praveen007
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India plans to put 5 satellites into orbit next m... :: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines :: 
Indian Space Capabilities
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praveen007
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ISRO plans to launch satellite to study greenhouse gases
Chennai, Jun 21 (PTI) With growing importance being placed on climate change and mitigation strategies, India's space agency ISRO is in the process of launching a satellite to study greenhouse gases,
"In the next 2-3 years, ISRO will carry out the first of the launches which will be dedicated to (studying) greenhouses gases like carbondioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and things of that kind," Planning Commission Member and former chief of ISRO, Dr K Kasturirangan told reporters here today.
The satellite was in design stages and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which will play a substantial role in the funding of this project, has asked ISRO if the measurements relating to the gases could be made globally.
"The US and Japan have already put such satellites and the idea is to see if India can look at the greenhouse gases using satellite sensors," Kasturirangan said.
Chennai, Jun 21 (PTI) With growing importance being placed on climate change and mitigation strategies, India's space agency ISRO is in the process of launching a satellite to study greenhouse gases,
"In the next 2-3 years, ISRO will carry out the first of the launches which will be dedicated to (studying) greenhouses gases like carbondioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and things of that kind," Planning Commission Member and former chief of ISRO, Dr K Kasturirangan told reporters here today.
The satellite was in design stages and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which will play a substantial role in the funding of this project, has asked ISRO if the measurements relating to the gases could be made globally.
"The US and Japan have already put such satellites and the idea is to see if India can look at the greenhouse gases using satellite sensors," Kasturirangan said.
Choppers
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Perfecting the art of balloon science
NBF strives to develop advanced balloons even as the ‘poor man’s satellite’ loses favour among scientists
Samanth Subramanian
Hyderabad: To construct a scientific balloon, first build a really, really long table.
The longest table at the National Balloon Facility (NBF) measures 178m; it would take Usain Bolt a quarter of a minute to run from one of its ends to the other. Covered in spotless white plastic, the table is the most arresting occupant of a long, slender room. This is the balloon fabrication unit, which makes NBF the only facility in the world to design, manufacture and launch its own balloons, tugging along a raft of science experiments as payload.
On this table, the seams of a balloon can be sealed as effectively as its fate. Long stretches of polyethylene film, often as thin as 6 micron—six thousandths of a millimetre, so thin that even sweat can ruin it—are heated and joined to each other. Too much heat, and the film will burn; one careless move, and the film will tear. The careful fabrication of a balloon may require 90 days and cost up to Rs50 lakh.
The final, pear-shaped envelope of polyethylene, when filled with hydrogen, can be enormous. “The largest balloons we’ve launched,” says S. Sreenivasan, the scientist-in-charge at NBF, “have had volumes of 26 million cubic feet.” NBF balloons have sent up experiments from India as well as from the US, Russia, Japan and Italy, all eager to take advantage of the low magnetic interference this close to the equator.
Now, in a literal instance of pushing the envelope, NBF is developing a balloon that can regularly take payloads more than 50km above the earth’s surface—very close to, if not over, the 53km altitude record achieved precisely once by a team in Japan. It’s harder than it sounds. It requires polyethylene so thin as to be virtually non-existent, and it is a significant leap from NBF’s present high of 42-43km. If these balloons succeed, they could replace the traditional atmospheric and weather-sounding rockets used by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
The history of scientific ballooning is, in a way, as old as modern ballooning itself: In 1783, in one of their very first hot-air balloon flights, the Montgolfier brothers took along a sheep to test the effects of altitude on animal physiology. (The sheep returned unharmed.) But the lifetime of NBF, now beginning its 40th year under the stewardship of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), has coincided nearly exactly with that of the artificial satellite, a fearsome competitor. The satellite can arm itself with far more sensors, and it can stay off the ground for many months, rather than the balloon’s few hours.
“The scientific balloon is often called the poor man’s satellite,” Sreenivasan says, almost as if he were personally hurt by that description. But it isn’t strictly true. Scientific balloons have kept themselves busy by collecting the sort of fine-grained data about the lower atmosphere that satellites, floating far above the world, are hard-pressed to provide.
The 50km balloon, as NBF’s scientists refer to it, is a part of that effort to remain relevant. “We started designing it,” says R.K. Manchanda, chairman of the NBF board, “when somebody at Isro told me, a few years ago: ‘Manchanda, why don’t you give us something for 50km?’” A 76m-long table is already being built to shape and seal the special 3.8-micron-thin polyethylene, and Manchanda expects to launch the balloon later this year, during the first of the narrow, two-month launch windows that swing open in November-December and March-April.
