Indian Space Capabilities

[SOHEIL]

 

[Hindustani78]

Mangalyaan mission to enter 15-day "blackout" phase - The Hindu
Updated: June 8, 2015 18:44 IST

From June 8 to 22, the sun will block Mars from Earth snapping communication with the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft.
Starting on Monday, India’s Mars mission that is in a rendezvous with the red planet for an extended period will enter the “blackout” phase snapping communication with the satellite.

From June 8 to 22, the sun will block Mars from the earth snapping communication with the satellite.

MOM during this period will go into an “autonomous mode” and will take its decisions, a senior Indian Space Research Organisation official told PTI.

“This will be for the first time that there will be a communication break for such a long period of about 15 days. There will not be any communication with the satellite,” he said.

Expressing confidence about regaining control over the satellite once the blackout phase is over, he said, “the scenario has been tested for earlier; line of communication will be established.”

The spacecraft’s life was extended for another six months in March due to surplus fuel.

Stating that the spacecraft has been “configured” for the blackout, the ISRO official said, “we are not sending any commands to the spacecraft now, till 8th (June) few hours of signals will be sent by the spacecraft-that will be for about two to three hours per day.”

In May next year, the mission will have to go through a similar phase once again, if there is another extension of mission life when the Earth will come between the Sun and Mars.

Orbiting around Mars since September 24, 2014, the 1,340-kg spacecraft is on an extended life after completing the six-month intended lifespan on March 24 by conserving the remaining fuel (37kg) onboard.

“As eclipses or blackouts are a cosmic phenomenon in the solar system, no cause for concern as the Orbiter has been put on autonomous mode in advance by sending the required commands from here to survive the eclipse phase,” an official of the ISRO told IANS in Bengaluru.

Admitting that it was first time when the deep space network at Baylalu, about 30 km from Bengaluru, would be out of touch with the Orbiter for such a long time, the official said the spacecraft had been equipped and programmed to undergo the transition.

“Though our command network will not receive or send any signal during the blackout, we will regain control over the spacecraft after it comes out of the Martian shadow to contact us again,” the official said.

The space agency’s track and command network centre in the city had tested the spacecraft’s ability to survive a solar eclipse by simulating the conditions earlier.

“As the Oribter is on a borrowed life, its longevity and ability to keep spinning around Mars at a safe distance from its hot red surface is a windfall for us,” the official added.

India created history by becoming the first country to enter the Mars orbit in maiden attempt after a nine-month voyage through the inter-planetary space from the Earth.

India also became the first Asian country to have entered the Mars sphere of influence (gravity) on maiden attempt, as a similar mission by China failed in 2011.

The Rs. 450-crore Mars mission was launched on November 5, 2013, on board a polar rocket from ISRO’s spaceport Sriharikota.

When launched, Orbiter had 855 kg fuel but consumed about 800 kg since then for its orbit-raising exercises undertaken during its nine-month journey and on entering the Martian sphere.

“The five scientific instruments onboard the spacecraft (Orbiter) will continue to collect data and relay them after June 22 to our earth stations for analysis,” the official said.

Of the five payloads onboard, Mars Colour Camera (MCC) has been the most active, taking stunning images of the Red Planet’s surface and its surroundings, including valleys, mountains, craters, clouds and dust storms.

“The camera has beamed many breathtaking pictures of the Martian surface and its weather patterns such as duststorms. We have uploaded some pictures on our website (ISRO - Government of India and our Facebook account for viewing,” he pointed out.

The other four instruments have been conducting various experiments to study the Martian surface, its rich mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane gas to know if it can support life.

“As methane is an indicator of past life on Mars, the sensor is looking for its presence in the Martian orbit. If available, we will know its source in terms of biology and geology. The thermal infrared sensor will find out if the gas is from geological origin,” the official added.

Scientists at the mission control centre here monitor the orbital movement of the spacecraft around Mars and check health of its instruments round the clock.

Orbiter takes 3.2 earth days or 72 hours, 51 minutes and 51 seconds to go around Mars once while orbiting at a distance of 500 km nearest and over 80,000 km farthest from its red surface.

 

[kurup]

 

[ni8mare]

View attachment 228463

so first one is normal mk3, second one with enlarged 1 stage., forth one is with enlarged 2 stage

nice

 

[Odysseus]

Isro Bags Space Pioneer Award for Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission


The country's low-cost Mangalyaan Mars orbiter mission which is in rendezvous with the Red Planet for an extended period has been presented with the Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 by the US' National Space Society.
Space Pioneer award for the year 2015 was presented to Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in the Science and Engineering category during the 34th Annual International Space Development Conference held at Toronto in Canada during May 20-24, 2015, Bengaluru-headquartered Isro said on its website.

It said the National Space Society (NSS) of USA presented the award in recognition of Isro's efforts in accomplishing a Mars mission in its very first attempt.

Scripting space history, India on September 24, 2014 successfully placed its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the red planet in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club of three US, Russia and Europe who have successfully undertaken missions to Mars or its orbit.

The Isro spacecraft was launched on its nine-month-long odyssey on a homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2013 and had escaped the earth's gravitational field on December 1.

In 2009, NSS, an independent non-profit educational membership organisation, dedicated to the creation of a space faring civilisation, presented similar award to Isro in recognition of the great accomplishment they have made in the success of the Lunar Probe, Chandrayaan-1.

The Space Pioneer Award consists of a silvery pewter Moon globe cast by the Baker Art Foundry in Placerville, California, from a sculpture originally created by Don Davis, the well-known space and astronomical artist, Isro said.

The space research organisation also said Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is under 'solar conjunction' at Mars, which will extend till July 1.

