APJ Abdul Kalam
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PERSONAL NEWS A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015) Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, a lishment (ADE) at Bangalore. Here he After the successful launches of distinguished aerospace technologist who designed and operated the country’s first sounding rockets at TERLS, Sarabhai led the development of the country’s ground effect machine or hovercraft, began conceptualizing an Indian Satellite first satellite launch vehicle as well as which attracted a great deal of technical Launch Vehicle (SLV). As a space pro- the first indigenous operational missiles, and political attention as it could be a gramme began getting formulated and then went on to become first the Scien- useful transport vehicle in an otherwise the Space Science and Technology tific Adviser to the Defence Minister and difficult terrain like the Rann of Kutch or Centre (later named VSSC after Vikram later the Principal Scientific Adviser to any river delta. Although a flying proto- Sarabhai) came up at Veli Hill, I got to the Government of India, and finally en- type won excited praise from Defence work with Kalam more closely. Among tered national politics as the 11th Presi- Minister V. K. Krishna Menon, the pro- these projects were one on rarefied gas dent of the Republic, passed away on 27 ject was inexplicably shelved – it was dynamics (with S. M. Deshpande), de- July 2015 as he had just begun to address Kalam’s first experience with the harsh veloping Monte Carlo codes for solving students at the Indian Institute of Man- realities of public decision-making. For- the Boltzmann equation on problems agement at Shillong. His death has taken tunately M. G. K. Menon (Director of such as determination of satellite drag, away one of the most remarkable and TIFR at the time), visiting ADE, was and another on high-velocity flows (with charismatic figures, not only in Indian quick to recognize Kalam’s unusual abi- N. M. Reddy) on heat transfer on nose science and technology but also in Gov- lities, drive and passion; this led to Vik- cones and in nozzles. This and a variety ernment, politics and public life. ram Sarabhai (who was then heading the of technical reviews took some of us to Kalam was born in Rameswaram Indian National Committee for Space Trivandrum every now and then. Mean- (Tamil Nadu) on 15 October 1931 to Research) hiring Kalam in 1964 as a while in 1972, following the untimely Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma, parents of Rocket Engineer at the Thumba Equato- passing away of Vikram Sarabhai the modest means whose income Kalam rial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) previous year when he was only 52, supported by selling newspapers when he near Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). Satish Dhawan had taken over as Chair- was a young boy. After schooling in the Here Kalam led a series of programmes man of a reorganized ISRO and heading neighbourhood, he went to Tiruchirap- including fibre-reinforced plastic tech- the newly established Space Commission palli in 1950, and obtained a B Sc in nology development, and was Chief and Department of Space. Physics from St Joseph’s College in Designer for a Rocket-Assisted Take-Off The development of an Indian SLV 1954. He found physics was not his cup system for aircraft. At that time the pro- that could put a small 40 kg class Indian of tea, and furthermore jobs for physi- gramme conceived by Sarabhai was still satellite into low-earth orbit quickly be- cists were scarce. So during the next in its initial stages; its assets, including came the most ambitious project on the three years he studied aeronautical engi- Kalam and some of his sounding rockets ISRO agenda. Kalam was appointed Pro- neering at the Madras Institute of Tech- and equipment, were housed in an ject Manager of the SLV-3 mission (as nology, where he obtained a Diploma ancient church building that had been the vehicle got to be designated). This (equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree, generously handed over by the Bishop of was a somewhat surprising appointment, DMIT), and went to HAL Bangalore for Trivandrum for use in Sarabhai’s pro- and there were members of the scientific shop-floor training. He wanted to be a jects. During some of the visits I made community who were skeptical about the pilot, but just missed being selected by there at that time, both guests and hosts, project’s chances of success, both within IAF. However he got a position at the including Kalam and his colleagues, and outside ISRO, and the adequacy of Directorate of Technical Development stayed at what was called the Rocket Kalam for the task. However Dhawan and Production (DTD&P (Air)) at Delhi Club in the City and ate at the Railway had seen enough of Kalam in