Bengaluru, Jan 3: Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K Sivan has acknowledged there is a feeling that very little happened in ISRO in 2021 with the last few months being a lull due to the impact of the Coronavirus.
During the previous year, the impact of the lockdowns was still evident and activities had to be carried out while following the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols of the government, he said.
“There is a feeling that very little happened in ISRO during 2021. That feeling is primarily due to less number of launches,” Sivan said in a new year message posted on the ISRO website. “The last few months were a lull period for ISRO, due to corona”.
“However, as Chairman, ISRO, I am extremely proud that all of you have made very significant contributions in continuing the operational missions, conceiving many new missions, undertaking many technology development initiatives, and planning for the next decade of space activities,” he told the employees of the space agency. Last year, ISRO had only two successful PSLV missions, including the one dedicated commercial mission by its commercial arm New Space India Limited (NSIL). GSLV F10 mission failed due to cryogenic stage anomaly. A national-level failure analysis committee was constituted and it has identified the rootcause and given its recommendations, according to Sivan.