How useful a 50km balloon would be beyond Isro is unclear. A few years ago, S. Shivaji, a microbiologist at Hyderabad’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, worked with scientists from Isro and TIFR to send up an NBF balloon to collect air samples from a height of 41km. From these samples, Shivaji’s team isolated three wholly new species of bacteria. But collecting air even at 41km “was hard enough, because the air is so rare at that altitude,” he says. “At 50km, it’ll be even rarer.”
Manchanda knows that such atmospheric experiments will not find much use for a 50km balloon, but off the top of his head, he can name at least two other research fields that would. “Usually, when you don’t have a tool, you don’t think of the possibilities,” he says. “When the balloon is there, scientists will come up with experiments for it.”
NBF has a history of pushing against—and successfully circumventing—the limits of balloon physics. When TIFR scientists such as Homi Bhabha first began sending up balloons from the Osmania University grounds in the late 1950s to study cosmic rays, and even after NBF was established in 1969, a peculiar problem persisted. At minus 65 degrees Celsius, polyethylene becomes brittle and cracks, so balloons were unable to cross the tropopause, a point between the first two atmospheric layers where temperatures plunge as low as minus 90 degrees Celsius.
Paradoxically—and unfortunately for Hyderabad—the problem is most acute above warm latitudes, where the tropopause is at its coldest. A US scientist named Robert Kubara, writing up a report of launches from Hyderabad in 1964, moaned that the city’s latitude “further aggravate(d) the already difficult problem of tropopause penetration”.
In the US, the problem was resolved with the development of a special polyethylene known as Stratofilm. In Hyderabad, scientists jury-rigged a solution by coating their polyethylene with carbon black, which drew heat from the sun and kept the film warm. “But these balloons would sometimes absorb too much heat, so they would go up very fast and burst, or the film would melt,” Sreenivasan, who joined NBF in 1971, recalls.
Only in the mid-1970s did NBF begin using imported thin-film polyethylene. The last import of film, says B. Suneel Kumar, a scientific officer in the balloon fabrication unit, came into NBF in 1998. “After that, we started importing only the resin,” he says, “and we found a factory in Daman to make the film.”
As a large, composite photograph hanging behind Sreenivasan’s desk shows, the launch of a scientific balloon can be a spectacular sight. It often takes place early in the morning, so the light of dawn and of strobe lamps filter muddily through the gauze-like balloon as it fills with gas. “The freed balloon rose in slow motion, with a mighty flapping of plastic,” science journalist Anil Ananthaswamy wrote in his recent book The Edge of Physics, after observing a launch in Antarctica. “It looked like a giant translucent jellyfish.”
NBF conducts six-seven such launches every year, down from 10-12 a decade ago. The demand for scientific balloons has been dipping in favour of satellites, and faster abroad than in India. A 2005 strategic road map by the Scientific Balloon Planning Team of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) admitted that a “more reliable means of support for balloon missions is needed”.
Manchanda acknowledges this challenge. In fact, when he took charge of NBF in 2001, he thought “it would die unless we did something drastically different. Balloon work has never been fashionable”. His vision of ballooning’s future echoes Nasa’s. He talks of long-duration flights, lasting three-four days, and of super-pressure balloons that stay afloat for weeks.
Sreenivasan thinks of further practical applications: sending up a balloon as a temporary, rapidly functional telecom tower, for instance. Recently, NBF and Tata Teleservices Ltd demonstrated that a scaled-down version of a cellphone tower, flying at a height of 400m, had an operational range of 6,000 sq. km—an experiment that holds glimmers of promise for rural telephony.
But altitude-wise, Manchanda says, ballooning is nearing a ceiling, a limit that even NBF cannot escape. “Significantly above 50km, really, you’re better off making observations with a satellite, and I can’t think of too many experiments that require further height,” he says. “It becomes physically very difficult, very expensive, to use balloons, so finally you have to give up. You’re checkmated. This is the endgame.”
Perfecting the art of balloon science - Economy and Politics - livemint.com
NBF strives to develop advanced balloons even as the ‘poor man’s satellite’ loses favour among scientists
Samanth Subramanian
Hyderabad: To construct a scientific balloon, first build a really, really long table.
The longest table at the National Balloon Facility (NBF) measures 178m; it would take Usain Bolt a quarter of a minute to run from one of its ends to the other. Covered in spotless white plastic, the table is the most arresting occupant of a long, slender room. This is the balloon fabrication unit, which makes NBF the only facility in the world to design, manufacture and launch its own balloons, tugging along a raft of science experiments as payload.
