When Mikhael and Sergei were students together at Dauria, a back of beyond region in Russia’s trans-Baikal region bordering region, little would they have imagined that they would team up with Indians, who also came out from smaller towns, to launch satellites.
The two Russians from a region known for crystal blue lakes and seasons divided between unremitting snow for half the year and rolling meadows for the remainder, next met at the Physics Olympics which Mikhail Kokorich won. It was when they were selected for admission at Novosibirsk University that they sensed their destinies were interlinked, narrates Sergei Ivanov, in a dapper suit while taking time off to talk on his cell phone with his company’s offices in the Silicon Valley and Munich.
The Indians too — Raghu Das, D. S Govindrajan and Sachida Padhi — chose career paths that differed from the usual trajectory of scientists\managers settling down to a life of security with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) or one of the corporate heavyweights that are contributors to its space launches.
“We are not publicity hungry. Our interaction is to keep people informed,” said Raghu Das who is the CEO of the company they named Aniara. For now, Aniara has signed an agreement with the Mikhael-Sergei venture Dauria under which the Russians will launch two small satellites while the Indians along with their colleagues Peter Ruderman and Sophie Grinevald will purchase and market their transponders to customers in the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Africa.
The agreement was announced at the prestigious Farnborugh International Airshow this July.
“This is the era of Space 2.0. Many scientists\managers are coming out of the government space, not just here but in Russia and the West, to meet the vast demand that exists,” points out Mr. Govindrajan.
The path to success is tough, they admit, sandwiched as they are between the big boys of outer space — the privatised space entities of the west and national entities of Russia, China and India.
For this they have decided to use gaps in spectrum that might not be used by established players.
Leaving the sloth associated with public sector entities behind them, the Indians and the Russians have no choice but to chart out a successful path for themselves for watching at close quarters are the venture capitalists who have put up $ 20 millions in funding.
