
Lift the veil, abandon Soviet-era approach. Indian science community wants ISRO to up its PR game
He is part of a digital war. The aim is to awaken the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from its 55-year-old slumber by demanding better public outreach and engagement by the space agency around its space missions and technology development.
New Delhi: A science communicator and space enthusiast on social media under the pseudonym 'Gareeb Scientist' sat determined behind his keyboard Tuesday. As soon as the clock struck one, he hit enter on a flurry of posts on X, with the hashtag, 'ISROfixyourPR'.
The Indian science community is currently waging a war against the veil around ISRO-supported operations, fighting with memes, personal anecdotes and a carefully crafted list of its work, which has remained hidden from public discourse.
Many Indian social media accounts, which dedicatedly post space updates from ISRO, said the campaign started with the aim to highlight the lack of PR from the space agency. The issue also extended to big-ticket missions, such as the recent partnership between ISRO and US-based Axiom Space to jointly send Indian Air Force group captain Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS).
Experts said that the visibility of ISRO missions had improved over the last decade. However, they added, the burden of information dissemination remained limited to media houses and independent science communicators, who often obtained information outside of official statements.
Radha Krishna Kavuluru, a space technology expert and former ISRO scientist, said ISRO, in the coming years, would conduct some inspiring missions that could inspire an entire generation of future space scientists.
Kavuluru said that maximum public engagement would ensure that the public had an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of ISRO while they witnessed the indigenous scientific advancements.
'Keeping everything behind walls is a tradition of the Soviets. I am sure we are well past that age. Time to inspire and talk the walk,' Kavuluru told ThePrint.
Also Read: ISRO commercial arm invites private players to build LVM3 rocket that delivered Chandrayaan mission
Silence around recent missions
On 25 June, IAF group captain Shubhanshu Shukla kicked off his journey to the ISS as a member of the US-run Axiom-4 mission. He became the first Indian to set foot on the ISS, and after Rakesh Sharma, the second Indian to travel to space.
However, the buzz around the mission was limited to newspaper front pages and TV screens. The official social media pages of ISRO stayed content with reposting updates from the Union Minister of Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh.
Between the 1 June Axiom-4 launch and its 15 July return to Earth, ISRO made 24 posts on its X account about the Axiom-4 mission, including 19 reposts of posts by the science minister, the Prime Minister's Office, or the Public Information Bureau. The remaining five posts on the ISRO X account informed about the multiple postponements of the launch and the technical faults that SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket experienced.
In the same period, NASA, through its various X handles, did a run-up to the launch with at least one post per day, while reposting engagement posts by Axiom Space and SpaceX. The US space agency, in partnership with Axiom Space, organised interaction sessions with the astronauts and released not only individual profile films for each but also infographics for the rocket launch and space capsule travel trajectory, among other actions.
More recently, updates on missions, such as the demonstration of the advanced technology behind rendezvous, docking, and undocking of a spacecraft in space—SpaDeX—and the upcoming one-of-a-kind NASA-ISRO SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Mission or NISAR, a joint Earth observation mission, have been few and far in between.
On Monday, during the announcement of the NISAR launch date, ISRO's PR was limited to a post on X, as NASA held a formal press conference led by the team that will undertake the mission from the US space agency's end. The team members answered all media questions on all aspects of the mission. However, ISRO was not part of the press conference.
Vikranth Jonna, a 22-year-old engineer with Hyderabad-based space tech startup Dhruva Space, listed the 'crazy cool' work ISRO has done for the mission. 'ISRO is currently building methalox engines, quantum communications, human spaceflight, reusable rockets, two landers to the Moon, a mission to Venus and a lander to Mars,' Jonna said.
'Give us more opportunities to appreciate our scientists and engineers. Show us your glory,' he added.
ISRO refused to respond to ThePrint's request for a response to the ongoing social media campaign. A senior scientist confirmed to ThePrint that ISRO had 'gotten better' in its PR game but accepted that compared to its counterparts, such as NASA or European Space Agency (ESA), there is a long way to go.
'Of course, there is always room for improvement. But you need to acknowledge that the space sector in India has only started opening up, and some projects still need to operate with secrecy,' the scientist said.