On this table, the seams of a balloon can be sealed as effectively as its fate. Long stretches of polyethylene film, often as thin as 6 micron—six thousandths of a millimetre, so thin that even sweat can ruin it—are heated and joined to each other. Too much heat, and the film will burn; one careless move, and the film will tear. The careful fabrication of a balloon may require 90 days and cost up to Rs50 lakh.
The final, pear-shaped envelope of polyethylene, when filled with hydrogen, can be enormous. “The largest balloons we’ve launched,” says S. Sreenivasan, the scientist-in-charge at NBF, “have had volumes of 26 million cubic feet.” NBF balloons have sent up experiments from India as well as from the US, Russia, Japan and Italy, all eager to take advantage of the low magnetic interference this close to the equator.
Now, in a literal instance of pushing the envelope, NBF is developing a balloon that can regularly take payloads more than 50km above the earth’s surface—very close to, if not over, the 53km altitude record achieved precisely once by a team in Japan. It’s harder than it sounds. It requires polyethylene so thin as to be virtually non-existent, and it is a significant leap from NBF’s present high of 42-43km. If these balloons succeed, they could replace the traditional atmospheric and weather-sounding rockets used by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
The history of scientific ballooning is, in a way, as old as modern ballooning itself: In 1783, in one of their very first hot-air balloon flights, the Montgolfier brothers took along a sheep to test the effects of altitude on animal physiology. (The sheep returned unharmed.) But the lifetime of NBF, now beginning its 40th year under the stewardship of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), has coincided nearly exactly with that of the artificial satellite, a fearsome competitor. The satellite can arm itself with far more sensors, and it can stay off the ground for many months, rather than the balloon’s few hours.
“The scientific balloon is often called the poor man’s satellite,” Sreenivasan says, almost as if he were personally hurt by that description. But it isn’t strictly true. Scientific balloons have kept themselves busy by collecting the sort of fine-grained data about the lower atmosphere that satellites, floating far above the world, are hard-pressed to provide.
The 50km balloon, as NBF’s scientists refer to it, is a part of that effort to remain relevant. “We started designing it,” says R.K. Manchanda, chairman of the NBF board, “when somebody at Isro told me, a few years ago: ‘Manchanda, why don’t you give us something for 50km?’” A 76m-long table is already being built to shape and seal the special 3.8-micron-thin polyethylene, and Manchanda expects to launch the balloon later this year, during the first of the narrow, two-month launch windows that swing open in November-December and March-April.
How useful a 50km balloon would be beyond Isro is unclear. A few years ago, S. Shivaji, a microbiologist at Hyderabad’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, worked with scientists from Isro and TIFR to send up an NBF balloon to collect air samples from a height of 41km. From these samples, Shivaji’s team isolated three wholly new species of bacteria. But collecting air even at 41km “was hard enough, because the air is so rare at that altitude,” he says. “At 50km, it’ll be even rarer.”
Manchanda knows that such atmospheric experiments will not find much use for a 50km balloon, but off the top of his head, he can name at least two other research fields that would. “Usually, when you don’t have a tool, you don’t think of the possibilities,” he says. “When the balloon is there, scientists will come up with experiments for it.”
NBF has a history of pushing against—and successfully circumventing—the limits of balloon physics. When TIFR scientists such as Homi Bhabha first began sending up balloons from the Osmania University grounds in the late 1950s to study cosmic rays, and even after NBF was established in 1969, a peculiar problem persisted. At minus 65 degrees Celsius, polyethylene becomes brittle and cracks, so balloons were unable to cross the tropopause, a point between the first two atmospheric layers where temperatures plunge as low as minus 90 degrees Celsius.
Paradoxically—and unfortunately for Hyderabad—the problem is most acute above warm latitudes, where the tropopause is at its coldest. A US scientist named Robert Kubara, writing up a report of launches from Hyderabad in 1964, moaned that the city’s latitude “further aggravate(d) the already difficult problem of tropopause penetration”.
In the US, the problem was resolved with the development of a special polyethylene known as Stratofilm. In Hyderabad, scientists jury-rigged a solution by coating their polyethylene with carbon black, which drew heat from the sun and kept the film warm. “But these balloons would sometimes absorb too much heat, so they would go up very fast and burst, or the film would melt,” Sreenivasan, who joined NBF in 1971, recalls.
Only in the mid-1970s did NBF begin using imported thin-film polyethylene. The last import of film, says B. Suneel Kumar, a scientific officer in the balloon fabrication unit, came into NBF in 1998. “After that, we started importing only the resin,” he says, “and we found a factory in Daman to make the film.”
