Indian Manned Mission to Space : The Details

[Chanakyaa]

INDIA's MANNED SPACE MISSION

Indian researchers have announced plans to send their astronauts to space in 2016.

The cost of the proposed mission is estimated at $4.8 billion, said S. Satish, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Studies have begun on the design of the crew capsules that will be used to put a pair of astronauts 300 kilometers aloft for seven days, he said. The project budget has been sent for federal approval, he added.

A training facility for astronauts will also be built in southern India as part of the program, which Satish said would be solely Indian.

In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to explore space in what was a joint mission with the then Soviet Union.

In 2008, India launched its first unmanned mission -- Chandrayaan-1 -- to the moon that dropped a probe onto the lunar surface.

In 312 days, Chandrayaan-1, meaning moon craft, completed more than 3,400 orbits and met most of its scientific objectives before vanishing off the radars abruptly last year, according to the space agency.

The craft carried payloads from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria. One of its aims was to search for evidence of water or ice and identify the chemical composition of certain lunar rocks.

The Chandrayaan-1 mission came to be seen as the 21st century, Asian version of the space race between the United States and the USSR -- but this time involving India and China.

Satish said the agency was also planning to send a second version of Chandrayaan in 2012.

India held its first rocket launch from a fishing village in southern India in 1963.

Now, the South Asian nation lists more than 60 events as "milestones" in its space program, which includes the successful use of polar and geosynchronous satellite launch vehicles.

Indian scientists say their country has the world's largest constellation of remote-sensing satellites.

These satellites, according to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, capture images of the Earth used in a range of applications -- agriculture, water resources, urban development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources and disaster management.

Another major system, or INSAT, is used for communication, television and meteorology.

India, however, maintains competition does not drive its space ambitions.

THE TECHNOLOGICAL FEASIBILITY​

India's space agency has said it will launch its first manned mission to space in 2016.

A senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in Bangalore said that two astronauts would take part.

"We are preparing for the manned space flight," Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan told reporters.

"We will design and develop the space module for the manned mission in the next four years," he said.

Observers say India is emerging as a major player in the multi-billion dollar space market.

In September it launched seven satellites in a single mission, nearly a month after the country's inaugural Moon mission was aborted.

Key architect

Isro says that it will soon shortlist two astronauts to train for the space flight.

The manned mission will cost 124 billion rupees ($2,676,740,597).

Delhi has given its approval for the mission, space officials told the BBC.

India's space agency is also setting up a full-fledged training facility in Bangalore to train the astronauts.

The country's first unmanned Moon mission, Chandrayaan, was launched last year.

The second unmanned project, Chandrayaan-II, will be launched in the first quarter of 2013 - a prelude to the manned space mission.

India's first Moon mission had to be terminated because of a failure of critical communication components, but Isro officials termed the mission a success because 95% of the scientific objectives were completed.

India also plans a mission to Mars in 2030.

MUST WATCH PRESENTATION​

THE DESIGN

BANGALORE, India -The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), hopes to join the ranks of nations capable of independently launching astronauts into space around 2015 and has revealed the designs for its first orbiting crew capsule.

In its maiden manned mission, ISRO?s largely autonomous 3-ton capsule will orbit the Earth at 248 miles (400 km) in altitude for up to seven days with a two-person crew on board, ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair announced Jan. 3 at the Indian Science Congress held in Shillong. The capsule will be designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with a rendezvous and docking capability, he said.

ISRO spokesman S. Satish told Space News Jan. 10 that the program is estimated to cost about 100 billion rupees ($2 billion) over an eight-year period dating back to 2007. The manned mission was formally proposed to the government in 2006.


Although full-mission funding has yet to be approved, Satish said preliminary work has already begun using 950 million rupees ($19.4 million) allocated for the effort in ISRO?s 40.7 billion rupee ($834 million) budget for 2007-2008.

The necessary mission infrastructure includes a new launch pad at ISRO?s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Satish said. Another key facility is an astronaut training center to be located in Bangalore.

As a precursor to manned spaceflights, ISRO launched and recovered intact a 1,212-pound (550-kg) space capsule in January 2007, demonstrating its capability to develop heat-resistant materials necessary for atmospheric re-entry. India also launched a landmark moon probe, Chandrayaan-1, into lunar orbit last year.

But several key capabilities have yet to be developed, including a man-rated launcher featuring safety and reliability enhancements, life support systems, rescue and recovery systems, a robotic manipulator, and new mission-management and control systems, Satish said.

