ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

US blacklisting of Indian entities won't hit space programme: experts

Experts in the four Thiruvananthapuram-based space organisations said the Unites States' decision to blacklist Indian entities does not deserve any anxiety or apprehension if viewed from a positive angle.

The embargo would not have any serious impact on the space programmes, they said.

''Whatever be the impact, there is no need for any concern if the mood among the scientists and others after the embargo is any indication.''

The Liquid Propulsion Centre, the Indian Space Research Organisation's inertial systems unit, Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station and the Space Physics Laboratory are among the organisations blacklisted by the US.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the experts said their dependence on the US was more in electronics. With regard to other areas, the import of hi-tech items from the US was only about 10 per cent.

The experts said India could now stand on its own legs in the area of launch vehicle, though it was not possible to immediately predict the impending impact of the embargo on other areas.

Pointing out that embargo was not a new phenomenon, they said there was a similar experience earlier after the successful launch of Space Launch Vehicle-3 in 1980.

The experts hoped to take the new embargo as a challenge, as on earlier occasions. ''We have developed cryogenic technology when the Soviet Union succumbed to the US pressures in 1993 and denied the technology to India. The present embargo would also provide thrust to those areas that are likely to be adversely affected. This would ultimately result in the development of our own technologies or to find out alternative sources from other European countries.''

The experts hope that the present sanctions should help remind all those concerned, the need for achieving self-sufficiency in our space and related programmes.

The experts said the US had imposed certain restrictions on defence and space-related establishments after the Pokhran nuclear tests. The ISRO was also not exempted. All these were just formalised now through the official announcement made on November 14.

Sources at the Indian Rare Earths Limited at Chavara said the embargo would in no way affect the functioning of the minerals recovery plant. Most of the machinery being used at the plant was manufactured in Australia and Germany. There would not be any difficulty in getting spare parts of these hi-tech machines despite the US ban.

However, some of the machines were old ones and were made in the United States. But the spare parts need not be obtained from that country, as they could be indigenously developed by the IREL itself.

The company had successfully survived the indirect ban in vogue in the past six months, sources claimed.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report