It's now business as usual at ISRO, says chief K Radhakrishnan

Bangalore, Feb 12: Seeking to put the ISRO row vis-a-vis Antrix-Devas deal and its fall-out firmly behind, the space agency Chairman K Radhakrishnan has said the focus now is on missions and indicated that successful space ventures would redeem its pride.

At the same time, he dismissed suggestions in some quarters that the controversy which persisted for two weeks has dented the image of Indian Space Research Organisation and that it has cast a shadow over the space programme.

“I don’t think so (that ISRO’s image has taken a beating, and that it has overshadowed the programme). That’s the feeling I get from (various) ISRO centres (in the country),” Radhakrishnan, also the Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission, told PTI here.

“People will understand what’s going on,” said Radhakrishnan, who had been accused by former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair of being behind the move to blacklist him and three other ex-ISRO scientists in connection with the scrapped deal.

For ISRO, what matters is a mission, Radhakrishnan said.

“If you do a good job, everybody is with you,” he said, indicating that successful space ventures would put ISRO back into positive limelight.

“As far as ISRO is concerned, I don’t see any problems,” he said, adding ISRO is now working on the launch of radar imaging satellite in the last week of March, as well as the ground-test of cryogenic engine.

Asked if the ISRO row is a closed chapter, he said: “Yes, I think from my head it has gone… reports are there … what has been done…. everything is there.” “I want to worry about ISRO now,” he said.

PTI