Indian Space Capabilities

[gowthamraj]

India Soon To Become Self-Reliant In Cryogenic Propulsion Technology



India Soon To Become Self-Reliant In Cryogenic Propulsion Technology

so india going to launch indigenous gslv in jan 24?

 

[skyisthelimit]

Towards self-reliance in launch vehicle technology

GSLV Mk-III, is the most powerful rocket to be built by ISRO, will make India totally self-reliant in launch vehicle technology for launching INSAT class of communication satellites which are now being put in orbit for India by the European launcher Ariane-5.
“Towards sustained self-reliance in accessing space, GSLV Mk-III, the next generation launch vehicle,” announces a stylish poster on India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, which is currently under development.

The poster, along with a model of the GSLV Mk-III, was prominently displayed in the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) pavilion, “Pride of India,” during the Indian Science Congress held recently at Thiruvananthapuram.

The GSLV Mk-III will make India totally self-reliant in launch vehicle technology for launching INSAT class of communication satellites which are now being put in orbit for India by the European launcher Ariane-5.

In the fourth week of this month, the ISRO will cross a milestone in its efforts to develop this aerial powerhouse called the GSLV Mk-III when one of its two gigantic strap-on booster motors, S-200, erupts into life and fires for about 130 seconds. The motor will fire at the massive new test facility built at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. The motor is called S-200 because it is powered by 200 tonnes of solid propellants.

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, has designed S-200, and propellant casting has been done in a newly built plant at Sriharikota. The final preparation for ground-testing of the motor is progressing at Sriharikota and test readiness is being reviewed by the Test Authorisation Board chaired by SDSC Director M.C. Dathan.

In February first week, the ISRO will cross another milestone when the GSLV Mk-III’s core stage (L-110), powered by 110 tonnes of liquid propellants, fires for about 200 seconds at the huge test stand at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.
Short-duration test

A test for 15 seconds will be done to validate the performance of the engine and the associated ground facilities before the long-duration test is conducted for 200 seconds. The final preparations for testing the L-110 stage are on at Mahendragiri under the guidance of LPSC Director M.K.G. Nair.

Sub-systems are getting ready for undergoing tests at the same facility for the upper cryogenic stage, which will be fuelled by 25 tonnes of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

If everything goes on schedule, the first flight of the GSLV Mk-III will take place by the end of 2011. It is the most powerful rocket to be built by the ISRO, weighing 630 tonnes and 43.5 metres tall. It can put a satellite weighing four tonnes in a geo-synchronous transfer orbit with a perigee of about 200 km and an apogee of 36,000 km. It can put a satellite weighing 10 tonnes in a near-earth orbit at an altitude of about 300 km.

It has three stages. The two boosters, S-200, form the first stage. The boosters hug the core/second liquid stage. Above this liquid stage is the cryogenic stage.

“S-200 stage is the third largest stage in the world. Preparations are on for the first static test of the S-200 motor at Sriharikota. It will be a milestone in the GSLV Mk-III’s development,” said VSSC Director P.S. Veeraraghavan. S-200 is the third largest booster after the NASA Space Shuttle and Arianespace Ariane-5’s boosters.

According to N. Narayana Moorthy, Project Director, GSLV Mk-III, the ISRO executed a massive programme of building the infrastructure needed for the project at Sriharikota, Mahendragiri and in Thiruvananthapuram. Out of Rs. 2,500 crore allocated to the project, Rs. 1,600 crore was earmarked for building infrastructure including facilities for assembling and testing the solid, liquid and cryogenic engines and their stages, and integration halls at Sriharikota, Mahendragiri and in Thiruvananthapuram. A big plant for manufacturing the solid propellants needed for S-200 boosters has come up at Sriharikota.

“The ISRO has built big facilities in the launch complex at Sriharikota for handling and integration of the GSLV Mk-III. These include erection of a new mobile launch pedestal since the core vehicle’s diameter is four metres,” said Mr. Narayana Moorthy. Major facilities have come up at the VSSC and Sriharikota for structural testing of different hardware including propellant tanks and light alloy structures.

“We have completed building most of the infrastructure and we are starting the testing phase. The launch schedule will depend on the outcome of the ground tests,” said Mr. Narayana Moorthy.

GSLV Mk-III’s motor S-200 will be tested in the last week of January If everything goes on schedule, the first flight will take place by 2011-end

The Hindu : Sci-Tech : Towards self-reliance in launch vehicle technology

 

[RPK]

Bangalore, Jan 24 (IANS) India successfully conducted the static test of its largest solid booster for launching heavier satellites using the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-Mk III), the space agency said Sunday.
“The solid booster (S200) will form the strap-on stage for the GSLV-Mark III, which is in advanced stage of development for launching four-tonne class of communication satellites,” the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.

The test was conducted earlier in the day at ISRO’s spaceport (Satish Dhawan Space Centre) at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km north-east of Chennai.

The successful test makes S200 the third largest solid booster in the world, next to the reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) solid booster of Space Shuttle of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and P230 solid booster of Ariane-5 of Arianespace, a launch service and solutions consortium of European countries.



