Indian Space Capabilities

[truthseeker2010]

BrahMos Aerospace to Make Cryogenic Rocket Engines for ISRO

Indo-Russian Joint Venture and cruise missile developers BrahMos Aerospace will manufacture the cryogenic engine once the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) perfects the technology, said a senior official Sunday. The company is also hoping to induct its supersonic cruise missile into the Indian Air Force and develop hypersonic missile in six years' time, chief executive and managing director A.Sivathanu Pillai told reporters in Chennai.

"The ISRO is developing the cryogenic engine to power its GSLV (geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle) rockets. Once ISRO perfects the technology, we will make the engine as the space agency has asked us to do it." Pillai said. The company's wholly owned subsidiary BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvanthapuram Ltd (BATL) that already makes the liquid fuel powered engines and fuel tanks for rockets will make the cryogenic engine, he added.

BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India's Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) that holds 50.5 percent stake and Military Industrial Consortium/MPO Machinostroyenia of Russia holding the remaining stake. According to Pillai, $300 million has gone into the venture. Speaking about the supersonic cruise missile for the Indian Air Force, he said it will be ready next year.

"Our supersonic missile, traveling at Mach 2.8, hits the target with nine times more kinetic energy than other missiles in the world," he said. About the hypersonic missile that would have a speed of Mach 7 - or seven times the speed of sound - he said: "The basic technology is being developed. It will take around six years to come out with a missile." On the localisation levels achieved by the company in making missiles, Pillai said the Russians provide the engine components while Indian industries provide the guidance systems.

Last month BrahMos Aerospace and NPO Machinostroyenia signed an agreement ruling out any price escalation. The Russian partner also committed full support of its specialists so that some of the components that are now imported could be locally manufactured.

BrahMos Aerospace to Make Cryogenic Rocket Engines for ISRO | Aerospace19

 

[SpArK]

India to study water on Moon​

Future Chandrayaan series of India’s Moon missions will specifically study water and Helium 3 contents on the surface of Earth’s satellite.

This was the view expressed by Sayed Maqbool Ahmed,scientist at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and principal scientific
officer at the University of Hyderabad, in the city on Monday.

Ahmed was addressing members of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), Pune centre.

Delivering a talk on Chandra’s altitudinal composition explorer (Chace) used in Chandrayaan-I, he said, “India’s lunar missions showcase our engineering and technology skills, national pride and rejuvenates young minds.”

According to him, though imaging was difficult, Chace had provided direct evidence of water in the lunar environment.

The scientist was of the opinion that the success of Pokhran had inspired Indian scientists to think big and resulted in missions like the Chandrayaan-I.

Explaining Chace, Ahmed said the instrument was made to work at lunar temperatures and pass a thermo vacuum test and vibration test. Ahmed said, “Chace enabled us to realise that water on the moon was available beneath huge craters found on the southern and northern hemisphere.”

India to study water on Moon - Mumbai - DNA

 

[ajay]

NASA Lunar Science Institute

India to Partner in 'MoonRise' Mission

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has asked ISRO to partner in a proposed robotic mission to the lunar South Pole region

 

[Kinetic]

There is report on The Hindu that ISRO is ready to launch another PSLV with Resourcesat-2 and couple of other satellites. It will be done within one week.

 

[Kinetic]

PSLV already on the launch pad for some days but the launch have been postponed till 20th March as they have undertaken some more precautions regarding second stage. Though the same engine had 16 earlier successful flights but after GSLV failure and S-band scandal ISRO is not taking any risk.


PSLV launch anytime after 20th March.




ISRO tests rocket motor, delays satellite launch - Hindustan Times

 

[Varad]

Isro likley to launch Resourcesat-2 in April

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is likely to launch Resourcesat-2, a remote sensing satellite that will provide information on biophysical and geophysical parameters on the Earth's surface, from Sriharikota Space Centre in April. Youthsat, in collaboration with Russia, and Xsat, a venture with a Singapore laboratory, are the other two satellities that will also be launched then.

The PSLV mission was earlier slated to be launched in the third week of January, which was postponed to February 24. Isro, which is still smarting under the Christmas Day disaster of the GSLV mission, decided to play it safe as scientists insisted on more tests. Consequently, the launch was called off two days ahead of the D-day.

