Wings of fire - Sir APJ ABDUL KALAM Wings of fire | Page 56

Dr Brahm Prakash advised me to take care of the
performance degraders and cautioned me against
outrightly seeking optimal performance from the
participating work centres. “Everyone will work to create
their bit of SLV; your problem is going to be your
dependency on others in accomplishing the total SLV. The
SLV mission will be accomplished with, and through, a
large number of people. You will require a tremendous
amount of tolerance and patience,” he said. It reminded me
of what my father used to read to me from the Holy Qur’an
on the distinction between right and wrong: “We have sent
no apostle before you who did not eat or walk about the
market squares. We test you by means of one another. Will
you not have patience?”
I was aware of the contradiction that often occurred in
such situations. People heading teams often have one of
the following two orientations: for some, work is the most
important motivation; for others, their workers are the all-
consuming interest. There are many others who fall either
between these two positions or outside them. My job was
going to be to avoid those who were interested neither in
the work nor in the workers. I was determined to prevent
people from taking either extreme, and to promote
conditions where work and workers went together. I
visualized my team as a group in which each member
worked to enrich the others in the team and experience the
enjoyment of working together.
The primary objectives of the SLV Project were design,
development and operation of a standard SLV system,
SLV-3, capable of reliably and expeditiously fulfilling the
specified mission of launching a 40 kg satellite into a 400
km circular orbit around the earth.
As a first step, I translated the primary project objectives
into some major tasks. One such task was the development
of a rocket motor system for the four stages of the vehicle.
The critical problems in the completion of this task were:
making an 8.6 tonne propellant grain and a high mass ratio
apogee rocket motor system which would use highenergy
propellants. Another task was vehicle control and guidance.
Three types of control systems were involved in this task—
aerodynamic surface control, thrust vector control and
reaction control for the first, second and third stages and
the spin-up mechanism for the fourth stage. Inertial
reference for control systems and guidance through inertial
measurement was also imperative. Yet another major task
was the augmentation of launch facilities at SHAR with
systems integration and checkout facilities and
development of launch support systems such as launchers
and vehicle assembly fixtures. A target of ‘all line’ flight test
within 64 months was set in March 1973.
I took up the executive responsibility of implementing
the project within the framework of policy decisions taken,
the approved management plan, and the project report; and
also within the budget and through the powers delegated to
me by the Director, VSSC. Dr Brahm Prakash formed four
Project Advisory Committees to advise me on specialized
areas like rocket motors, materials and fabrication, control
and guidance, electronics, and mission and launching. I
was assured of the guidance of outstanding scientists like
DS Rane, Muthunayagam, TS Prahlad, AR Acharya, SC
Gupta, and CL Amba Rao, to name a few.
The Holy Qur’an says: “We have sent down to you
revelations showing you an account of those who have
gone before you and an admonition to righteous men.” I
sought to share the wisdom of these extremely brilliant
people. “Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He