Indian Space Capabilities

[trident2010]

GSLV Mk IV looks beastly !!

 

[Shatterpoint]

Hey guys is France and india working together on space research? I mean we are very close friends now and I know India helps Israel in the space department so why not our two countries.?

 

[KRAIT]

Hey guys is France and india working together on space research? I mean we are very close friends now and I know India helps Israel in the space department so why not our two countries.?

Yup. India going to launch a French satellite in coming days. French also launched our satellites.

 

[Sergi]

Yup. India going to launch a French satellite in coming days. French also launched our satellites.

Just business and economics buddy. I won't call it working together

Hey guys is France and india working together on space research? I mean we are very close friends now and I know India helps Israel in the space department so why not our two countries.?

I think it's other way around. Israel helped India with the spy sat.

I think India will welcome all the co operation and JVs in space research. But it's not gona happen till Indian GSLV prove its metal. Few more months

 

[subincb]

Hey guys is France and india working together on space research? I mean we are very close friends now and I know India helps Israel in the space department so why not our two countries.?

France and India are the closest Allies in terms of space. Even the PSLV vikas engine is a derivative of Viking engine. When ISRO was hit by sanctions They had to look for new suppliers and the french was providing materials including computers for ISRO and VSSC.
Israel and India has not much to do together with rockets.

 

[Shatterpoint]

That's good news imagine the possibilities of France India Israel and the USA combine our muscle into space research.

Also France has some great R&D I think the time is right for both nations to form a alliance? What do you guys think? Is it feasible and would Indians like that idea or not?

 

[IND151]

The Indian space agency on February 25 will put into orbit, seven foreign satellites including an Indo-French collaborative satellite SARAL and thus earn the much wanted and required revenue.

“The launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C20 (PSLV-C20) is currently fixed for the evening of February 25,” sources in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS.

“The rocket will blast off from the Sriharikota rocket launch centre (around 80km from Chennai) carrying seven satellites, totally weighing around 700kg a source in ISRO said.

According to ISRO, the rocket is expected to escape the earth’s gravitational force at around 6pm and inject the satellites in sun synchronous orbit (SSO) at around 785km.

Officials told IANS that assembly of satellites began Thursday afternoon and is expected to be completed by Friday night.

After mating the satellites with the rocket, a full system check – rocket and satellites – will be carried out before fixing the heat shield, the protective gear that safeguards the satellites against damages when the rocket crosses the atmosphere.

The launch window will be open February 22-25. During the 59 hour countdown, the systems will be checked and the rocket will be fueled.

Speaking about SARAL (Satellite for ARGOS and ALTIKA), Indian officials said the French gave the two payloads – ARGOS and ALTIKA) while ISRO provided satellite bus (satellite frame) and built the satellite.

“The data generated by SARAL will be shared by France and India whereas the other five satellites would be launched on commercial basis,” an ISRO official told IANS.

The SARAL will carry an Altimeter (ALTIKA) for studying the sea surface heights and ARGOS payload, which is a satellite based data collection platform.

Interestingly, PSLV-C20 will sling into orbit two Canadian satellite NEOSSat (Near Earth Object Space Surveillance Satellite), the world’s first space telescope designed by Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Sapphire satellite built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA).

According to CSA, the satellite NEOSSat will detect and track asteroids and satellites circling the globe every 100 minutes and scanning space near the Sun to pin point otherwise almost invisible asteroids.

The satellite will also be useful in tracking resident space objects including space debris.

On the other hand Sapphire will look for resident space objects that includes functioning satellites and space debris circling between 6,000km and 40,000km above the earth.

The other four satellites to be carried by PSLV-C20 are BRITE and UniBRITE (both Austria), STRAND (Britain) and AAUSAT (Denmark).

ISRO to launch seven satellites on Feb 25 | idrw.org

 

[BlueDot_in_Space]

UniBRITE , BRIte-Austria and AAUSAT3 ready for launch.

 

[S-DUCT]

ISRO Plans Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV-TD) Test Flight in 2013

ISRO will test its Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) this year, VSSC director (research and development) John P Zachariah told the TOI recently.

ISRO is developing fully Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology for two stage to orbit (TSTO) capability.

The first stage will be powered by a semi cryogenic winged booster capable of flying back and landing on a runway near the launch site like a conventional aircraft after burnout.

The second stage will be cryogenic. It will deliver its payload into orbit, de-orbit and re-enter the atmosphere, and parachute down to a soft landing on balloons.

The RLV TSTO has been conceived by ISRO as a space launch system that will significantly cut down launch cost from the present level of around $12,000 / kg.

As a first step towards developing TSTO capability based on RLVs, ISRO will flight test a Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) that will serve as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies viz., hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion.

ISRO displayed a scale model of the RLV-TD at Aero India 2009.

The RLV-TD will possess wings and tail fins, and will be launched atop a 9 ton solid booster called S-9, similar to the ones on the PSLV.