Also Read: Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka to serve as 'manufacturing hubs' for India's homegrown space dreams
Global competition
From photos of astronauts working on the ISS and open-source data from active satellites to an easy-to-understand space glossary, the space PR game of NASA and its laboratories is top-class.
Apart from its active presence, all over social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and X, NASA has also been engaging with the general public through its programmes, such as the 'Get involved with NASA', where they invite members of the public to contribute their time and expertise to advancing research and solving problems, as well as potentially winning prizes as a result of their work.
Its 'Citizen Science' project is open to the public all over the world and aims to collaborate with volunteers to promote discoveries.
'More than 450 NASA citizen scientists have been [so far] named as co-authors on refereed scientific publications,' the NASA website reads.
Over the last few years, the ESA, China National Space Administration and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency have also caught on. The agencies realised the global space domain was not only about what happened inside the laboratories, but that a significant portion of their space programme success also depended on how they presented themselves. For instance, the Japanese agency has been organising open houses, town meetings and laboratory tours to help promote the work happening at those sites.
Mobilising interest in space
When his 16-year-old nephew asked Kavuluru where he could find the link to a documentary on the ISRO Astrosat and Aditya-L1 missions—something on the lines of NASA's 'Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey' and 'Apollo-11'—the former ISRO scientist was hit with a sensation of embarrassment.
'He wanted to study how ISRO does deep space missions. I had no response because no such documentaries exist … Why is this the case? When we have done such complex missions and are observing the Sun and the stars, shouldn't Indian students have the luxury to observe them too?' Kavuluru asked.
While ISRO missions remain under the shadows of mystery, the movie, as well as the OTT industry, has so far been cashing in on the public appetite for India's space success story. The Indian audiences have accepted 'Mission Mangal', 'Rocket Boys', 'Rocketry—The Nambi Effect', and 'Mission over Mars' with rave reviews. Be it Akshay Kumar portraying space pioneer Rakesh Dhawan, or R. Madhavan acting as senior scientist Nambi Narayanan—they have happily lapped it all up, with a feeling of pride.
Now, they need an opportunity to applaud their real heroes.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Russian rocket takes off with US astronaut on board, Putin's envoy hails joint space effort
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
Who is Agastya Goel? Indian-origin teen wins gold in Physics Olympaid; 'did physics in front of the Taj Mahal'
The US Physics Team won five gold medals at the 2025 International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), held from July 17 to 25 at Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau, Paris. Competing under the theme 'Physics Beyond Frontiers,' the American delegation stood out among participants from 85 countries as the only team to secure gold across the board. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The 2025 US Physics Team gold medallists are: Agastya Goel Allen Li Joshua Wang Feodor Yevtushenko Brian Zhang The olympiad was organised by the AAPT. The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), founded in 1930 and based in College Park, Maryland, is a global organization for physics educators and scientists. It promotes physics education through awards, publications, and programs that support teaching, professional development, and excellence in the field. Who is Agastya Goel? Agastya Goel, an Indian-origin student, sone of Harvard professor Ashish Goel, is a junior at Henry M Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. Beyond excelling in physics, his interests are broad and eclectic, ranging from tennis, hiking, stargazing, and singing, to playing guitar and piano, as well as listening to podcasts on news, economics, and science. He enjoys frisbee and board games with friends and is actively involved in several school clubs, including the Gunn Board Game Club, Gunn Competitive Programming Club, Gunn Varsity Tennis Team, and Gunn Choir. His achievements include an IOI Gold in 2023, USACO Finalist titles in 2024, 2023, and 2022, participation in MOP 2023, and recognition as a USAPhO Semifinalist with a 2023 Silver and 2022 Honourable Mention. He was also part of PRIMES-USA in 2023 and is a multiple-time Honor Choir Participant. From June 2021 to February 2024, he also worked as a part-time researcher at Euler Circle in Palo Alto. He also knows Hindi and Spanish according to his LinkedIn profile. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Goel's early fascination with physics began during long car rides and hikes with his father. While his first competitive experience came through the USACO competition series, beginning preparation in sixth grade and qualifying for training camp as a freshman, his passion for physics truly flourished this year. He spent 14 days of his winter break immersed in Kevin Zhou's physics handouts, even studying in front of the Taj Mahal. That experience cemented his love for the subject. Reflecting on his journey, Goel says he once thought computer science would be his college path, but after diving into physics, he realised he had discovered another passion.