As a large, composite photograph hanging behind Sreenivasan’s desk shows, the launch of a scientific balloon can be a spectacular sight. It often takes place early in the morning, so the light of dawn and of strobe lamps filter muddily through the gauze-like balloon as it fills with gas. “The freed balloon rose in slow motion, with a mighty flapping of plastic,” science journalist Anil Ananthaswamy wrote in his recent book The Edge of Physics, after observing a launch in Antarctica. “It looked like a giant translucent jellyfish.”
NBF conducts six-seven such launches every year, down from 10-12 a decade ago. The demand for scientific balloons has been dipping in favour of satellites, and faster abroad than in India. A 2005 strategic road map by the Scientific Balloon Planning Team of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) admitted that a “more reliable means of support for balloon missions is needed”.
Manchanda acknowledges this challenge. In fact, when he took charge of NBF in 2001, he thought “it would die unless we did something drastically different. Balloon work has never been fashionable”. His vision of ballooning’s future echoes Nasa’s. He talks of long-duration flights, lasting three-four days, and of super-pressure balloons that stay afloat for weeks.
Sreenivasan thinks of further practical applications: sending up a balloon as a temporary, rapidly functional telecom tower, for instance. Recently, NBF and Tata Teleservices Ltd demonstrated that a scaled-down version of a cellphone tower, flying at a height of 400m, had an operational range of 6,000 sq. km—an experiment that holds glimmers of promise for rural telephony.
But altitude-wise, Manchanda says, ballooning is nearing a ceiling, a limit that even NBF cannot escape. “Significantly above 50km, really, you’re better off making observations with a satellite, and I can’t think of too many experiments that require further height,” he says. “It becomes physically very difficult, very expensive, to use balloons, so finally you have to give up. You’re checkmated. This is the endgame.”
Perfecting the art of balloon science - Economy and Politics - livemint.com
India tells US to remove ISRO and DRDO from blacklist
India has asked US to remove its two state-run frontline technology establishments ISRO and DRDO from the entities list, in apparent anticipation of Washington and New Delhi opening cooperation in hi-tech systems.
India has also asked American companies to invest in defence sector in the country with the visiting Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma assuring that the major changes in the liberalisation of FDI policy were under debate.
"Now that the Indo-US relationship has gained a new momentum with the Strategic Dialogue, it makes no sense to keep vital research organisations like Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the entities list", Sharma said.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-tells-us-to-remove-isrodrdoblacklist/99071/on
In his high level interaction with top US officials, the minister said, "It is high time to remove these organisations from the entities list, keeping in view the fact that DRDO, ISRO and other institutions, which are bold and high in research, are very actively involved in partnership or in co-ordination with the US agencies".
ISRO and DRDO were put on American technology export control blacklist after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear blast.
Saying that India cannot be bracketed with other countries, the Commerce Minister told reporters that New Delhi's record in missile and nuclear non-proliferation was exemplary and "thus our entities particularly the governmental research organisations including ISRO and DRDO should not be on the entities list".
"I must say that they have been very receptive and reassuring," Sharma said in response to a question referring to his meetings here with top US officials in this regard.
On the investments in defence sector, the minister said 26 per cent FDI in the sector was very high, and Government was very hopeful that along with investments the foreign investors would bring in technology collaborations.
He said this technology inflow would not be restricted to defence field only but also have multiple industrial application.
"We are open to foreign investments in defence. India is willing to change. We have friendly investment regime and there is very little negative list", he said.
On the demand to raise the FDI cap in defence sector to 49 per cent, the Commerce Minister said a national debate was on the country which could lead to a change in then policy.
India has asked US to remove its two state-run frontline technology establishments ISRO and DRDO from the entities list, in apparent anticipation of Washington and New Delhi opening cooperation in hi-tech systems.
India has also asked American companies to invest in defence sector in the country with the visiting Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma assuring that the major changes in the liberalisation of FDI policy were under debate.
"Now that the Indo-US relationship has gained a new momentum with the Strategic Dialogue, it makes no sense to keep vital research organisations like Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the entities list", Sharma said.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-tells-us-to-remove-isrodrdoblacklist/99071/on
In his high level interaction with top US officials, the minister said, "It is high time to remove these organisations from the entities list, keeping in view the fact that DRDO, ISRO and other institutions, which are bold and high in research, are very actively involved in partnership or in co-ordination with the US agencies".
ISRO and DRDO were put on American technology export control blacklist after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear blast.
Saying that India cannot be bracketed with other countries, the Commerce Minister told reporters that New Delhi's record in missile and nuclear non-proliferation was exemplary and "thus our entities particularly the governmental research organisations including ISRO and DRDO should not be on the entities list".