The spacecraft is under 'solar conjunction' at Mars, which means the spacecraft, which is orbiting Mars, is behind the sun as viewed from the Earth.

As a result of this event which happens once in 2.2 years for Mars, communication signals from the spacecraft are severely disrupted by the Sun's corona (outer atmosphere), it said.

Isro Bags Space Pioneer Award for Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission | NDTV Gadgets

 

[Hindustani78]

This photo downloaded off the ISRO website shows the space pioneer award for the year 2015 that was presented to the Indian Space Research Organisation during the 34th Annual International Space Development Conference held at Toronto. Photo courtesy: ISRO

 

[kurup]

so first one is normal mk3, second one with enlarged 1 stage., forth one is with enlarged 2 stage

nice

2nd and 3rd are different variants of ULV .

For ULV and HLV , the core is completely different from LVM3 .

This will give you the idea ,

 

[punit]

What is India's most powerful rocket and how does it match up to the most powerful Chinese rockets.

we are few years behind.

 

[Odysseus]

ISRO to launch satellites for U.K. firm - The Hindu

 

[IND151]

ISRO Working to Have Critical Technologies for Human Space Mission | idrw.org

we are few years behind.

Thanks to Glavkosmos saga.

 

[kurup]

DD-1 messed up both the Chandrayaan-1 and LVM-3 launch telecast .

Just found these other videos of both the launches ..... better than DD-1 ,

 

[IND151]

Nice Videos

 

[Hindustani78]

Mars orbiter scores 100 rounds, ending 'eclipse' soon - The Hindu
Updated: June 23, 2015 19:22 IST

File photo of PSLV- C25 with India's Mars Orbiter on board lifting off from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Photo courtesy: ISRO.

The Indian Mars orbiter spacecraft completed its 100th orbit around Mars on Monday. It is also gradually coming out of the blackout it had entered earlier this month, Indian Space Research Organisation has said.

The payloads on the spacecraft are to be re-started in a few weeks. They were last operated on May 27 to put the spacecraft in an autonomous mode.

MOM remains healthy and all its payloads are performing satisfactorily, ISRO said. The Mars Colour Camera has taken 405 frames so far.

"The spacecraft's health data is now being received," ISRO said adding the orbiter now had an elliptical orbit of 474 km and 71, 132 km from the red planet.

Since early June, the Mars Orbiter and Mars were moving behind Sun as viewed from Earth. Two-way signals were disrupted by solar activities.

Launched from Indian spaceport of Sriharikota on November 5, 2013, MOM reached the red planet in September last year and has outlived its planned mission life of six months in a Martian orbit.

 

[IND151]

Mars orbiter scores 100 rounds, ending 'eclipse' soon - The Hindu
Updated: June 23, 2015 19:22 IST

File photo of PSLV- C25 with India's Mars Orbiter on board lifting off from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Photo courtesy: ISRO.

The Indian Mars orbiter spacecraft completed its 100th orbit around Mars on Monday. It is also gradually coming out of the blackout it had entered earlier this month, Indian Space Research Organisation has said.

The payloads on the spacecraft are to be re-started in a few weeks. They were last operated on May 27 to put the spacecraft in an autonomous mode.

MOM remains healthy and all its payloads are performing satisfactorily, ISRO said. The Mars Colour Camera has taken 405 frames so far.

"The spacecraft's health data is now being received," ISRO said adding the orbiter now had an elliptical orbit of 474 km and 71, 132 km from the red planet.

Since early June, the Mars Orbiter and Mars were moving behind Sun as viewed from Earth. Two-way signals were disrupted by solar activities.

Launched from Indian spaceport of Sriharikota on November 5, 2013, MOM reached the red planet in September last year and has outlived its planned mission life of six months in a Martian orbit.

Very good news

 

[Hindustani78]

India's Mars mission may last "many years": ISRO chief Kiran Kumar - The Economic Times
By PTI | 26 Jun, 2015, 05.56PM IST

BENGALURU: The country's low-cost Mars mission spacecraft that is in a rendezvous with the Red planet for an extended period has enough fuel for it to last "many years", Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman Kiran Kumar said today.

"....now it will be surviving for many years," Kumar told reporters here on the sidelines of Indian Institute of Science Alumni Global Conference 2015 'Science for Society' here.

He said, "still about 45 kg of fuel is left; ...we are hardly using the fuel, fuel requirement is very small."

"Originally with the kind of fuel we had carried, we were not expecting that we will be able to complete the mission for more than six months," he said.

Elaborating, he said right from launch till the spacecraft was inserted into the desired orbit, many difficulties could have been encountered "in which case we would have spent more fuel....but it didn't happen right from the beginning through the whole process."

The spacecraft's life was extended for another six months in March due to surplus fuel.

Scripting space history, India on September 24 last successfully placed the low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft in orbit around the Mars in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club.

ISRO had launched the spacecraft on its nine-month-long odyssey on a homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2013 and it had escaped the earth's gravitational field on December 1, 2013.

Kumar said "there was no untoward incidents, no failures; ....even when you launch you have to give some margin for launch error that also was not there. So we were able to save fuel right from beginning till insertion."

"Now we have saved, almost 45 kg is there. It will last for many years," he added. He however did not exactly specify how long the spacecraft's life can be further extended.

Asked to specify the time frame, he said "we will go one step at a time. We had told the longest duration of gap of communication was this one (June 8-22). Now this we have survived. Next similar event will be two-and-half years later."

Questioned whether it can last two-and-half years, he said "...it should."

From June 8 to 22, the MOM was in "blackout" phase snapping communication with the satellite, as the sun had blocked Mars from the Earth. MOM during this period went into an "autonomous mode".