Monday, October 3, 2011

India's New Spaceport:The Offshore Option

For weeks, speculation has been swirling about India's plans to build a new launch site. Selecting a proper site somewhere close to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota might seem like the most logical solution, but other coastal sites along India's east coast anywhere from Andhra Pradesh to Orissa might prove to be suitable.

Dr K. Radhakrishnan, ISRO's Chairman and Secretary, has hinted that a concerted effort might get underway next year, and that India will aggressively pursue smaller foreign payloads in particular once this new launch site is completed.

Competiton for this space business segment will surely intensify as new players including SpaceX join in the chase for these same lucrative launches.

The Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on Orissa's coast - along with Wheeler Island close by to the south - seems a long shot at this point as a potential site.

ISRO's list does not include an offshore option or at least none has been mentioned to date. The curious coincidence that sparked this column surrounds the restart of the Sea Launch venture which, after months of uncertainty and critical financial restructuring, conducted a successful launch late last month in the Pacific Ocean, the company's first launch since 2009.

Keep in mind that India's southwest coast and major southern ports are much closer to the Equator than Long Beach, California which serves as Sea Launch's home port.

Long Beach is where the Odyssey Launch Platform and its support vessels are based including the Sea Launch Commander which serves the venture's floating operations center. A Zenit-3SL launch vehicle carried a 4600 kg satellite aloft in this instance. A converted oil platform serves as the venture's launch platform at sea.

Sea Launch Company's Chapter 11 reorganization process was completed last October. Russia-based Energia Overseas Limited emerged as the majority owner of Sea Launch S.a.r.l. as the new company is known, while Energia Logistics Ltd., a U.S. corporation, will assume management of
rocket assembly and satellite integration operations. Boeing is retaining a much reduced 3 per cent stake in Sea Launch.

All of this was approved by the so-called Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

In 2010, no Indian company attempted to purchase this distressed venture and the purpose of this commentary is not to discuss the feasibility or soundness of such a move. Instead, this writer wonders if Sea Launch offers India an important lesson.

It is readily apparent that at least some of India's shipyards are seeking to be reprogrammed in a significant way and this might open the door to an Indian version of Sea Launch. Why not? On the southeast coast of India, are shipbuilding facilities filled to capacity with new hulls? This is not an automatic setup for rocket launching, and much needs to be done to covert otherwise idle shipyard capacity in search of a business application into a 21st Century home port for a space venture.

India should look hard at why such an a concept might be exciting. Rapid reloading of an offshore platform is one consideration for sure along with the attraction of enhanced safety. Yes, an engineering challenge looms and the sea itself must be closely studied. However, ISRO should not turn a blind eye entirely the offshore option. Of course, a chat with the eager Russians on the Sea Launch team is in order.