"I must say that they have been very receptive and reassuring," Sharma said in response to a question referring to his meetings here with top US officials in this regard.
On the investments in defence sector, the minister said 26 per cent FDI in the sector was very high, and Government was very hopeful that along with investments the foreign investors would bring in technology collaborations.
He said this technology inflow would not be restricted to defence field only but also have multiple industrial application.
"We are open to foreign investments in defence. India is willing to change. We have friendly investment regime and there is very little negative list", he said.
On the demand to raise the FDI cap in defence sector to 49 per cent, the Commerce Minister said a national debate was on the country which could lead to a change in then policy.
soaringphnx
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Haven't you heard of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST)?
IIST is India's national institute for the study and development of space science, located at Thiruvananthapuram. IIST is sponsored by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under Department of Space, Government of India. IIST was envisioned to fulfill the shortfall in scientist and engineers at ISRO, by offering undergraduate and postgraduate education in Space Science and Technology and Post Graduate and research programmes in Space Science and Technology and integrated Masters in Space Science. It had an initial investment of Rs. 270 crores and annual recurring cost of Rs. 40 crores by the Union Government, thus the entire expenses of the course is supported by ISRO in the form of scholarships or assistantships, and successful students would be subsequently absorbed into ISRO itself. It is the only institute of its kind in India, which imparts B.Tech. in Space Technology, and subjects suitable the requirements of ISRO.
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I guess now we can see some real changes in ISRO!!
sudhir007
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Obama unveils new space policy, to enhance cooperation with India - India - The Times of India
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama unveiled a new national space policy designed to strengthen US' leadership in space and putting emphasis on greater cooperation with India.
Shortly after the policy was announced yesterday, White House officials in a conference call with reporters said the US emphasises a lot on its co —operation with India, noting the south Asian country has a "very space friendly" programme.
The US greatly values India's emergence as a global player in space and research and aims to deepen its cooperation with India in the field of space, one official said.
"This policy is about the boundless possibilities of the future," Obama said in a statement as the White House unveiled the basic contours of America's New Space Policy.
"That is why we seek to spur a burgeoning commercial space industry, to rapidly increase our capabilities in space while bolstering America's competitive edge in the global economy".
He said the administration is proposing improved observation of the earth, to gain new insights into the environment and the planet.
Noting that the US will engage in expanded international cooperation in space activities, a fact —sheet issued by the White House said: "The United States will pursue cooperative activities to the greatest extent practicable in areas including space science and exploration, earth observations, climate change research, and the sharing of environmental data; disaster mitigation and relief; and space surveillance for debris monitoring and awareness".
"We set ambitious goals for NASA: ramping up robotic and human space exploration, with our sights set on Mars and beyond, to improve the capacity of human beings to learn and work safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time.
"And this policy recognises the importance of inspiring a new generation of young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For, ultimately, our leadership as a nation — in this or any endeavour — will depend on them," Obama said.
The new policy says that all nations have the right to explore and use space for peaceful purposes, and for the benefit of all humanity, in accordance with international law.
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama unveiled a new national space policy designed to strengthen US' leadership in space and putting emphasis on greater cooperation with India.
Shortly after the policy was announced yesterday, White House officials in a conference call with reporters said the US emphasises a lot on its co —operation with India, noting the south Asian country has a "very space friendly" programme.
The US greatly values India's emergence as a global player in space and research and aims to deepen its cooperation with India in the field of space, one official said.
"This policy is about the boundless possibilities of the future," Obama said in a statement as the White House unveiled the basic contours of America's New Space Policy.
"That is why we seek to spur a burgeoning commercial space industry, to rapidly increase our capabilities in space while bolstering America's competitive edge in the global economy".
He said the administration is proposing improved observation of the earth, to gain new insights into the environment and the planet.
Noting that the US will engage in expanded international cooperation in space activities, a fact —sheet issued by the White House said: "The United States will pursue cooperative activities to the greatest extent practicable in areas including space science and exploration, earth observations, climate change research, and the sharing of environmental data; disaster mitigation and relief; and space surveillance for debris monitoring and awareness".
"We set ambitious goals for NASA: ramping up robotic and human space exploration, with our sights set on Mars and beyond, to improve the capacity of human beings to learn and work safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time.
"And this policy recognises the importance of inspiring a new generation of young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For, ultimately, our leadership as a nation — in this or any endeavour — will depend on them," Obama said.
The new policy says that all nations have the right to explore and use space for peaceful purposes, and for the benefit of all humanity, in accordance with international law.