Satish said the astronaut capsule would launch atop a modified version of ISRO?s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark 2, currently under development. The GSLV Mark 2 features an indigenously developed cryogenic upper-stage engine; the Mark 1 variant currently in use has a Russian-supplied upper stage engine. The first test launch of the standard GSLV Mark 2 launcher is scheduled for this year.

Satish said ISRO?s human spaceflight program will benefit from assistance provided by the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roskosmos. The cooperative arrangement was sealed in an accord signed Dec. 5 by Nair and Roskosmos Director-General Anatoly Perminov during a state visit to India by Russian President Dimitri Medvedev.

Under the accord, an Indian cosmonaut will fly aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2013 ahead of ISRO?s planned 2015 mission, Satish said.

Roskosmos will also help in crew selection and training and in construction of ISRO?s orbiter vehicle.

Russia and India have a long history of space-related collaboration. In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space, flying to the then-Soviet Union?s Salyut-7 space station aboard a Soyuz capsule.

Today only Russia, the United States and China are capable of independently launching astronauts. China joined the exclusive club in 2003 using a capsule that was developed with Russian assistance.

ORBITAL VEHICLE DETAILS
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Indian manned spacecraft. Study 2015. Design of an Indian manned spacecraft began in October 2006. Dependent on a full funding decision at the end of 2008, planned first flight of the two-man capsule was 2015.

An initial funding of $23 million was provided for 2007-2008 for concept work on the capsule, spacesuits, and mission simulation. Full funding of $2.2 billion would have to be approved by the end of 2008 in order to make the 2015 operational date. Estimates in 2006, perhaps more realistic, had been that the program would cost $4.3 billion and take eight years.

ISRO had launched and recovered the 550-kg Space Recovery Capsule in January 2007. The full-scale manned capsule was said to be derived from this, although ISRO's published concept showed a more elongated conical shape than the SRE. The launch vehicle would be a version of India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark 2, with a structurally-strengthened upper stage to accommodate the heavier low-earth-orbit manned capsule as opposed to the lighter standard geosynchronous-transfer-orbit satellite payload.

A crew of two to three was mentioned. Although ISS orbital capability of the GSLV Mark 2 was 4.6 metric tons, a spacecraft mass of 2.5 to 3.0 metric tons was mentioned - perhaps this was the capsule only. The illustration showed a main engine and smaller orientation engines arranged in a light package around the base of the capsule, indicating an earth-orbit maneuvering capability was to be included. The nose was free for a docking mechanism, but primary entry was evidently through a side hatch secured by explosive bolts.

India would receive assistance in crew selection and training from Russia under an agreement signed between the two countries in March 2008. One option being studied would be flight of an Indian astronaut aboard a Soyuz capsule by 2012 in preparation for the Indian mission.

India's schedule was ambitious under any circumstances, and even if funding materialized, its history of performance on other indigenous aerospace programs made it unlikely that the capsule would fly before 2020. Earliest accounts had mentioned a manned flight to the moon. This would be possible at the low end of the indicated payload range, 2500 kg, within the payload capability of an improved GSLV, and perhaps account for the lightweight capsule plus modest propulsion package shown in the ISRO illustration.

Ensuring the safe return of the occupants of the capsule, which will be launched by a rocket, will be critical

Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will begin building a space capsule to carry two astronauts on its maiden manned mission, scheduled to take place by 2016.

Isro’s satellite centre will fabricate the three-member capsule using anthropometric data, or information on physical attributes peculiar to Indians. The centre will also bridge the gap in developing key restricted technologies and help plan for future missions to the moon.

Also See Mission Plan (Graphics)

Unlike the US space shuttles that glide in from space to land on a runway on their return, India will follow the Russian and Chinese method of recovering the space capsule after it drops into the ocean.

Ensuring the safe return of the occupants of the capsule, which will be launched by a rocket, will be critical.

“Reliability should be one order high. We can’t risk human life. They should be 100% safe,” said S. Ramakrishnan, chief executive of the human space flight programme at Isro. “We need to build multiple redundant environments, a crew escape system at every stage to bring them back safe to earth.”

As part of the preparatory effort, a team of Indian astronauts will take part in one of Russia’s manned missions, Ramakrishnan said. Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut, flew on a Soviet space mission in 1984.

