The Nambi Conspiracy – How Politicians and Vested Interests denied India its Cryogenic Engine
“I would like to emphasize that security can be endangered not only from outside but also from within. That is why we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and the society” - Dr Vikram Sarabhai
These ominous words of the father of the Indian space program Vikram Sarabhai came true on 30th Nov 1994. It was on this day Indian space ambition suffered one of its massive setbacks when Nambi Narayanan, the top scientist in the field of cryogenic engine technology which would have enabled India to launch heavier satellites into orbit, was falsely implicated. The sad irony was Narayanan and his team were very close to perfecting the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that could hoist payloads to the geosynchronous ...