"Preparations are in last stages. Resourcesat-2 will be launched in April, but the date has not been fixed. It will be equipped with three advanced cameras that will transmit valuable geospatial data regarding biodiversity, forest cover, soil etc," said a senior official in the department of space. Resourcesat-2 is the first Indian satellite with space-based Automatic Identification System that can provide guidance to ships in distress.

Isro likley to launch Resourcesat-2 in April - The Times of India

 

[Varad]

PSLV to be launched around April 10

After a two-month delay, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C16) will be launched around April 10 to put Resourcesat-2 and two other satellites into orbit.

The PSLV-C16 was to have lifted off from Sriharikota in the first week of February, but the failure of the Geo-stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F06) on December 25, 2010, and the S-band spectrum scam that hit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) this year have cast a long shadow over it.

Though the four stages of the PSLV-C16 were fully integrated more than two weeks ago, the ISRO wants to play it safe after the GSLV-16 failure. Asked about the reason for the delay, an ISRO official said: “People are busy dealing with the fallout of the S-band scam and analysing the GSLV failure. The ISRO does not want another failure.”

ISRO officials said they did not want to take chances with the PSLV-C16 flight because several modules of the PSLV and the GSLV were similar. The GSLV's liquid engine stages and up-rated core solid engine stage are all derived from the PSLV, which has become the workhorse of the ISRO for putting into orbit remote-sensing satellites. The second stages of the GSLV and the PSLV, both powered by liquid propellants, are alike. Besides, the four liquid strap-on booster motors around the GSLV core first stage are derived from the PSLV's liquid stages. “We will therefore be extra careful. We cannot afford to lose face this time,” an ISRO rocket engineer said. Tests are under way on the PSLV's second liquid stage, because problems have surfaced there.

The PSLV-C16 will put into orbit three satellites: the ISRO's 1,200-kg Resourcesat-2; the 93-kg Youthsat, with a payload from Russia and two payloads from India; and the 103-kg X-Sat from Nangyang Technological University of Singapore. Resourcesat-2 is a continuation of Resourcesat-1, which was put into orbit on October 17, 2003. Resourcesat-1 is going strong, though it has lasted more than its mission life of five years. The images of the Resourcesat-2 will help in monitoring the health of crops, estimating crop yield, keeping a tab on deforestation and locating the groundwater. Youthsat is meant for studying the effects of the sun on the earth's upper atmosphere.

Two ISRO payloads in Youthsat are from the Space Physics Laboratory of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, and the ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore.

The X-Sat is a technology demonstrator with remote-sensing and communication payloads.

A standard PSLV version, which weighs 295 tonnes at lift-off and is 44 metres long, will put these satellites in orbit. The satellites will be mated with the rocket in April.

The Hindu : News / National : PSLV to be launched around April 10

 

[Kinetic]

ISRO's 1,200-kg Resourcesat-2

Thats a huge satellite!!!! I think largest Indian remote sensing satellite so far.

 

[tallboy123]

Never mind

 

[bhagat]

Isro likley to launch Resourcesat-2 in April

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is likely to launch Resourcesat-2, a remote sensing satellite that will provide information on biophysical and geophysical parameters on the Earth's surface, from Sriharikota Space Centre in April. Youthsat, in collaboration with Russia, and Xsat, a venture with a Singapore laboratory, are the other two satellities that will also be launched then.

The PSLV mission was earlier slated to be launched in the third week of January, which was postponed to February 24. Isro, which is still smarting under the Christmas Day disaster of the GSLV mission, decided to play it safe as scientists insisted on more tests. Consequently, the launch was called off two days ahead of the D-day.

"Preparations are in last stages. Resourcesat-2 will be launched in April, but the date has not been fixed. It will be equipped with three advanced cameras that will transmit valuable geospatial data regarding biodiversity, forest cover, soil etc," said a senior official in the department of space. Resourcesat-2 is the first Indian satellite with space-based Automatic Identification System that can provide guidance to ships in distress.

Isro likley to launch Resourcesat-2 in April - The Times of India

 

[Varad]

Capability to neutralise enemy satellites proved

The fresh success of the interceptor missile mission on Sunday has demonstrated the country's capability to neutralise adversarial satellites in space, according to V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister.

India has “all the technologies and building blocks which can be used for anti-satellite missions” in the low-earth and polar orbits. However, “India's policy is that it will not weaponise space, and we are committed to the peaceful uses of outer space,” he said.

Out of the six interceptor missions conducted so far by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), five have been successful.