The government is yet to give its nod for the Rs10,000 crore project, which will put India in a select club of nations that includes the US, Russia and China, which have undertaken manned space missions. So far, the government has sanctioned Rs380 crore for preliminary work.

“We are awaiting the project approval. Once we get it, work will begin full swing, ” said S. Satish, Isro spokesperson. The Planning Commission gave its nod to the programme in February last year.

Isro will work with other national bodies such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the National Aerospace Laboratories, the Armed Forces and academic institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institutes of Technology for the manned mission, more than five decades after Yuri Gagarin made the first ever such trip in 1961.

The capsule for the one-week mission in low-earth orbit will have an earth-like atmosphere with oxygen supply and a real-time health monitoring system for the safety of the astronauts. Initial work on a space suit has begun at the Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory, or Debel, a unit of DRDO in Bangalore, said C.V. Padaki, director at Debel.

Simultaneously, Isro is validating key systems for life support, rescue and recovery apart from new mission-management and control systems for the programme. Besides the astronaut training centre in Bangalore, a new launch pad for the manned mission is being built at Sriharikota on the eastern coast.

Isro first tested its capsule recovery technology in 2007, which involved heat-resistant materials necessary for the re-entry. Isro will conduct at least two unmanned space missions in the next four years.

“Building technology takes time, but the confidence we build through this project is enormous. It will take us to the next level,” said Roddam Narasimha, one of India’s foremost aerospace scientists.

The Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), a unit of the Indian Air Force in Bangalore, has been studying pilots and the way their bodies behave in fighter jets and test conditions that replicate the vacuum of outer space. In the next two-three years, IAM will shortlist pilots who will be trained to become astronauts, from which the final two will be selected. “While we do this, we are also upgrading our existing infrastructure to train the astronauts,” said Air Marshal P. Madhusoodanan, director-general of medical services.

The rocket for the mission, known as the Human Space Flight Programme, is still to be proven. India’s heaviest rocket will blast off later this year: a geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle, with an indigenous cryogenic stage—an engine powered by liquefied oxygen and hydrogen that can hurl large communication satellites into orbit.

Isro’s challenges include the rocket having to be man-rated, which means having an error of one in 1,000 operations, before it can be used to send up an astronaut. Once proven, it can launch a 10-tonne space capsule in lower-earth orbit carrying three astronauts, said Ramakrishnan.

LAUNCH VEHICLE

 

[angeldemon_007]

What a great post man.....thanx a lot

 

[JanjaWeed]

wow.. they are serious about this!! hope things go smoothly & we can have our man in space as per the schedule!!

 

[rubyjackass]

It is cool and all but 17800 crore rupees is too much. India does not need it.

 

[tanlixiang28776]

I am talking about truth, truth that is reported by their own people, verified by the scientists and engineers around the world.

GSLV had 7 launches, 3 crashed/exploded/went missing, 2 failed to send the payload to the destination orbit, 2 were successful.

Guess what? All successful flights were using Russia engines.

you tell me why indian tax payers should pay Russian engines and this highly unreliable joke to risk the life of their best man ? just because the Singh regime want to use this for nationalism?

Okay thats what you start with then next time.

 

[President Camacho]

4.8 Billions dollars! That sure is a lot for a space flight, considering the fact that India is not a developed country yet. Nor does India have as much money as China. I wonder what would ISRO find out that hasn't been found out in previous manned space flights undertaken by other countries. Or is it that some other kind of capability is being tested under the garb of space flights?

 

[peaceful]

4.8 Billions dollars! That sure is a lot for a space flight, considering the fact that India is not a developed country yet. Nor does India have as much money as China. I wonder what would ISRO find out that hasn't been found out in previous manned space flights undertaken by other countries. Or is it that some other kind of capability is being tested under the garb of space flights?

the budget of China's first manned mission, Shenzhou-5, was ~$120 million USD. The total cost of the manned mission was less than half billion.

the same difference can also be observed on these two nation's computer processor projects. China's Loongson project come up with a 8 Core high end SMP processor with a total budget of less than $100 million. india allocated $200 million for their project and there is no result yet.

we work, we deliver results, the Singh regime just talk.

 

[Kinetic]

peaceful, you are trolling in every Indian thread with BS and nothing happening to you. So carry onnn..... you got the license....

4.8 Billions dollars! That sure is a lot for a space flight, considering the fact that India is not a developed country yet. Nor does India have as much money as China. I wonder what would ISRO find out that hasn't been found out in previous manned space flights undertaken by other countries. Or is it that some other kind of capability is being tested under the garb of space flights?