Hans India
2 hours ago
- Hans India
NISAR satellite mission result of global teamwork and tech: ISRO
New Delhi: The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), slated for launch next week, is a result of global teamwork and technology, said the Indian space agency. NISAR is the first joint satellite mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA. NISAR will be launched by ISRO's GSLV-F16 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR) in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota at 5.40 pm. It will be the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle's (GSLV) first launch into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The NISAR launch is the result of strong technical cooperation between ISRO and NASA/JPL technical teams for more than a decade. 'Built across continents in phases, NISAR is a result of global teamwork and tech. NISAR came together through years of integration and testing,' said ISRO, in a post on social media platform X. ISRO noted that NISAR has created a milestone of firsts. NISAR is the 'first dual-band radar satellite, it is the first GSLV to SSO, and the first ISRO-NASA Earth observing mission'. The GSLV-F16 will inject the NISAR satellite into a 743 km Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 98.4 degrees. 'Two space agencies. One big win for Earth. NISAR is the first time @NASA and @ISRO have built Earth science hardware together. This powerful satellite will track changes on land and ice, from areas at risk for landslides and earthquakes to shifting glaciers and ice sheets,' NASA Earth shared in a post on X. Weighing 2,392 kg, NISAR is a unique Earth observation satellite and the first satellite to observe the Earth with a dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (NASA's L-band and ISRO's S-band), both using NASA's 12m unfurlable mesh reflector antenna, integrated to ISRO's modified I3K satellite bus. NISAR will observe Earth with a swath of 242 km and high spatial resolution, using SweepSAR technology for the first time. "The satellite will scan the entire globe and provide all-weather, day and night data at a 12-day interval, enabling a wide range of applications. NISAR can detect even small changes in the Earth's surface, such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement, and vegetation dynamics," according to ISRO. The mission will support many critical applications, including sea ice monitoring, ship detection, storm tracking, soil moisture changes, surface water mapping, and disaster response.


NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA's Weaknesses, ISRO's Strengths
The upcoming rocket launch from Sriharikota can be aptly summed as 'NASA's envy, India's pride!' The rocket the Americans tried to kill will now launch a billion-dollar bird. The very unique Earth imaging satellite jointly made by India and US named the 'NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar' (NISAR) satellite, is a technological marvel and would be a game-changer in saving lives from impending natural disasters. That the world's oldest democracy, US, and the world's largest democracy, India, are working together on this most expensive satellite that has cost upwards of $1.3 billion. It is a testament to the growing Indo-US bonhomie and strategic ties. But this mission also exposes the double standards the US exercised on India in yesteryears and is also ironical that America's most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite ever made will be launched using an Indian launcher - the same rocket Americans wanted to desperately scuttle and kill its development in the early nineties. ISRO persevered relentlessly for nearly two decades and succeeded so much so that now top officials from NASA will actually be present at India's space port to witness the historic liftoff on July 30. According to ISRO, the NISAR satellite weighs 2,392 kg, and it will scan the entire globe and provide all-weather, day-and-night data at a 12-day interval and enable a wide range of applications. NISAR can detect changes in the Earth's surface, such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement, and vegetation dynamics. It will be launched using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 2 (GSLV Mark 2), which will be powered by an indigenously developed cryogenic engine - the same technology that the US administration, especially its Bureau of Export Control, wanted to deny to India by working overtime with the then USSR. It was the 1990s and India was steadily developing its rockets and wanted to acquire the sophisticated cryogenic engine technology from the then USSR. It was under American pressure that Russia did not do technology transfer to India, but instead gave about half a dozen ready-made cryogenic engines to India. Subsequently, India struggled for nearly twenty years before mastering the complexities of cryogenic engine technology. The Americans used all the power of technology denials, sanctions at their disposal to try and make sure India did not acquire this technology. But then these tech-denials turned a blessing in disguise, and the scientists at ISRO toiled hard, and today it is the home-made cryogenic engine which will launch the NISAR satellite. Some would say this is an irony of ironies, and some would say it is egg on the face of US. Dr V Narayanan, chairman of ISRO, had helped India master the cryogenic engine, which makes it a proud moment for him to see the NISAR sticker on the payload fairing of the rocket that houses the cryogenic engine inside. At the end of the day, the US scientists have swallowed their pride and are sheepishly going to watch the launch of a satellite where they have