India Can Develop A Space Station, Says ISRO Chief

[That Guy]

To be more practical, whats the long term gain out of this?

Space race. The medium to long term, this would give India a permanent presence in space, thus giving it better methods to spy on other nations. It would also allow India to keep an eye on its nation's environment, plus in the LOOOONG term, it would also give India experience in space exploration, leading to possible Indian colonization on other planets....no, I'm not joking. NASA, SpaceX, ESA, and CNSA...etc, are all planning permanent structures on the moon, and on other planets (mars being the obvious example).

 

[PRC]

Space race. The medium to long term, this would give India a permanent presence in space, thus giving it better methods to spy on other nations. It would also allow India to keep an eye on its nation's environment, plus in the LOOOONG term, it would also give India experience in space exploration, leading to possible Indian colonization on other planets....no, I'm not joking. NASA, SpaceX, ESA, and CNSA...etc, are all planning permanent structures on the moon, and on other planets (mars being the obvious example).

Extracting resources from meteors, Mars and moon is also one of them. The NASA center in Orlando, Fl has a good representation model of how human can colonize and extract resources from Mars. Although it might seem too fancy at this point specially in context to India but this is what every space agency of advanced countries are targeting (including China).

 

[Genesis]

So....? Every country has the capabilities to do a lot of things. China can do a manned moon mission right now, but to do that would stop every other project in its tracks.

The question isn't can India do it. Of course it can, it's 2017, space stations are not a secret or a fantasy, the question is will it happen tomorrow?

This is probably taken out of context, I hate these kind of articles, 2 hour interviews, you take 2 sentences out of it to make a thing of it.

To be more practical, whats the long term gain out of this?

Are you questioning the usefulness of a space station?

Due to the nature of ISRO's particular brand of success, certain people have assumed making money is the key to these type of agencies. They are not. Though there is nothing wrong with it, but it should not be the main focus, and I doubt that it is the main focus of ISRO. It just so happens that this is the most prominent of the many projects it currently has.

Most satellite launches sounds sexy, because of the most, even if a soft landing to the moon later would be a far bigger accomplishment.

Elon Musk can no more design a rocket as he can of designing a suit. SpaceX is the result of decades of investment into space, that up to this point has offered up almost nothing in terms of revenue to NASA itself. Miniature designs of electronics is also a product of space ventures.

The key to NASA, ISRO is not to make money, but to lead the nation in innovations. They are like universities, by themselves they lose money. However, in the grand scheme of things, they do matter very much and that is why all governments subsidies them to a great degree.

 

[tw00tw00]

India can also become a superpower by... oh wait...

India to become superpower by 2012: Kalam

UDHAGAMANDALAM: Former President A P J Abdul Kalam today lauded ISRO's scientists for successfully launching the PSLV-C9 to put 10 satellites in orbit.

Besides, the Chandrayaan-I unmanned moon mission by the year end would add another feather in the country's space programme, Kalam, here to participate in a school function, said.

India has become very advanced in space technology, he said, adding the country would become a superpower by 2012.

"Though I have envisioned India to become a superpower by 2020, the attitude and the confidence of the youth, to conquer everything in the right spirit, would make the country a global leader and super power within five years," Kalam told reporters.

 

[Indika]

Space station is an expensive endeavor , as of now I dont think we will gain much out of it. Lets wait for some more years before getting into fancy projects. Probably we can indulge in technology demonstrators rather than going full hog.

 

[Deadpool]

I don't think a space station should be a priority,that should be increasing launch payload to 10 tonnes and manned space mission

I don't think it would even be possible to create a space station without taking our payload capacity to 10 tons.

How will the modules be inserted into orbit. These modules are large, not like the small satellites we currently launch.

Launch capability of over 10 tons should be the number 1 priority for ISRO now onwards.

 

[hembo]

In the article he is talking about a "manned space station", but ISRO has said they won't even begin testing for manned spaceflight until 2024 at the earliest.

Though to be fair I think India's focus on commercial satellite launching is a good idea. It seems very profitable.

We can take help of you guys. China has recently sent two astronauts to space station successfully.

Or, use Elon Musk's re-entry vehicles till we develop our own.

Mutual cooperation is the only way forward to successful space & science endeavors in the future. Meanwhile, politically/ defence wise, all are welcome to the non-stop dick measurement contests that goes around here.