Tell me what was China's GDP when it launched first manned space flight in 2003? Then I will tell you what will be India's GDP when it launches first manned mission in 2015.

 

[GORKHALI]

Wow!! Another master stroke from xinix ... Really love the article.

 

[Kinetic]

Budget for India's manned space mission is $ 2.75 billion (12400 crore), not $ 4.8 billion. This includes all expenditures including crew training centres, R&D etc.

 

[President Camacho]

Tell me what was China's GDP when it launched first manned space flight in 2003? Then I will tell you what will be India's GDP when it launches first manned mission in 2015.

Yes, why don't you tell me in 2003 what %age of China's population was below poverty line? GDP is not everything. There are other aspects you should take into consideration, for example: per capita income.

 

[Kinetic]

Yes, why don't you tell me in 2003 what %age of China's population was below poverty line? GDP is not everything. There are other aspects you should take into consideration, for example: per capita income.

Your comment was, "Nor does India have as much money as China."..... let see...

In 2003/2004 China's GDP was $ 1.414 trillion and per capita income $ 1090.
Official: China's GDP growing 9.1% in 2003

India's GDP in 2015/2016 will be around $ 4 trillion with per capita income of $ 3200. India's GDP became double in 5 years (2007-2012) though there was economic slow down.
Gear up for the $2-trillion economy


In your logic China's shouldn't go for manned space mission at that time. So think before you post, not after.

 

[StingRoy]

Yes, why don't you tell me in 2003 what %age of China's population was below poverty line? GDP is not everything. There are other aspects you should take into consideration, for example: per capita income.

You maybe right in terms of the priorities, but there are some fields in science and technology which not only benefits the end goal, but also generates a lot of offshoot technologies (read indirect employment opportunities). Whenever such amount of money is invested there is always a positive impact to the economy.

Any govt spending should be encouraged and especially when it is in the field of science the returns are tremendous to the nation as a whole.

 

[rubyjackass]

Any govt spending should be encouraged and especially when it is in the field of science the returns are tremendous to the nation as a whole.

Spending in science is good. But space research is like a well without a bottom, you can pour as much money as you want and still pour some more. And why spend on a manned mission? It shoots up the cost of the mission by a factor of atleast 10. Instead of the waste of investment on human suitable conditions, some research in robotics could help further the cause in other fields also.

 

[perplexed]

GSLV for manned mission? GSLV has a shinning failure rate of more than 50%!

The Singh regime should respect its people.

Read it carefully,

He went on to read for the Economics Tripos at Cambridge as a member of St John's College. He won the Wright's Prize for distinguished performance in 1955 and 1957. He was also one of the few recipients of the Wrenbury scholarship. In 1962, Singh completed his studies from the University of Oxford where he was a member of Nuffield College. The title of his doctoral thesis was "India’s export performance, 1951–1960, export prospects and policy implications" and his thesis supervisor was Dr. I.M.D. Little. This thesis later grew into the book "India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth".[6]

In 1997, the University of Alberta awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Law degree. The University of Oxford awarded him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in June 2006, and in October 2006, the University of Cambridge followed with the same honour. St. John's College further honoured him by naming a Ph.D Scholarship after him, the Dr. Manmohan Singh Scholarship.

.
Which ur wen Jiabao can do only in his wet dreams. So stop quoting singh regime in every post.
The above quote is from wiki

the budget of China's first manned mission, Shenzhou-5, was ~$120 million USD. The total cost of the manned mission was less than half billion.

Oh yeah ???
Acc. to wiki : Chandrayaan1 cost : $90 mn
Chandrayaan-1 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acc. to Asia times :

Chandrayaan-1 cost US$74 million, cheap if compared, for instance, to Japan's $279 million Selene (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) moon probe, which took off from Japan's Tanegashima island space port on September 14, 2007.

Moreover, $20 million of the $74 million Chandrayaan-1 cost went into valuable reusable infrastructure, such as building a trio of Earth-stationed trackers of moon-mission data - the Deep Space Network, the Spacecraft Control Center and the Indian Space Science Data Center, all located at Byalalu, near Bangalore in the south.

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

And the most important fact is they gave the conclusive prove of water formation on moon's surface ? NASA thanked us for that. <--- Thats called an achievement.

So stop bullshitting around.