Choppers
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Chandrayaan-2 launch as scheduled: ISRO chief
ANANYA DUTTA
KOLKATA, June 29, 2010
K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO addressing the media. File photo: V. Ganesan
Indigenous cryogenic engine, that developed snags earlier, to be flight tested again
Despite technical snags in the indigenous cryogenic engine that powered the Geo-stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV, which was flight-tested in April, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is expected to launch Chandrayaan-2 on an indigenous cryogenic engine on schedule by 2013, ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan said here on Tuesday.
We went through a very detailed analysis of what happened and why it happened. We have come to a couple of scenarios as to how such a technical snag could occur; or next task would be to confirm them through testing on the ground, he said.
The next flight testing of the cryogenic engine would be done about a year later.
Dr. Radhakrishnan was in town for the celebrations of Statistics Day, on the birth anniversary of Professor P.C. Mahalanobis, at the Indian Statistical Institute. The institute as well as the National Sample Survey Organisation are the brainchild of Professor Mahalanobis.
Dr. Radhakrishnan said the ISRO was developing a satellite that would have instruments on board to test traces of greenhouse gases to enable a better understanding of atmospheric chemistry. It would be launched in a couple of years
For studying climate change, Dr. Radhakrishnan said several indicators, including those on land, atmosphere and oceans, were identified as essential climate variables. Of these, there were 26 that were best observed through satellite system. Of this, a few were being monitored, but the ISRO would monitor more.
Virtual technology
ISRO was studying the virtual technology that would be needed for India's first manned space mission a project to put humans on an orbit around the earth at a distance of 275 km above it.
Essentially we are looking at the crew module and the environmental controls and life support systems especially at the time of re-entry on how to withstand the high temperatures. Another area is the crew escape system if anything happens in the ascent phase, how do you save the crew members, he said.
The Hindu : Sci-Tech : Chandrayaan-2 launch as scheduled: ISRO chief
soaringphnx
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GSLV relaunch with indigenous cryogenic engine in one year: ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to relaunch the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with a home-grown cryogenic engine in a year's time after the failure in April this year.
"We have come across a few scenarios after detailed analysis of the failure. Now the immediate task is to test it on the ground and we look forward to relaunch it next year," ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan told reporters on the sidelines of the 117 birth anniversary celebrations of Professor PC Mahalanobis at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata.
The five earlier versions of the GSLV had Russia- supplied cryogenic engines. India's cryogenic upper stage (CUS) engine was meant to replace the Russian engines.
The GSLV D-3, the satellite launch vehicle showcasing the country's indigenous cryogenic technology, trailed off its designated course and went out of control shortly after the lift-off on April 15.
The rocket, along with its two payloads -- satellites GSAT-4 and GAGAN -- crashed into the Bay of Bengal minutes after blastoff.
The failed mission caused loss of the GSLV-D3 rocket costing about Rs 180 crore and the satellites valued at Rs 150 crore.
The launch was the key to India's space programme as it would have made it the sixth nation to successfully deploy cryogenic technology, joining US, Russia, Japan, China and France.
Meanwhile, Radhakrishnan said Chandrayaan-II will be launched in 2013.
Original Article:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...gine-in-one-year-ISRO/articleshow/6106134.cms
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soaringphnx
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ISRO to launch university-built nano satellite
The Indian space agency will be launching a nano satellite being built by the SRM University in Chennai after testing, an official on Saturday said.
"The satellite is being built by the students. It has to be tested before it can be included as a payload. Perhaps in September, the satellite may be launched," VS Hegde, scientific secretary, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the second edition of Indian Youth Science Congress (IYSC) at SRM University, he also said that ISRO will soon launch Cartosat, a cartography satellite.
About the failure of ISRO's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) that flew with indigenously developed cryogenic engine in April this year, Hegde said: "The failure analysis committee is looking into the causes. The committee is expected to submit its report soon."
Original Article:http://calcuttatube.com/isro-to-launch-university-built-nano-satellite/100644/
soaringphnx
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Isro satellites to study forest fires
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) plans to launch dedicated satellites to study greenhouse gas emissions and forest fires, besides assessing the change in forest vegetation.
Isro former chief Dr Kasturirangan told mediapersons on Monday that the dedicated satellite to monitor greenhouse gases would be launched in the next two to three years. He was here to witness the signing of an MoU between the environment and forest ministry and Anna University to create a national centre for sustainable coastal zone management.
The satellite is in design stage and environment ministry will fund the project, he said. The United States and Japan have already put such satellites. The Isro is also planning a 50 metre geosynchronous altitude-imaging mission to monitor vegetation, flooding and probably even forest fires. There is hope that forest fires can be detected since 50 metres is a fairly good resolution, he said.
