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Episode 87 – Apollo Era recollections of a Brit working in NASA

By Gurbir Dated: July 12, 2019 Leave a Comment

Dr David Baker has been involved with the USA since childhood. First attending a US school in England and then studying in the US under a scholarship program sponsored by Senator Clinton P Anderson. He returned to the USA and worked for NASA on various programs from Gemini to the SpaceShuttle. After leaving NASA, he set up one of the earliest private space sector companies in London.

Today he is the editor of the British Interplanetary Society’s monthly journal – Spaceflight and a prolific author of space books. Some of the topics we spoke about include

  • Early interest in space and astronomy stimulated by milestones such as breaking of the sound barrier, Sputnik and Gagarin’s flight.
    Completed his PhD in Earth and Planetary physics.
  • Worked for Nasa between 1965 and 1984. Mainly in the mission
    Setup a consultancy in 1984 to bring US launch and satellites services to the wider international community.
  • Setup a consultancy in 1984 to bring US launch and satellites services to the wider international community
  • Delayed the launch of STS-41B in February 1984 carrying payloads for Indonesia and Western Union but problems with the payload Assist Modules did not meet the insurance certification requirements.
  • Was involved in the purchase by India its 4 INSAT satellites (INSAT 1A-1D) from Ford Aerospace in the USA.
  • Published over 110 books and more in the pipeline to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.
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Episode 86 – Moon: Art, Science, Culture

By Gurbir Dated: June 28, 2019 Leave a Comment

Moon: Art, Science, Culture
Moon: Art, Science, Culture

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing was a momentous event and expected to be marked by numerous publications. Most books cover the technologies, events, personal recollections and politics of the first human voyage to another world. One book jointly authored by an art historian and an astronomer has a fresh perspective.

The guests in this episode are the authors of the book Moon: Art, Science, Culture – Dr Alexandra Loske Associate Tutor in Art History, University of Sussex and Dr Robert Massey Deputy Executive Director Royal Astronomical Society.

The book is attracting an interesting eclectic mix of readers with an interest in science and art. Some of the topics we spoke about include

  • Fritz Lang’s 1929 sci-fi movie (watch full-length movie on Youtube here) Frau im Mond.
  • The book has a chapter about the Nebra Sky Disk and we also discussed the Antikythera Mechanism.
  • One of the earliest books with a picture of the Moon, called The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite  (link offers free download) written in 1874 by James Nasmyth and James Carpenter. Here is an interesting review of it from Dr Stephanie O’Rourke from the University of St Andrews.
  • The Bluedot Festival at Jodrell bank starts on Friday 19th July

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Episode 77: Satellite tracking – the early days

By Gurbir Dated: July 13, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sven Grahn has been working in the space field in one way or another for over fifty years. Officially retired, he continues to work as a project leader of a student satellite at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

He is perhaps best known for his work in tracking satellites launched by the secretive Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s.In those pre-internet days, his work along with others helped to identify individual mission characteristics such as mission types, members of the crew, take off and landing times. He recorded over 1000 conversations from orbiting spacecraft as they flew over Sweden.

In this interview, he speaks about

  • The impact of the space race on his choice of career
  • His work on sounding rockets and meteorology in Sweden and beyond
  • Satellite tracking. What he tracked, heard and recorded using radio and tape recorders.
  • How he came to research and write about the  satellite tracking conducted at Jodrell  Bank radio telescope in England

As an 11-year-old, Sven had seen Sputnik in the sky over Sweden with his own eyes. I started by asking him how the onset of the space race had impacted his choice of career?