operation in 1955, and three years later was posted Station: Kalam was a vegetarian, spoke to conclude that he was one person who to the Aeronautical Development Estab- only Tamil and English and was already had delivered on what he had promised, a popular figure among the engineers because of his remarkable ability to work working there, who affectionately called in teams and lead them. When the first him ‘Kalam Iyer’. launch failed in 1979 the fears of the In 1963 Kalam was sent to the US for pessimists seemed confirmed. However a six-month training programme on the second one launched a year later suc- sounding rocket launching techniques. ceeded, and placed a 35 kg Rohini satel- Years later the amusing suggestion was lite in a 400 km orbit. The story of what made that Kalam had learnt his space happened immediately after these two technology during that visit, but what at- events is well known: after the failure, tracted Kalam most was a painting at the Kalam wanted to resign, but Dhawan, Wallops Island facility, depicting Tipu who persuaded him to stay, faced the Sultan’s soldiers using rockets against press answering the inevitable awkward the British during the 18th century An- questions. After a long internal meeting glo-Mysore wars (– incidentally a subject analysing the causes of the failure, in which both of us have had a long- Kalam formally took responsibility for it, Kalam with a Mysore turban. standing shared interest). an admission that was followed by com- 814 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 109, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2015 PERSONAL NEWS plete silence in the meeting, till Dhawan concluded it saying ‘I am going to put Kalam in orbit!’. After the success of the second launch Dhawan chose to remain in the background and asked Kalam to go talk to the press. In many ways the SLV-3 was a turning point in the history of the Indian space programme. Success changed percep- tions, within ISRO and outside, about what Indian S&T could do. The engi- neers who had taken part in the project and Satish Dhawan, Brahm Prakash (Director of VSSC), and Kalam himself saw the success as confirmation of the validity of the elaborate technology man- agement system that had been set up to monitor the project. The system worked through a variety of technical reviews by teams that included experts from outside, Kalam and his ‘guru’ Satish Dhawan. methods for putting together teams of scientists from different divisions within VSSC and other ISRO centres, and a ser at the time) made ambitious plans for anybody who had been asked for help to variety of coordination mechanisms for a ‘quiver’ of five missiles. This must say No. Sivaraj Ramaseshan used to say ensuring smooth progress in the project. have been an exciting prospect for that Kalam could milk a tiger [or Failure of the first launch began to be Kalam, for he now had a whole pro- tigress?]! I recall vividly an instance seen as the first step to success. The out- gramme to implement as Chief Executive where a facility abroad that had promised look of the organization as a whole about Officer of an Integrated Guided Missile to make some essential high-speed tests their own capabilities became much Development project, which included for him withdrew the offer at the last more confident, and made it possible for Prithvi, Akash, Trishul, Nag and Agni. minute, upsetting project schedules. them to dream of bigger enterprises. In As with the SLV-3 the first flights of Kalam by then had a healthy respect for short, what later became famous as Prithvi and Agni were both failures, and what software (in the form of computa- ‘ISRO culture’ was born. revived once again the generally pessi- tional fluid dynamics, CFD) could do for As SLV development was completed, mistic view that still prevailed in spite of hardware, and asked me at that time Kalam went on to become Director of the SLV-3. But Prithvi was quickly fixed (around 1988/89?) whether we would ISRO Launch Vehicles/Systems and and had a successful launch only a few take on that task at NAL (which I was moved to Headquarters in Bangalore. weeks later. Agni took a little longer but then heading), with the help of scientists With Kalam in Bangalore interaction was it also succeeded. Kalam had confirmed from IISc and DRDL. The attraction of closer and more frequent, and with IISc the reputation that he already had ac- NAL was that my NAL colleague U. N. scientists it was facilitated by a Space quired regarding his ability to deliver on Sinha had already designed and built Technology Cell on the campus spon- what had been promised. some parallel computers which at that sored by ISRO. Using this association The Kalam style of technology man- time were the most powerful available with IISc, Kalam wanted to write a full agement and leadership had now become in the country.