“FANTASTIC SUCCESS”

Dr. Saraswat, who is also the DRDO Director-General, called Sunday's mission “a fantastic success.” The interceptor boasted new technologies such as directional warhead, fibre-optic gyroscopes and a radio-frequency seeker that guided the interceptor to attack the incoming “enemy missile” at an altitude of 16 km above the Bay of Bengal.

The incoming missile, a modified Prithvi, blasted off at 9.32 a.m. from the launch complex III of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Orissa. It mimicked the trajectory of a ballistic missile with a 600-km range. In no time, radars at different locations swung into action, tracking the “enemy” missile, constructing its trajectory and passing on the information in real time to the Mission Control Centre (MCC) to launch the interceptor, an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile. It had a directional warhead to go so close to the adversarial missile before exploding to inflict the maximum damage on it. The interceptor had state-of-the-art guidance systems to achieve a manoeuvrable trajectory.

The MCC identified the attacker as a ballistic missile and assigned it to the Launch Control Centre (LCC) on Wheeler Island. After making quick calculations, the LCC launched the interceptor “right on the dot at the required instant,” Dr. Saraswat said. The AAD soared into the sky at 9.37 a.m. from Wheeler Island to take care of the “threat.”

The interceptor manoeuvred in the direction of the target, which was called the “least energy manoeuvre,” he said. The interceptor raced into the sky at 4.5 Mach. In the terminal phase of the attacker's flight, as it was hurtling towards the earth, the interceptor's radio frequency seeker “acquired the target, rolled the interceptor in the right direction and, when it was a few metres from the target, gave the command to the directional warhead to explode,” Dr. Saraswat explained.

The warhead detonated, blasting the attacker to pieces. The ground-based radars and the sensors on board the targeted missile tracked the debris, which rained down over the Bay of Bengal, “confirming a very good kill,” the DRDO Director-General said. “Based on the data from the target, a 100 per cent kill was achieved.” The radars were located at Konark and Kendrapara, near Paradip, in Orissa.

V.L.N. Rao, Programme Director; Avinash Chander, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory, DRDO, Hyderabad; K. Sekhar, Chief Controller (Missile Systems and Low Intensity Conflict), DRDO; and S.P. Dash, Director, ITR, were present on Wheeler Island. Defence Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the DRDO missile technologists on the successful demonstration of the ballistic missile defence system.

Dr. Saraswat said the next test would be done later this year to intercept a 2000-km-range incoming missile at an altitude of 150 km. India's plans for putting in place the first phase of the two-layered ballistic missile defence shield by 2012 and the second phase by 2016 were on course. This would be done by integrating it with the Air Defence System of the Indian Air Force and the Army.

Only the U.S., Russia, France, Israel and India have the capability to put in place a ballistic missile defence shield. China is still developing it. It conducted an anti-ballistic missile test on January 11, 2010. The target missile, launched from Xichang, was intercepted and destroyed at an altitude of 700 km by a KT-2 variant missile that took off from near Korla in Xinjiang province.

The Hindu : News / National : Capability to neutralise enemy satellites proved

 

[Varad]

Can Bhuvan give Google Earth a run for its money?


NEW DELHI: Google Earth has competition at hand. Bhuvan, Indian Space Research Organisation's ( ISRO) answer to the Google application, is snapping at its heels. However, Bhuvan, a satellite mapping tool and the geoportal of ISRO that was launched a year and half ago, has to overcome a procedural hurdle. The department of space is awaiting the Union Cabinet's nod for the remote sensing data policy, 2011, that will replace the existing 2001 norms.

The new policy envisages making public, pictures of upto 1 m resolution against the current 5.8 m. If the norms pass the muster, it will bring Bhuvan close to the 40 cm resolution of images available on Google Earth. Resolution is the technical word used for the minimum distance between two points on earth for them to appear as separate points in the projected image. Hence, smaller the resolution, the clarity of an image is better.

Officials claim, ISRO has the capacity to produce images that have resolution of upto 80 cm. However, these images are not in public domain due to the data policy.

"If some government or private institutions want the images for planning or other purposes, they are required to send a request to National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad, which gives due clearances. Images are made available after morphing high security installations," explained a senior official of the department of space.

Bhuvan displays satellite images of Indian landscape -- in resolutions varying between 5.8 m and 55 m -- that allow surfers to view cities and various places of interest from a perpendicular view or from an angle. Users can navigate these places in 3D. However, unlike Google Earth, Bhuvan imagery doesn't boast of any commercial establishments like hotels. The indigeneous Google Earth also has an in-built weather application.

