precision handling. This is where the high quality and highly expensive, cryogenic fuel is used.

One thought gave me goose pimples. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam used to address the scientist in the very same hall. The campus here is sprawling and nearly 6000 acres in size. The security here is intense.

I was wondering why Mahendragiri was chosen by ISRO. A chief scientist gave two explanations:

  1. The topography is flat which assists in rocket construction.
  2. This place is near the Palakkad funnel. During monsoons, the winds would reach the speeds of 120 km/h and blow away any fire caused by the highly inflammable liquid hydrogen. Thus, protecting the place.

I chanced upon hundreds and hundreds of windmills in this area. There is a museum inside the campus, where I spotted exhibits of satellites, rockets and cross-section of rockets. I also glimpsed upon portraits of Dr. Homi Baba and Dr. Vikram Sarabai, the visionaries who made ISRO happen.

Next we proceeded to the testing site where the rockets are tested for endurance. There is a place inside where liquid nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen are manufactured and tested on cryogenic engines. From there we went to the control room. This was an amazing experience. It was exactly like what I have seen on the TV and in movies. I saw PLCs and monitors over there. The PLCs are programmed to open and close the circuits based on the information received from the traducers. This whole operation is automated but human intervention is sometime necessary.

Next, we actually saw the rocket engine being integrated. Liquid hydrogen (propellant) would be passed through one nozzle and liquid oxygen (oxidiser) through the other and combustion would take place at the top of the engine chamber. This heat would be passed through a nozzle at tremendous velocity. Now Newton’s 3rd law would come into action and the reaction was the huge up thrust. Finally, we were escorted to the place where the first and second stage of the rocket would be attached to the liquid propellant tanks. The casing for the rockets is aluminium, a very light metal.

Finally it was time to bid goodbye. The authorities explained the vendor application process in detail.

I’m used to taking many selfies, but, here I could not use my smart phone the entire day, as it was taken by the security at the entrance. I found it extremely odd to be without the cell phone for seven hours.

Snippets

  1. The rockets reach a height of only 200 kms. From here the satellite is gently guided by the booster to the height of 36,000 kms. This is possible because the influence of the gravitational field greatly diminishes after 200 kms.
  2. The weight of the rocket is 300 tonnes (300,000 kgs) and the satellite is 1000 kgs, that is a ratio of 300 : 1. 300 efforts has to be put in to get one success. This proves that there is no shortcut to success.
  3. Every morning the satellites orbit has to be tracked. Within 24 hours, the satellite dips from its orbit because of gravity. The fuel in the boosters attached to the satellite gently guides it back to the orbit. This has to be done every day. The satellite will live as long as there is fuel in the booster. Once the fuel gets over the satellite will come back to the earth atmosphere and get burnt.

ISRO is the pride of India. We had The Chandrayan expedition, The Mangalyan (the only country to succeed in its first travel attempt to mars) expedition and The Aditya mission to the sun. Our engineers have the capability of launching 20 missiles in one go. We have also developed our own indigenous missile technology. We have even developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) called Tegas. Then what stops us from developing our own automobiles, high tech smartphones, our social media sites or even personal care products?