In his message, the environment minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said that Survey of India had been asked to delineate a hazard line along 7,500 kilometres of Indian coastline. The ministry will allot Rs 200 crore for the project which is expected to be completed in two years, he said.
Original Article:Isro satellites to study forest fires | Deccan Chronicle | 2010-06-22
soaringphnx
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ISRO plans to launch satellite to study greenhouse gases
With growing importance being placed on climate change and mitigation strategies, India's space agency ISRO is in the process of launching a satellite to study greenhouse gases,
"In the next 2-3 years, ISRO will carry out the first of the launches which will be dedicated to (studying) greenhouses gases like carbondioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and things of that kind," Planning Commission Member and former chief of ISRO, Dr K Kasturirangan told reporters here today.
The satellite was in design stages and the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which will play a substantial role in the funding of this project, has asked ISRO if the measurements relating to the gases could be made globally.
"The US and Japan have already put such satellites and the idea is to see if India can look at the greenhouse gases using satellite sensors," Kasturirangan said.
Original Article: fullstory
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After two setbacks, Isro set to launch five satellites on 12 July - Technology - livemint.com
Bangalore: After two setbacks this year, India’s space agency is set to launch five satellites on 12 July, including one that can shoot pictures of small objects on land and compress the time needed for building high-resolution maps by half.
In April, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) lost its fourth-generation communication satellite GSAT-4 when its heaviest rocket yet—the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), powered by a home-grown cryogenic engine—plunged into sea within five minutes of launch. The rocket was to put India in an exclusive club of nations capable of hurling communication satellites and offering space launches commercially.
New journey: A file photo of PSLV taking off from the launch pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Isro deferred a scheduled May launch of its workhorse PSLV after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. ISRO
New journey: A file photo of PSLV taking off from the launch pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Isro deferred a scheduled May launch of its workhorse PSLV after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. ISRO
Isro then deferred the launch of its workhorse polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) scheduled in May after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. The leaks were detected when pressurized nitrogen was pumped in the rocket as part of tests on the launch pad.
The same rocket will be fired now, following repairs and further tests, said an Isro official from Sriharikota. He did not want to be named.
“Even if the leak is minor, it takes many days to rectify and certify it fit,” said U.R. Rao, a former chairman of Isro. “In space, you don’t take risks.”
The rocket will also launch Alsat-2A, a remote sensing satellite from Algeria and India’s first African customer, two nano satellites from the University of Toronto, and Studsat, a small satellite built by engineering students in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Isro’s commercial arm, Antrix Corp. Ltd, has already signed a second satellite launch from Algeria for next year.
So far, PSLV has launched 39 satellites, nearly half of them from India, in 16 missions.
Isro expects Cartosat-2B to join two other satellites that are already in orbit—the Cartosat-2 and 2A—and return more high-resolution images to earth and provide complete coverage of the subcontinent, said S. Satish, director, Isro.
Cartosat-2B has a high resolution of 0.8 metre, allowing it to photograph objects the size of a typical bicycle.
Typically, satellites that can snap high resolution images can cover a small width or swath of 10km. To cover a larger area, a satellite would have to come back to a specific spot repeatedly, which would take a long time as it would have to complete one orbit of the earth to do this. A constellation of three satellites, on the other hand, can cover the entire country.
“It is like a camera; you want sharp images you need to be closer. You can go farther to cover a larger area, but you won’t get minute details,” said Rao.
As for the GSLV, Satish said a panel that’s studying what led to its crash is set to announce its report next week.
Bangalore: After two setbacks this year, India’s space agency is set to launch five satellites on 12 July, including one that can shoot pictures of small objects on land and compress the time needed for building high-resolution maps by half.
In April, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) lost its fourth-generation communication satellite GSAT-4 when its heaviest rocket yet—the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), powered by a home-grown cryogenic engine—plunged into sea within five minutes of launch. The rocket was to put India in an exclusive club of nations capable of hurling communication satellites and offering space launches commercially.
New journey: A file photo of PSLV taking off from the launch pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Isro deferred a scheduled May launch of its workhorse PSLV after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. ISRO
New journey: A file photo of PSLV taking off from the launch pad in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Isro deferred a scheduled May launch of its workhorse PSLV after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. ISRO
Isro then deferred the launch of its workhorse polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) scheduled in May after it found leaks in the rocket’s second stage. The leaks were detected when pressurized nitrogen was pumped in the rocket as part of tests on the launch pad.
The same rocket will be fired now, following repairs and further tests, said an Isro official from Sriharikota. He did not want to be named.
