Astrosat launch: Small team behind giant leap

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Professor K P Singh, one of the principal investigators, said on Tuesday, “A core team of about 12-15 people for the entire duration is very small when you look at the magnitude of the project. For this kind of an effort in the US or European countries, the team would easily have comprised about 40 to 50 scientists.”
He added that a lean core team was probably one of the main reasons why an effort that began in 2004 was completed only now. “Acquiring talent in India for these kind of projects is a major logistical challenge,” Singh said.

Astrosat was launched by ISRO on September 28. Researchers from TIFR led the effort involving multiple institutions across India, and three of the major instruments were designed and developed by TIFR. The scientists also relied on industry help for procuring certain equipment and parts.

TIFR will host two payload operation centres through which scientific data obtained through the Astrosat will be distributed, and the institute is now contemplating introducing a training programme for scientists and researches to analyse this kind of data.

Professor D Triverdi, TIFR Director, also said that ISRO has demonstrated a great launch capacity with Astrosat and is waiting for good science ideas to be executed. He said scientists in India, as well as research students in colleges should work on pathbreaking ideas and make use of this opportunity. “In the US and Europe, scientists eagerly wait to put their payloads on rockets,” he said.

The scientists said India should gear up for more such missions rather than international collaboration on astronomical missions.

Professor P C Agarwal, also a principal investigator for a major payload on Astrosat and part of the team that conceived the project in 1996, said, “Having our own mission and instrument gives us the freedom to observe what we want.”