 

[Dungeness]

In the article he is talking about a "manned space station", but ISRO has said they won't even begin testing for manned spaceflight until 2024 at the earliest.

Though to be fair I think India's focus on commercial satellite launching is a good idea. It seems very profitable.

Here is what ISRO said back 2009:

Saturday, January 17, 2009 : 1850 Hrs Hindu

Chennai, Jan 17 (PTI) ISRO has begun working on the Rs 425-crore second unmanned moon mission to be launched by early 2012 following the success of Chandrayaan-I, a top ISRO official said here on Saturday.

Chandrayaan-II will focus on soil and mineral exploration on the lunar surface with the help of a robotic device and send back data, Chandrayaan Project Director Mayilsamy Annadurai told reporters here.

The work had begun on the project and it was likely to be launched by end of 2011 or early 2012, he said. ISRO plans to send a manned flight to space in 2015 and the manned mission to the moon in 2020, he added.

About Chandrayaan-I, he said it has beamed 40,000 pictures since its launch.

The stakeholders of the project would meet soon to discuss the information beamed by India's successful lunar mission, Annadurai said.

 

[prandtl]

There was some recent news about mr kiran kumar saying something about manned mission is not our priority, doesn't that mean he is downplaying the manned mission?

 

[Bad Guy]

leading to possible Indian colonization on other planets....no, I'm not joking. NASA, SpaceX, ESA, and CNSA...etc, are all planning permanent structures on the moon, and on other planets (mars being the obvious example).

Even ISRO has once mentioned for setting up telescope on Moon.
PS, Cdy-2 probe going next year is for examining moon soil for Titanium and Helium 3 content.

In the article he is talking about a "manned space station", but ISRO has said they won't even begin testing for manned spaceflight until 2024 at the earliest.

If you will read the article again, testing had already begun.
Even this year, a pad abort test. 2024 is actually date of putting human in space and

more realistic than 2021 IMO because Indian LV too has to me matured, life support systems & suits are to be tested, space docking is to be done, ground based infrastructure, a lot of work is pending. If anything was stopping India from conducting manned space flight or putting modules in space for space station, that is only launch capacity which is not due now.

 

[That Guy]

Extracting resources from meteors, Mars and moon is also one of them. The NASA center in Orlando, Fl has a good representation model of how human can colonize and extract resources from Mars. Although it might seem too fancy at this point specially in context to India but this is what every space agency of advanced countries are targeting (including China).

The biggest issue with resource mining in space is simply the cost. It won't be cost effective for a very long time.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

If you will read the article again, testing had already begun.
Even this year, a pad abort test. 2024 is actually date of putting human in space and

more realistic than 2021 IMO because Indian LV too has to me matured, life support systems & suits are to be tested, space docking is to be done, ground based infrastructure, a lot of work is pending. If anything was stopping India from conducting manned space flight or putting modules in space for space station, that is only launch capacity which is not due now.

Any source? Last I saw, ISRO said that they had moved the time for testing equipment for manned missions back to 2024:

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/science/science/050117/isro-puts-off-its-manned-mission.html

The biggest issue with resource mining in space is simply the cost. It won't be cost effective for a very long time.

Yes, it would take a long time for the technology to reach a point where that would be profitable.

But the idea of setting up a base on the moon and then "launching" massive resource packages back to Earth (likely filled with Uranium) is a pretty hilarious concept. I think that renewable energy might be good enough by that time that we wouldn't need to do that.

 

[ideasexchange]

Interesting that china with a more advanced space program but a lot of Chinese seem to be envious of even a casual interview given by our space agency head. Why are Chinese so insecure on this site ?

Havent really found any returns associated with a space station though they have been in use since the 80s , wrt the costs involved.
Rather concentrate on reusable space vehicles.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Interesting that china with a more advanced space program but a lot of Chinese seem to be envious of even a casual interview given by our space agency head. Why are Chinese so insecure on this site ?

Havent really found any returns associated with a space station though they have been in use since the 80s , wrt the costs involved.
Rather concentrate on reusable space vehicles.

You are right, Chinese are envious of India's space station.

As for why countries want space stations, just ask any scientist.

 

[thesolar65]

One step at a time ISRO. Just perfect GSLV mk3 like PSLV. Rest will follow.

I can't find how many launchpads ISRO has. Can anyone give any data? I mean for different uses, PSLV, GSLV?