Indian Space Capabilities

[satishkumarcsc]

Yes and I think our next mission should be how to ttransport this stuff back to earth

http://www.physorg.com/news63346824.html

 

[RPK]

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Indigenous Navigation Satellite to be launched on schedule


Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), being developed will be launched on schedule in 2011. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference by International Telecommunication Union in Bangalore , Dr.Suresh V Kibe, an ISRO Professor informed today that IRNSS will consist of seven satellites and help in Navigation, Positioning and Timing.

The Civil Aviation, Shipping, agriculture and Fisheries sector will also benefit from this. ISRO Publicity Director Satish informed that first two satellites will by launched by 2011.

He said the navigation signals that will be provided by these satellites to the aircrafts will be more accurate and also reach inaccessible regions of the country.

As part of the project, GSLV launch vehicle will place three satellites in the geo-synchronous transfer orbit, while the rest four would be in geo-stationary orbit.

 

[Choppers]

Moon and beyond - India's space programme in take-off mode


New Delhi - As the United States winds down its space shuttle programme, emerging economy India is developing its own reusable launch vehicle that it hopes will make it a space power. The Avatar, a reusable launch vehicle (RLV), would be capable of delivering a 500 to 1000-kilogramme payload into orbit at a fairly low cost.

The Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace Transportation (Avatar) is just one example of how far India's space programme has travelled since it first launched a sounding rocket in 1963 from a fishing village Thumba in southern Kerala.

India's space scientists have, over four decades, slowly but steadily developed a mature capability despite small budgets and an embargo on high technology transfers because of its nuclear tests.

"With a miniscule budget, we have developed cutting edge technology," said Madhavan Nair, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Today, India's Department of Space encompasses the ISRO, more than a dozen research and development units, and the Antrix Corporation, a state-owned company that markets space products and services. More than 500 small and medium industries contribute to the programmes.

And after years of focusing on applications like telecommunications and remote sensing aimed at economic and social development, India, is now looking at space exploration.

In 2008, India heralded a new operational phase of its space programme with the Chandrayaan-1 moon mission. The mission cost an estimated 83 million dollars, about a third of China's Chang'e-1 and a sixth of Japan's Kaguya moon missions.

Chandrayaan-1 had to be aborted in August 2009, several months before schedule due to communication failure, but ISRO claimed it had achieved 95 per cent of its objectives.

Discovery of water and ice on the moon by NASA instruments on board the Chandrayaan have added to the sense of success of the mission.
But Chandrayaan looks to be just the beginning as India has an impressive string of missions in the pipeline. These include:

- A second moon mission Chandrayaan-II in the first quarter of 2013.

- A manned spaceflight in 2016 in which two astronauts will go on a week-long journey in low-Earth orbit. ISRO estimates the project would cost about 124 billion rupees (2.7 billion dollars). The funding has been approved on principle by the government, but only a small part of it released so far.

- Aditya-1, a satellite to skirt the outer solar atmosphere to gather data on the sun in about 2016-17.

- A planned Mars mission in 2030.

One of the main factors holding back India's space programme has been the paucity of funds. A 50-billion-rupee (a little over 1- billion-dollar) allocation in the budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year was the highest ever, according to current ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan. The amount was a 58 per cent hike from the previous budget, but amounted to just 3 per cent of funding earmarked by the US for its space programme in 2010.

Critics also continue to ask, can a developing country like India, where millions are mired in poverty and disease, afford to spend even this on futuristic space missions?

India's space policy-makers maintain its programmes are not part of a space race with countries like China or Japan, but an extension of its core aim of aiding development.

Currently, India has one of the world's largest constellations of remote sensing and communication satellites. These are used for broadcasting, weather forecasting and geo-mapping applications for mineral prospecting, managing water, ocean and forest resources and disaster management.

India's satellite launch vehicles - the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) - have good records and earned 1 billion rupees (about 22 million dollars) from launching satellites for other countries over the past three years.

Successful development of the Avatar, a scramjet-powered hyperplane that would take off like a commercial jet, would give India an edge in a competitive market where no country barring the US has yet launched a reusable satellite launch vehicle.