invested nearly $ 1.15 billion. It is this exorbitant cost by NASA that should also be a reason for Americans to squirm and be uncomfortable. Wendy Edelstein, NISAR's Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), asserted, "NISAR is a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ISRO. It represents the largest collaboration in space between the United States and India." Interestingly, India has spent about Rs 800 crores on the NISAR project, which works out a little less than $100 million. NASA confirmed that it included 'ISRO investment for development, launch operations, and mission operations'. NASA has contributed the L-band radar, which penetrates vegetation and soil to reveal subsurface changes, while ISRO has provided the S-band radar, optimised for detecting surface-level features like foliage and terrain. These radars are mounted on a 12-meter mesh reflector antenna, roughly the size of a school bus, allowing the satellite to scan nearly all of Earth's land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days. India has not only contributed the equivalent S-band radar, but is also providing the rocket and the launch port and launch services, so why NASA's cost is $1.1589 billion and ISRO's cost is just $100 million? Here lies the heartwarming tale of Indian frugal engineering and cost optimization: It shows the profligate approach to engineering adopted by NASA. When quizzed by the US media on the issue of costs, Nikki Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said at a briefing, "I will defer to them [ISRO] on their final costs". There are many reasons behind the huge cost incurred by NASA, one of them being that most of the development of the instruments and payloads they fly are made by huge multi-national corporations and they not only need huge profits but also need to share dividends with their share-holders. ISRO, on the other hand, being a national entity does these things in-house and has no reason to pad up the cost to share profits with share-holders. Additonally, an ISRO official said that when their scientists travel to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena in California, they would stay in shared $100 a day room while the NASA scientists when they travel to the UR Rao Satellite Center in Bengaluru would stay in an over $500 a day room. This automatically inflates the costs. Also, India usually makes only one instrument the one that will fly into space, while NASA makes an engineering model and flight model, which leads to doubling the cost. The way human power is distributed is also very different between NASA and ISRO at the Indian space agency. In the case of NISAR, which has taken over 11 years to build, the teams at ISRO working on multiple satellites and the salaries in India also turn out to be much lower when converted into dollar terms. The top manager at ISRO also pointed out that ISRO engineers are willing to put in long hours and work over weekends, while the US contract engineers are reluctant to put in long hours. The premium for insurance also adds to the costs at ISRO since the government takes the full liability and no insurance is taken, In other countries, insurance premiums can be a huge cost. Incidentally, when India launched its communication satellite using the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, India also took insurance. This huge difference in NASA's and ISRO's costs remains a huge enigma for the making of the NISAR satellite, which was made with an understanding of equal partnership. Not just NISAR, there are still many bitter-sweet oddities in the Indo-US space relationship. India's first rocket launched from Thumba on November 21, 1963. It was an American Nike Apache rocket and the world got its first direct-to-home television broadcast - thanks to the Satellite Instruction Television Experiment (SITE) in 1975 pioneered in rural India. Then came the era of sanctions, which ended only when the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Deal was inked in 2008. Despite the sanctions, ISRO opened its heart out and flew two American instruments to the moon on Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 free of cost. This is contrast with the 2025 Astronaut mission of Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station using the Axiom-4 flight where India shelled out hard cash of about $70 million for this single seat to the Americans. Interestingly, when the two democracies have worked together, they have had fruitful outcomes. It was Chandrayaan-1 which discovered the presence of water on the lunar surface, opening up flood gates for the colonisation of the moon. And now, on the NISAR mission, when NASA had all but given up the making of this costly satellite as its other foreign partners had backed out, it was ISRO that stepped in in 2014 and said ,'let us forge this partnership to make the world's single most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite'. Hence, today the $1.3 billion NISAR satellite, which is sometimes also referred to as the NISARGA satellite, has been conceived in the true spirit of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or the 'world is one family,' concept, and sits atop the rocket ready for lift off from Sriharikota in the true spirit of 'vishwa bandhu'. The contrast in cost structures, the cultural differences in engineering ethos, and the historical ironies are a compelling story of resilience, frugality, and strategic partnership. Life, in a way, is coming full circle for US and India, as the friendship grows to explore the unknown frontiers of space. India's frugal technology development, when clubbed with the US high technology can lead to a huge cosmic leap.