awareness of Stage IV problems through the supportive counselling of Prof . Curien , Prof . Sarabhai ’ s catalytic intervention led Prof . Curien to reinterpret his own progress in the Diamont programme .
Prof . Curien advised Prof . Sarabhai to relieve me of all the minor jobs which posed little challenge and to give me more opportunities for achievement . He was so impressed by our well-planned efforts that he inquired if we could make the Diamont ’ s fourth stage . I recall how this brought a subtle smile to Prof . Sarabhai ’ s face .
As a matter of fact , the Diamont and SLV airframes were incompatible . The diameters were quite different and to attain interchangeability , some radical innovations were required . I wondered where I should start . I decided to look around for solutions among my own colleagues . I used to carefully observe my colleagues to see if their daily routine reflected their desire to constantly experiment . I also started asking and listening to anyone who showed the slightest promise . Some of my friends cautioned me about what they termed as my naivete . I made it an unfailing routine to make notes on individual suggestions and gave handwritten notes to colleagues in engineering and design , requesting concrete follow-up action within five or ten days .
This method worked wonderfully well . Prof . Curien testified , while reviewing our progress , that we had achieved in a year ’ s time what our counterparts in Europe could barely manage in three years . Our plus point , he noted , was that each of us worked with those below and above in the hierarchy . I made it a point to have the team meet at least once every week . Though it took up time and energy , I considered it essential .
How good is a leader ? No better than his people and their commitment and participation in the project as full partners ! The fact that I got them all together to share whatever little development had been achieved — results , experiences , small successes , and the like — seemed to me worth putting all my energy and time into . It was a very small price to pay for that commitment and sense of teamwork , which could in fact be called trust . Within my own small group of people I found leaders , and learned that leaders exist at every level . This was another important aspect of management that I learned .
We had modified the existing SLV-IV Stage design to suit the Diamont airframe . It was reconfigured and upgraded from a 250 kg , 400 mm diameter stage to a 600 kg , 650 mm diameter stage . After two years ’ effort , when we were about to deliver it to CNES , the French suddenly cancelled their Diamont BC programme . They told us that they did not need our Stage IV anymore . It was a great shock , making me re-live the earlier disappointments at Dehra Dun , when I failed to get into the Air Force , and at Bangalore , when the Nandi project was aborted at ADE .
I had invested great hope and effort in the fourth stage , so that it could be flown with a Diamont rocket . The other three stages of SLV , involving enormous work in the area of rocket propulsion were at least five years away . However , it did not take me long to shelve the disappointment of Diamont BC Stage IV . After all , I had thoroughly enjoyed working on this project . In time , RATO filled the vacuum created in me by the Diamont BC Stage .
When the RATO project was underway , the SLV project slowly started taking shape . Competence for all major systems of a launch vehicle had been established in Thumba by now . Through their outstanding efforts , Vasant Gowarikar , MR Kurup and Muthunayagam prepared TERLS for a big leap in rocketry .