ISRO scientists are cagey about giving details, but from the organization's website and presentations at science fora, it appears the Avatar RLV would be a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle with wings and a tail fin.

Unlike NASA's space shuttle, it would not enter orbit, but launch a satellite into orbit and immediately re-enter the earth's atmosphere to glide back for a conventional landing.

A winged RLV technology demonstrator (RLV-TD) has been configured which would act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion.

ISRO director in charge of publicity S Satish said no major milestones had yet been achieved in the RLV's development, but a hypersonic flight experiment on a technology demonstrator was likely in 2011.

India's consistent economic growth for several years running and the desire to be seen as a world power have played a crucial role in making Indian politicians more open to pressure from the scientific community to embark on ambitious programmes like the RLV and space exploration missions.

There is a strategic angle too, but scientists the world over have played to the government on defence matters to be able to secure funding for research and development.

India, however, wants to project future space missions as a part of its original human development goal.

Abdul Kalam, the flamboyant scientist who became India's president for two terms, has often outlined his vision where space should be seen as a possible source for water, rare materials and energy.

With more than 1 billion population and growing, India cannot afford to lag behind.

Moon and beyond - India's space programme in take-off mode - Feature : Space Technology

 

[MadScientist]

It is great to see the sucess in recent years. To those who cry that India is wasting money I would like to remind them that we have acheived following objectives in doing so.
1) Made a sustainable development, in space research, to support the public in both telecommunications, environment, agriculture, mining and weather predictions.
2)Able to achieve productivity by earning more money than spending in space research
3) Able to contribute to world with inventions (able to confirm significant amount of water).
4) Made space market more competitive and affordable to others
5)Proved that if you put you mind u can achieve any things despite having many problems . Helps motivate the public. Now anybody in India can believe in something and can actually achieve such wonderful feets.
6) Space technology is so advanced that any country would not share with others. Any development process as ups and down. Even a child would not learn walking with out falling now and then. It only proves that indias space program and ambitions are genuine and transperent. It takes a brave heart to see and appreciate such things.

I hope these few things can support why India should continue space research. There are so many social and economical set back India has (so is any country) but that should not stop one from dreaming big and stop one from pursuing them as long as they are for good reasons.

To those who vent hatred, please stop giving hate as you only get the same in return. Do no listen, see and talk bad things.

 

[Choppers]

Moon chemistry shows signs of carbon dioxide​

Kalyan Ray, Mar 21, New Delhi, DHNS:

It has been scientifically established that there is water on the moon. Now come revelations that India’s maiden lunar expedition last year discovered carbon dioxide on the earth’s barren satellite.

Indian scientists are at the moment wary of making the disclosure about this significant discovery as a complete research paper is yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal.
However, in a research paper in the latest issue of the journal ‘Planetary and Space Science’, a seven-member team from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, and the University of Hyderabad have shown that moon has a large amount of carbon dioxide in its ambiance.

The paper on the discovery of water by the moon impact probe (MIP) skirted the issue of carbon dioxide presence on the moon. But a mass spectrometer image gives away the fact. The image shows two distinct spikes representing discovery of two molecules. The first spike at 18 atomic mass unit (amu) corresponds to water as its molecular mass is 18. The second spike at 44 amu indicates carbon dioxide whose molecular mass is 44.

“The sample data we provided in the paper does show carbon dioxide. But I cannot comment anything more, including its origin, because its scientific basis is yet to be published in a journal. A detailed paper on carbon dioxide discovery is being communicated to the journals,” team leader R Sridharan at VSSC told Deccan Herald.

Before Sridharan and ISRO make an official disclosure, they want to be absolutely certain that carbon dioxide is definitively a part of the moon’s ambiance and does not come as a contaminant. The last Apollo mission – Apollo 17 in 1972 – also carried a mass spectrometer and detected carbon dioxide as well as other inert gases like helium, neon and argon.

But due to data inadequacy, the Apollo team discarded its carbon dioxide data, dubbing it a contaminant. Researchers familiar with Chandrayaan instrumentation said carbon dioxide cannot be an earthly contaminant because of an inherent property.

