Thread by @Chethan_Dash

Here we go. #Update #Thread:

Techno-commercial evaluation of 3 shortlisted bids seeking the contract for manufacturing 5 #PSLVs — @isro workhorse for nearly 30yrs — has been done by @NSIL_India. This takes process of industry building it one step closer to realisation. 1/n

@NSIL_India is now working out work-share modalities and thereby, the costing. A crucial meeting is expected to be scheduled this week, following which the price bids will be opened before the awarding of the contract. 2/n

As reported by me earlier, the three entities are: A consortium of HAL and L&T; a consortium comprising BEL, Adani-led Alpha Design and BEML, and the third is BHEL which is competing as a single firm. 3/n

Given the complexity involved, Isro is expected to still carry out some part of the work for these missions even as a majority of the work will be done by the industry that bags the contract. 4/n

A senior official from @NSIL_India told me: “...PSLV is a very complex system. Doing the entire costing and identifying the responsibilities and thereby the share of cost, is being worked out. Because eventually the total mission cost will include all of these things.” 5/n

Another source said that there are two major components NSIL is looking at: The industry’s scope of work and Isro’s scope of work. 6/n

“While the industry will realise each of the 4 stages, some strategic items like separation systems, pyro, intertial systems etc will lie with @isro. Processes relating to mission ops — trajectory design, launch campaign etc will have to be done by Isro,” the source said. 7/n

The official, while stating @isro workshare is expected to be only around 20%, said: “...We’re even looking at asking the industry to do the first-stage stacking on the launchpad with Isro guidance, while the remaining stages will be done by Isro… 8/n

…Maybe after the first three vehicles have successfully carried out missions, we would consider allowing private players to do all four stages.” 9/n

As per the department of space (DoS), the contract will not only boost the Make-in-India initiative of the Centre, but will also enhance Isro’s ability to launch more satellites each year. 10/n

Both NSIL and DoS, however, are also mindful of the need to maintain the PSLV’s reputation given that all of the commercial business, especially foreign launches, depends on it. 11/n

“We cannot afford a PSLV mission to fail given all that is at stake. All measures will be in place to ensure that the launch vehicle continues to have its reputation of being an extremely reliable rocket… 12/n

...While the industry will do the quality checks at the time of hardware realisation, QA (quality assessment) will be done by Isro which will issue a QA certification before accepting hardware,” the official added. 13/n