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Book Review – India’s Rise as a Space Power

By Gurbir Dated: December 24, 2014 Leave a Comment

Title: India’s Rise as a Space PowerIndias Rise as a Space Power
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, India Pvt Ltd
Author: U.R Rao
ISBN-10: 9382993487 ISBN-13: 978-9382993483

In the April of 1971, the USSR approached India and offered to launch an Indian satellite. Vikram Sarabhai asked UR Rao to develop and lead the program. In December 1971 Sarabhai died. Perhaps it was this sacred memory of his mentor, friend and boss that gave Rao the infinite drive to put an Indian built satellite in Earth orbit with remarkable haste.  Where Sarabhai had given India a space program, Rao gave India the confidence to design,  build and operate satellites.  This was the start of Rao’s fascinating career with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  that culminated in his decade long tenure as ISROs’ chairman starting in 1984. In this book, Rao recalls his personal recollections whilst at the helm when ISRO started to build and launch science, communication and remote sensing satellites, initiate program for the GSLV 3 heavy launch vehicle and established Antrix, ISROs commercial arm.

The main thrust of the book documents Rao’s key contribution, specifically establishing India’s satellites program and developing  the ground based infrastructure to receive, process and disseminate the resulting data.   It also captures the collaborative, competitive and antagonistic environment of the Cold War that prevailed at the time.

The author shares some remarkable insights that given his central role, have an unquestionable authority.  For example, the Soviet Ambassador Pegov in May 1971 asserted that USSR would only launch India’s first satellite if it was heavier than the first satellite launched by the Chinese (p27).  India was not a just a passive receiver of help from the USSR but as professor Kovtunenko acknowledged India was of “immense value” (p47) to the Soviet space program too. The USSR launched the first three satellites (Aryabhata, Bhaskara 1 & 2) and EAS launched the 4th (Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment APPLE).  All were launched without charge. Drawing on his personal international contacts he provided the leadership and the inspiration to make it happen.

In chapter eleven Rao describes his own reservations in the value of accepting the Soviet’s offer to launch an Indian Astronaut. Indian Air Force’s Rakesh Sharma returned from his 8 days in space in April 1984 to huge public celebrations. But ISRO was not ready and could not build on that success at the time.

Most of the 21 chapters in the book deal with the potential of space technology to help mitigate poverty and elaborate on how far that potential has been realised.  Chapter 19 deals with one of the most fascinating episodes in ISRO’s history and Rao was at the centre of it at the time.  India had mastered rockets that used solid propellants and liquid propellants.  ISRO then embarked on a  program to acquire cryogenic engine technology (engines that use liquid Oxygen at -182C and Liquid Hydrogen at -253C) the most efficient rocket engines that exist. The very low operating temperature is a tough engineering challenge. This episode illuminates not only the political upheavals of the early 1990s but also the economics of national space programs.  India had negotiated a cryogenic technology transfer deal with the Soviets but soon after the breakup of the USSR, the USA flexing its muscle as the only superpower forced Russia to renege on the deal. Threatened by the commercial impact of India as a rising space power, USA falsely claimed that the Indo-Soviet technology transfer deal violated the Missile Technology Control Regime.

It is traditional for any book review to include aspects that were not up to scratch even if it ticks all the boxes. A key omission was an index. This is true for any non-fiction book but especially one that deals with key events, people and places. Most of the book uses clear articulate text for which no scientific background is required. However there are small section that are a little heavy e.g “12 C-band transponders provided a 10/12 functional redundancy” (p96). Rao after all is an accomplished cosmic ray scientist with a substantial track record in writing scientific papers.

The author uses the word “parallely” frequently throughout the book.  Initially it was a little repetitive but ultimately this one word conveys the central message that satellite development was not taking place in isolation but several elements of a national infrastructure steeped in science and technology were being harnessed simultaneously for a modern India as the 21st century approached.Sarabhai’s original vision was finally being realised.   

In what is one of the shortest chapters (Chapter 8) Rao describes the birth of the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC).  Today ISAC is  where satellites are designed and built before going to Earth orbit or in to deep space. ISAC is a central component of Rao’s extensive legacy and this book authoritatively captures the details of how it came about. The book has an immense value for future historians. Not all previous ISRO chairmen have documented their experiences as Rao has done here.   It is a valuable source of fascinating information in India’s development, an example that future ISRO chairmen should be encouraged to follow.

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