Robbing NISAR to pay ISRO
A.K. Anil Kumar, the director of ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (a.k.a. ISTRAC), has reportedly made some seriously misleading comments as part of his convocation address at a Mah…
Indian Space Research Organisation
61 posts
On the PixxelSpace constellation
The announcement that a consortium led by PixxelSpace India will design, build, and operate a constellation of 12 earth-observation satellites marks a sharp shift in how India approaches large space p…
The Zomato ad and India's hustle since 1947
In contemporary India, corporate branding has often aligned itself with nationalist sentiment, adopting imagery such as the tricolour, Sanskrit slogans or references to ancient achievements to evoke c…
Frugality is a toxic chalice
From 'Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA's Weaknesses, ISRO's Strengths', NDTV, July 26, 2025: At the end of the day, the US scientists have swallowed their pride and are shee…
Watch the celebrations, on mute
Right now, Shubhanshu Shukla is on his way back to Earth from the International Space Station. Am I proud he’s been the first Indian up there? I don’t know. It’s not clear. The whole thing seemed to…
Enfeebling the Indian space programme
There's no denying that there currently prevails a public culture in India that equates criticism, even well-reasoned, with pooh-poohing. It's especially pronounced in certain geographies wher…
Four years
Engineering as a methodology … contains a fundamentally materialist kernel, even if its present incarnation as a bourgeois science drives engineers to think and behave otherwise. — Nick Chavez, Engin…
India's next man in space
NASA/SpaceX/Axiom will make their next attempt to launch the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station on June 11. Axiom Space's tagline for the mission is "Realizing the Return"…
Empathy for Donald Pettit
There was an intriguing outpouring of concern worldwide when Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore returned to Earth after 280-something days in space. People were particularly concerned about Williams…
Let's allow space missions to be wonderful
Finally some external validation. After months of insisting Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore aren't "stuck" or "stranded" in the International Space Station, after Boeing Star…
Subtracting from science funding
‘NavIC’s hurdles project govt’s reluctance to fund innovation’, Hindustan Times, February 7, 2025: India … chose a more cautious path. For decades, we’ve been telling ourselves that we’ll invest in s…
The fever dream of 'technological sovereignty'
I recently came across an initiative called “Industrial47”. Someone had shared a link to it on a group I’m part of, and when its card loaded, the image was of a nuclear weapon going off. I found on L…