“Even if the leak is minor, it takes many days to rectify and certify it fit,” said U.R. Rao, a former chairman of Isro. “In space, you don’t take risks.”
The rocket will also launch Alsat-2A, a remote sensing satellite from Algeria and India’s first African customer, two nano satellites from the University of Toronto, and Studsat, a small satellite built by engineering students in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Isro’s commercial arm, Antrix Corp. Ltd, has already signed a second satellite launch from Algeria for next year.
So far, PSLV has launched 39 satellites, nearly half of them from India, in 16 missions.
Isro expects Cartosat-2B to join two other satellites that are already in orbit—the Cartosat-2 and 2A—and return more high-resolution images to earth and provide complete coverage of the subcontinent, said S. Satish, director, Isro.
Cartosat-2B has a high resolution of 0.8 metre, allowing it to photograph objects the size of a typical bicycle.
Typically, satellites that can snap high resolution images can cover a small width or swath of 10km. To cover a larger area, a satellite would have to come back to a specific spot repeatedly, which would take a long time as it would have to complete one orbit of the earth to do this. A constellation of three satellites, on the other hand, can cover the entire country.
“It is like a camera; you want sharp images you need to be closer. You can go farther to cover a larger area, but you won’t get minute details,” said Rao.
As for the GSLV, Satish said a panel that’s studying what led to its crash is set to announce its report next week.
soaringphnx
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Minor setback in ISRO's GSLV Mk-3 development
March 06, 2010 - A 200 sec test firing of the L-110 core stage of GSLV Mk-3 conducted on Saturday, March 6, had to be aborted after 150 sec.
The test was conducted at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, where a huge test rig has been erected.
The test was aborted after a deviation was observed in one of the 500 parameters being monitored.
The repeat test will be conducted after an analysis of the data.
The GSLV Mk-3 is a three-stage launcher with a 110 ton restartable core liquid propellant stage (L-110) using two Vikas engines, a strap-on stage with two solid propellant S-200 motors, each with 200 ton propellant, and a cryogenic upper stage with a propellant loading of 25 tonne (C-25).
The two Vikas engines used in the L110 stage are well proven as they also serve as the second stage of PSLV and GSLV.
It is likely that ISRO will easily overcome the minor setback today.
Original article: Minor setback in ISRO's GSLV Mk-3 development
Fighter488
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After two setbacks, Isro set to launch five satellites on 12 July
One of the five satellites will shoot pictures of small objects on land and compress the time needed for building high-resolution maps by half
K. Raghu
Bangalore: After two setbacks this year, Indias space agency is set to launch five satellites on 12 July, including one that can shoot pictures of small objects on land and compress the time needed for building high-resolution maps by half.
In April, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) lost its fourth-generation communication satellite GSAT-4 when its heaviest rocket yetthe geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV), powered by a home-grown cryogenic engineplunged into sea within five minutes of launch. The rocket was to put India in an exclusive club of nations capable of hurling communication satellites and offering space launches commercially.
Isro then deferred the launch of its workhorse polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) scheduled in May after it found leaks in the rockets second stage. The leaks were detected when pressurized nitrogen was pumped in the rocket as part of tests on the launch pad.
The same rocket will be fired now, following repairs and further tests, said an Isro official from Sriharikota. He did not want to be named.
Even if the leak is minor, it takes many days to rectify and certify it fit, said U.R. Rao, a former chairman of Isro. In space, you dont take risks.
The rocket will also launch Alsat-2A, a remote sensing satellite from Algeria and Indias first African customer, two nano satellites from the University of Toronto, and Studsat, a small satellite built by engineering students in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Isros commercial arm, Antrix Corp. Ltd, has already signed a second satellite launch from Algeria for next year.
So far, PSLV has launched 39 satellites, nearly half of them from India, in 16 missions.
Isro expects Cartosat-2B to join two other satellites that are already in orbitthe Cartosat-2 and 2Aand return more high-resolution images to earth and provide complete coverage of the subcontinent, said S. Satish, director, Isro.
Cartosat-2B has a high resolution of 0.8 metre, allowing it to photograph objects the size of a typical bicycle.
Typically, satellites that can snap high resolution images can cover a small width or swath of 10km. To cover a larger area, a satellite would have to come back to a specific spot repeatedly, which would take a long time as it would have to complete one orbit of the earth to do this. A constellation of three satellites, on the other hand, can cover the entire country.
It is like a camera; you want sharp images you need to be closer. You can go farther to cover a larger area, but you wont get minute details, said Rao.
As for the GSLV, Satish said a panel thats studying what led to its crash is set to announce its report next week.
raghu.k@livemint.com
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