India’s first attempt to set up observatory in space

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MUMBAI: Scientists from TIFR, who led the mission in Mumbai, identified lack of adequate good quality manpower as a major logistical hurdle in the process of developing Astrosat.
Hailed as a major milestone, a large part of the work on Astrosat, India’s first attempt at setting up an observatory in space, was done in Mumbai, and the team that worked on it had only about a dozen members, which was very lean for a project of such magnitude.
Scientists from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), who led the mission in Mumbai, identified lack of adequate good quality manpower as a major logistical hurdle in the process of developing Astrosat.
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.