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# Being on the NSI podcast
- URL: https://balaustine.mymagic.page/being-on-the-nsi-podcast/
- Published: 2020-01-18T19:40:53.000Z
- Updated: 2020-01-18T19:40:53.000Z
- Author: VM
- Tags: Scicomm, Chandrayaan 2, Indian Space Research Organisation, Jonathan McDowell, NewSpace India, podcast, SatSearch, space journalism, TS Kelso, two-line element set, #Migrated-1787484114599, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-23 11:22

Narayan Prasad, the CEO of SatSearch, hosts a popular podcast called NewSpace India. Every episode, he hosts one person and they talk about something related to the Indian and international space programmes. I was the guest for the episode published January 17, available to listen [here](https://newspaceindia.transistor.fm/episodes/challenges-of-dealing-with-isro-as-a-science-communicator?ref=balaustine.mymagic.page) (on transistor.fm), in which NP and I discussed India's space journalism scene and ISRO's public outreach policies.

Addendum: Where I'm talking about the comparisons between Jonathan McDowell and T.S. Kelso in the West and members of the ISRO subreddit, I repeatedly come back to the 'not enough information' bit. But later, I realised I should've added that McDowell and Kelso, and others, were probably encouraged to pursue their hobbies by access to knowledge and freely available information whereas India's space-sleuths, so to speak, seem to be prompted more by the lack of information and knowledge about the national spaceflight programme.

So the former is a *productive* exercise whereas the latter is *compensatory*, and whose members' efforts can be spared – or put to better use in other directions – if only ISRO spoke up more.

Another thing is that I may have overstated the extent to which I'm willing to forgive ISRO its PR fumbles because it's an outreach noob. I meant to say that if ISRO can be cut any kind of slack, it would have to be on this front alone – but even then not much, and certainly not to any extent that would cede enough room for it to engage in the sort of coverup exercise it did with [the CY-2 fiasco](https://thewire.in/tag/Chandrayaan-2?ref=balaustine.mymagic.page) in September 2019.

NP is among the most knowledgable members of India's space science and spaceflight communities, and has consulted for ISRO as well as a number of private companies on policy, strategy and business. I regularly follow his articles and his podcast, and I recommend you do too if you want to get a handle on the ins and outs of India's modern spaceflight endeavour. The podcast is also available on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/newspace-india/id1471664524?ref=balaustine.mymagic.page), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1RkXBOS3OguGX3EjAodDZW?ref=balaustine.mymagic.page) and [other platforms](https://www.newspaceindia.com/?ref=balaustine.mymagic.page).