“Carbon dioxide has high permeability because of which nature pumps it from the system. It cannot stick on any instrument and get carried to the moon,” said a scientist, adding the gaseous substance could not have been be locally generated during the Chandrayaan-I’s journey to the moon and the MIP’s high-speed crash on the lunar surface.

Moon chemistry shows signs of carbon dioxide

 

[Justin Joseph]

Australia, India to conduct ocean research
March 23rd, 2010 - 3:21 pm ICT by IANS Tell a Friend -

ISRO New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) Australia and India plan to jointly conduct research on climate change and the impact of human population growth on oceans.

The team of researchers from eight Australian institutions and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will use remote sensing technology for the study.

“The effects of climate change and the pressures of human population growth are having significant impacts on oceans. Ocean colour helps us understand the interactions between aquatic ecosystems, climatic factors and human impacts,” said Arnold Dekker of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

“Australia has expertise in the areas of ocean science, measurement and modelling, and collaborates with international space research agencies to improve its access to satellite remote sensing capabilities,” a statement from the Australian high commission quoted Dekker as saying.

“ISRO has an impressive programme of multiple satellite sensors to detect and monitor changes and trends in ocean systems,” he said.

More at : Australia, India to conduct ocean research Australia, India to conduct ocean research

 

[Justin Joseph]

Satellite rocket with indigenous engine to be launched in April

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India will join an elite club of five nations in April when a rocket carrying a satellite blasts off using an indigenous
cryogenic engine, an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official said.

"So far we had been using engines from Russia," the official attached to ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here told IANS.

An indigenous cryogenic engine will power the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) for the first time, he said. The US, France, Japan, Russia and China have developed their own engines.

The satellite launch vehicle to be used next week, GSLV-D3, will carry the country's advanced communication satellite GSAT-4. The vehicle's assembly is in final stages and the date of launch at Sriharikota will be known in a week, the VSSC official said on condition of anonymity.

According to ISRO, the 49-metre-tall GSLV-D3 rocket will have a lift-off weight of 414 tonnes. It will propel GSAT-4 into orbit about 36,000 km above the earth.

The VSSC official said arrangements were also on for the launch of another satellite vehicle, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C-15), in the first week of May.

It will carry an Algerian satellite, two Canadian satellites and a satellite from a college in Karnataka.

Satellite rocket with indigenous engine to be launched in April- ET Cetera-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

 

[RPK]

Isro unit to start building space capsule for manned mission - Corporate News - livemint.com

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.

 

[desisoldier]

Isro unit to start building space capsule for manned mission - Corporate News - livemint.com

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.

I quite agree, better safe that sorry, I would go alone with this method too.

 

[LCA Tejas]

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY, Go ISRO....

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

While its wonderful post , but hopefully Indians should consider getting US help in this capsule or russians , its the moon mission /space mission , you can't risk it like Dhruv helicopter

It would not be cool event if the capsule malfunctions in life support in space -

But its great achivement no doubt for indian space program to be at this stage

 

[LCA Tejas]

While its wonderful post , but hopefully Indians should consider getting US help in this capsule or russians , its the moon mission /space mission , you can't risk it like Dhruv helicopter

It would not be cool event if the capsule malfunctions in life support in space -

But its great achivement no doubt for indian space program to be at this stage

Azad, Thanks for ur valuable comment,ISRO knows what to do... ... ISRO is a complete different organization.... And About dhruv, there is already a different thread, do not project ur jealousy here....

 

[jha]

ISRO doing one helluva job with its budget..

 

[gowthamraj]

While its wonderful post , but hopefully Indians should consider getting US help in this capsule or russians ,] its the moon mission /space mission , you can't risk it like Dhruv helicopter [/COLOR]

It would not be cool event if the capsule malfunctions in life support in space -

But its great achivement no doubt for indian space program to be at this stage

taking risk is good azad. . . then only we got success like DHURUV

 

[jha]

^^^ no need to post under emotion..if you dont like any post , just ignore it or, report it...

i'm sure you have much more to contribute to the topic than replying to a flame..