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PMRC 2018 : KEYNOTES : MANGALYAAN MISSION: AN INSPIRATION IN FRUGAL ENGINEERING
SURESH NAIK
SURESH NAIK, DIRECTOR, POPULAR SPACE SCIENCE; CHAIRMAN, INTERNATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY; AND PRESIDENT, VIJNAN BHARATI, PUNE
Suresh Naik took the audience through the glorious journey of over 50 years of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the factors that have helped the agency achieve success and global recognition.
In his 30 years of service at ISRO, Suresh Naik played an important role in more than 18 satellite programs of the country. He was instrumental in establishing its world-class facilities in Ahmedabad. Having retired from ISRO, Naik has devoted 18 years to popularizing space science. He has published more than 450 articles and given several talks in India and abroad.
Speaking on ISRO’s mission to Mars, or Mangalyaan, he said it was the first time that a country had achieved success in its Mars mission at the maiden attempt. Of the 51 Mars missions in the world till 2013-14, only 21 were successful, which is a success rate of just 40 percent. The United States had launched 30 Mars missions, of which 22 were successful and Russia had launched 18 missions, of which only two were successful. Naik said ISRO’s organizational structure has its advantages, where the combination of a vertical reporting structure and a matrix management system helps in the maximum utilization of key resources.
ISRO had commenced a feasibility assessment of the Mangalyaan project two years before the mission work started. Once the project started, ISRO had only 15 months to complete it. In comparison, the project duration for the American mission was five years.“Our motto was schedule-driven to the extreme and being time-effective. Besides the major technological challenges, we faced enormous risks, a hostile space environment, pressure on the time schedule, severe cost constraints, and reliability and quality requirements,” said Naik.
ISRO’s Mangalyaan success on a shoestring budget has won global accolades. Naik said there were various reasons behind the success, including choosing an effective schedule, cost and quality controls, collective results, team work, and an effective review mechanism. “ISRO also enabled the smooth exchange of innovative ideas and trusted the abilities of its scientists. The organization assigned its scientists challenging responsibilities and instilled in them national pride in whatever they were doing,” he added.
He believes Mangalyaan has inspired new thinking on the lines of frugal innovation and management across the country.
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