RLV-TD is reported to be 9m long, with its wing span also measuring 9m.

ISRO Plans Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) Test Flight in 2013

 

[sudhir007]

SARAL

PS4 integration

PS2 integration

 

[suren]

GSLV Mk IV looks beastly !!

Mark IV?
What? Where? We are still working on Mark III i think

 

[subincb]

Mark IV?
What? Where? We are still working on Mark III i think

Mark 4 is with 4 strapons instead of 2. just like PSLV, PSLV XL and PSLV HP

 

[suren]

SARAL literally means Chill wind in Tamil, would have been good if the satellite is for weather monitoring

 

[suren]

Can you explain how reusable launch vehicle works?
Like to some altitude RLV and from their using boosters?

 

[S-DUCT]

Can you explain how reusable launch vehicle works?
Like to some altitude RLV and from their using boosters?

DETAILS OF RLV-TD:

Introduction

ISRO is developing fully Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology for two stage to orbit (TSTO) capability.

The first stage will be powered by a semi cryogenic winged booster capable of flying back and landing on a runway near the launch site like a conventional aircraft after burnout.

The second stage will be cryogenic. It will deliver the satellite into orbit, de-orbit and re-enter the atmosphere and parachute down to a soft landing on balloons.

The RLV has been conceived by ISRO as a space launch system that will significantly cut down launch cost from the present level of around $12,000 / kg.

RLV-TD

As a first step towards developing TSTO capability based on RLVs, ISRO will flight test a Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) that will serve as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies viz., hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion.

ISRO displayed a scale model of the RLV-TD at Aero India 2009.

The RLV-TD will possess wings and tail fins, and will be launched atop a 9 ton solid booster called S-9, similar to the ones on the PSLV.

RLV-TD is reported to be 9m long, with its wing span also measuring 9m.
Design Approval

On January 5, 2012, DNA reported that the National Review Committee had approved the design of the RLV-TD.

An Isro official said design-related issues have been addressed and presented to the National Review Committee and clearance obtained to go ahead to build the RLV-TD.

Wind Tunnel Tests

ISRO has a hypersonic wind tunnel facility at VSSC, Trivandrum installed by Hind High Vacuum (HHV) Bangalore. The system comprises three Horton Spheres, each 16.3m dia. and 2200 cu m capacity. The system has two parallel pumping trains, each with two mechanical booster pumps with pumping speed of 30,000 cu m / hr backed successively by a 14,000 cu m / hr and 7,000 cu m / hr booster pump and finally by three rotary piston pumps, each with a pumping speed of 1325 cu m / hr.

As in January 2012, the facility was in the process of being commissioned.

Phased Development

Reusable Launch Vehicle technology will be developed in phases through a series of trial flights.

The first in the series of trials is the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX) followed by the landing experiment (LEX), return flight experiment (REX) and scramjet propulsion experiment (SPEX).
Hypersonic Flight Experiment (HEX)

Flight testing will start with RLV-TD (HEX). During the mission, a booster rocket will take the RLV to a specific altitude and release it. The booster rocket will fall back into the sea. The lofted RLV will re-enter the atmosphere independently and be guided for a controlled landing in the sea.

In the first trial-flight, the RLV will not be recovered from sea because it will not be cost-effective to do so. ISRO will instead use telemetry data data on the re-entry, deceleration and return.

Landing Experiment (LEX)

In the second phase RLV will be tested without its scramjet engine. After burnout, the booster will separate and fall away, and the RLV-TD will go on to make an unpowered ascent.

The RLV-TD will then re-enter the atmosphere at hypersonic speed and use aerodynamic breaking to decelerate. It will be brought to a gliding, unpowered cruise speed of about 0.8 mach, and slowed down further to make a horizontal landing.
Return Flight Experiment (REX)

In this phase, the RLV-TD will be launched to orbit and then de-orbited for a landing on a runway.

Scramjet Propulsion Experiment (SPEX)

Eventually, the RLV will be powered by an air breathing scram jet which is being developed under a separate project called Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV).

Target Completion Date

When initially announced, it was hoped that RLV technology will mature by 2015, by which time the solid rocket booster capable of being recovered and reused would have been developed, as also the scramjet engine to power the RLV.

In June 2011, ISRO Chairman Dr. Radhakrishnan indicated that the program is behind schedule.

First flight of RLV, initially planned for 2010-2011 will now take place in 2012-2013.

“We have to understand a gamut of technologies and also prove many new systems. We have to study the aerodynamics of a winged body, the auto pilot, the aero-thermo dynamics, thermal protection system, the de-boost operations for re-entry, navigation and guidance to land precisely on the ground. Of course, some of the lessons learnt from the space shuttle will be incorporated in this vehicle,” Dr. Radhakrishnan said.

Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) - Indian Space Projects