"We've the capacity to pan on to the rest of the globe like other applications. As of now, we've limited ourselves to the political boundaries of India," an official explained.

Bhuvan, official admit, hasn't been a runway success, thanks to its poor image quality.

Can Bhuvan give Google Earth a run for its money? - The Times of India

 

[Varad]

Group believes India will perform anti-satellite test

The Secure World Foundation (SWF) hosted a special panel discussion on Tuesday to examine India's military space efforts and how their plans could influence overall Asian security.

The event, held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, was a follow-up from a SWF co-sponsored conference held in January in New Delhi intended to understand the primary forces behind India’s increasingly militarized space program.

India’s space program, managed by the Indian Space Research Organization, has very strong civil roots and has done much to improve the everyday lives of its citizens. However, India’s space efforts have taken over a more military tone with help from their own missile defense system.

India has been working on its own missile defense system and has held six test intercepts since November 2006, four were reported to be successful. The most recent test was performed on Sunday. Following that test, India’s Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, V.K. Saraswat, said India has “all the technologies and building blocks which can be used for anti-satellite (ASAT) missions” in the low-earth and polar orbits. ASAT weapons are launched into space to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes.

“A missile defense program can very easily be used as a technology demonstartor program for an ASAT capability,” said Victoria Samson, director of SWF’s Washington office.

The United States demonstrated this in 2008 when they fired a modified SM-3 missile from a Navy ship and destroyed a military satellite named USA 193 in orbit.

Space security is a growing interest in India.

“We know how important space has a role today, starting from your cell phones and other gadgets that you use,” Bharath Gopalaswamy told the audience at the event. Gopalaswamy is a researcher in the Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

In order to take out a 50-foot by 50-foot wall during World War II it would require 12,000 bombs, Gopalaswamy said. With today’s precision-guided munitions, that use Global Positioning System satellites to navigate, you just need one bomb.

“Every country values its space assets extremely highly,” Gopalaswamy said, “you want to protect them and you want to defend them. If I were the military, I would be saying I want all options on the table.”

India’s scientific community is open to having an ASAT test, according to Gopalaswamy. “They said test it, but be careful, about where you test it and how you test it.”

“India might do an ASAT test in the next five to 10 years,” said Rajeswari Rajagopalan, senior fellow at Observer Reseach Foundation, New Delhi.

But is ASAT development the biggest threat to satellites?

Increasing awareness of space debris and continued efforts to develop and implement international measures to tackle the problem is a major concern for all countries.

Significant on-orbit collisions, such as the collision of the French military satellite Cerise with a portion of an Ariane rocket in 1996, and Russia’s Cosmos 2251 crashing into Iridium 33 in 2009, have encouraged the recognition of space debris as a significant threat.

“As it stands today, in space, the probability of debris hitting a satellite is more than an adversary taking your satellite down,” Gopalaswamy said.


Group believes India will perform anti-satellite test - Washington DC DC | Examiner.com

 

[perplexed]

^^ Dont double post

 

[sudhir007]

The Hindu : Today's Paper / NATIONAL : ResourceSat-2 launch scheduled for April 20

The launch of remote-sensing satellite the ResourceSat-2 has been tentatively scheduled for 10.12 a.m., April 20, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Saturday.

1,206 kg satellite

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C16) will launch the 1,206-kg satellite along with two other satellites — YouthSat and X-Sat — from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

ResourceSat-2, built by ISRO, is an advanced remote sensing satellite and designed for the study and management of natural resources.

YouthSat, weighing 92 kg, is a joint Indo-Russian satellite for stellar and atmospheric studies. X-Sat is a microsatellite for imaging applications built by the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

All the three satellites have been integrated into the launcher, an ISRO release said. After the final phase of vehicle operations assessment is completed, the pre-launch and launch rehearsal procedures will be carried out.

Board meet on April 16

The Launch Authorisation Board is scheduled to meet on April 16 and will review the readiness of the launch vehicle, satellites and ground stations before authorising the launch of PSLV-C16.

Countdown

The countdown to the launch is expected to begin in the early hours of April 18.

# ResourceSat-2 has been designed for study, management of natural resources
# YouthSat is a joint Indo-Russian satellite for stellar, atmospheric studies