NEW DELHI: Indian space scientists are confident of building their own Cryogenic engine and launching the country’s first Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLYV) by 1997, says Prof UR Rao, Chief of the Indian Space Research Organization.
India had already embarked on its own GSLY program and supply of the Russian Cryogenic engines would only have speeded up the first GSLV launch to 1995, Prof Rao told Indian journalists here.
Should the Indo-Russian deal on transfer of technology not come through, it would only result in a delay of two years in GSLY’s launch, he said. “We will go on our own. We are determined to go on,” he said.
Prof Rao said a Russian delegation was scheduled to arrive in India for talks with ISRO on the exact status of the Rs 235 crore deal for supply of Cryogenic engines and transfer of technology “We hope the Russians will honor the contract. It is a bilateral agreement and we don’t expect any country to go back on its word,” he said.
“We are not interested in mere engine selling,” the ISRO Chief said, adding that sale of engines without the accompanying transfer of technology is meaningless.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 30, 1993
