THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A group of former senior scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday alleged that several claims made by space scientist and former colleague Nambi Narayanan in the recently released movie ‘Rocketry: the Nambi effect’ were lies.
The group — led by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) founding director A E Muthunayakam and comprising eminent scientists like former VSSC associate director Adimurthy, former cryogenic engine project director E V S Namboodiri, former PSLV project director George Koshy, and D Sasikumaran who had been falsely implicated along with Nambi in the ISRO espionage case — told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram they were forced to convene a news conference as Nambi was continuing his lie campaign, belittling the work of thousands of space scientists through the cinema and television channel debates.
“Nambi never had any responsibility in the development of liquid propulsion stages, independent of me, outside my domain of propulsion system development activities,” Muthunayagam said. The film directed by Madhavan portrays Nambi as the brain behind the liquid propulsion stages.
“Nambi claims to have worked closely with Vikram Sarabhai, Dhawan and Brahm Prakash, the stalwarts of ISRO, in evolving the space programme. The sinister motive behind this claim is highly questionable. He was reporting to me, not to Dr Brahm Prakash, and his claims that he had worked closely with Brahm Prakash is not based on facts,” he said.
The scientists said the development of the cryogenic propulsion system happened after a report by experts, under the leadership of E V S Namboodiri, recommended its development for the launch vehicle of ISRO.
Disputing the claim of Nambi that his arrest had delayed the development of the cryogenic technology, the scientists quoted documents and said one-ton thrust regenerative cooled cryogenic thrust chamber was developed in 1996 and a 12-ton thrust chamber in 1998.
Other successful developments — like the first-time flight performance demonstration in the GSLV-MK-III D5, which happened in 2014, and the development of the C25 stage for GSLV MK-III vehicle -- happened between 2002 and 2017.“These developments took place after Nambi left LPSC in 1994,” Muthunayakam said.