More at : India tests rocket booster for heavier satellites India tests rocket booster for heavier satellites

 

[Red Dwarf]

^^^Why it is called the 3rd largest. Why nobody counts the Energia rocket booster.

 

[RPK]

ISRO-assisted development project for Haryana


Chandigarh, Jan 25 (PTI) Haryana is among five states selected for the implementation of a project designed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for carrying out developmental activities through local bodies.

The major Remote Sensing and GIS Application project entitled 'Space Based Information Support for Decentralized Planning (SIS-DP)" of ISRO will be implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala and West Bengal as well.

Director, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad V Jayaraman told a meeting of state government officials that the project would provide ICT-enabled geo-spatial platform involving local bodies to carry out developmental activities in a decentralised, speedy and transparent manner.

The project aims at harnessing space technology and information systems at local bodies to create information base and provide services.

The project would be executed and supported by Haryana Space Application Centre.


fullstory

 

[RPK]

16th NSSS 2010 at Saurashtra University, Rajkot: ISRO | Ub News

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced the 16th National Space Science Symposium (NSSS – 2010) to be held at Saurashtra University, Rajkot during February 24-27, 2010.

The symposium sponsored by ISRO, in association with the Astronomical Society of India, is organised to provide a scientific forum for the presentation of new results and to discuss recent developments in space science, planetary exploration and space- and ground-based astronomy programmes/projects being pursued at various research institutions and universities in India.

The following broad areas will be covered during the symposium.

Space- and ground-based astronomy and astrophysics, Planetary science/exploration
Solar radiation and its interaction with earth’s near and distant environment
Magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere and middle atmosphere phenomena
Space-based oceanography, meteorology, and tropospheric studies
Climate changes and geosphere-biosphere interaction processes

 

[RPK]

Help! The sun is not hotting up - dnaindia.com


Bangalore: Concerned over the sun’s apparent cooling down and curious to know how that would affect the earth and its climate, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is planning its first sun-bound satellite, Aditya-1, which would skirt the outer solar atmosphere to send back crucial data.

The 100kg satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2013. The Rs128-crore Aditya mission received the go-ahead from the government in December 2009.

“The focus will be on the low activity of the sun and what happens if the phenomenon were to continue into the next decade,” said the principal investigator of the mission, Jagdev Singh. “We included this objective since there is very low activity on the sun. The solar cycle, which by now should have entered the high activity phase or maxima, is not happening. We see sunspots, but very irregularly,” he said.

The sunspots, which regularly occur as the sun hots up during the solar maximum cycle, appear once in two months and for much shorter periods of three to five days.

The sun goes through a cycle of 11 years when it cools down and then hots up again, alternatively. In the earlier cycles, the sunspots and active regions appeared continuously and lasted for 15 days to one month, and increased as the sun moved towards the maximum period.

“The cycle has been delayed by close to three years now. So the satellite, when launched, will observe the sun for five to six years. Based on the data, it will help build a model of what happens during low activity on the sun,” Singh said.

The scientific community the world over is worried if we are heading towards Maunder minimum, a situation similar to what had happened between 1645 and 1715 when there was minimum activity on the sun. The much smaller sunspots, appearing irregularly in the otherwise active solar regions, is happening again. Back then, only 50 sunspots had appeared as against a normal of 50,000.

Since the solar data collected by scientists dates back to only 150 years, there is no way of knowing how the Maunder minimum had affected the earth from 1645 to 1715, Singh said.

“We will now study the effects on climatic conditions too. But as of now, we are not predicting if we are going to face a similar situation as then. We will have to wait for the observations,” Singh said.

The Aditya-1 mission will help Indian space scientists estimate how much thermal insulation would be required for Isro spacecrafts carrying astronauts, as India’s first manned low-orbit space mission is scheduled for 2015.

The abrupt end of India’s first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, due to intense radiation (thermal heating) has led scientists to use the Aditya mission for this purpose, too. The data is also expected to be shared with other countries sending astronauts to the international space station, besides for safety in future space tourism projects.

 

[gogbot]

Help! The sun is not hotting up - dnaindia.com


Bangalore: Concerned over the sun’s apparent cooling down and curious to know how that would affect the earth and its climate, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is planning its first sun-bound satellite, Aditya-1, which would skirt the outer solar atmosphere to send back crucial data.

The 100kg satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2013. The Rs128-crore Aditya mission received the go-ahead from the government in December 2009.

“The focus will be on the low activity of the sun and what happens if the phenomenon were to continue into the next decade,” said the principal investigator of the mission, Jagdev Singh. “We included this objective since there is very low activity on the sun. The solar cycle, which by now should have entered the high activity phase or maxima, is not happening. We see sunspots, but very irregularly,” he said.

The sunspots, which regularly occur as the sun hots up during the solar maximum cycle, appear once in two months and for much shorter periods of three to five days.

The sun goes through a cycle of 11 years when it cools down and then hots up again, alternatively. In the earlier cycles, the sunspots and active regions appeared continuously and lasted for 15 days to one month, and increased as the sun moved towards the maximum period.

“The cycle has been delayed by close to three years now. So the satellite, when launched, will observe the sun for five to six years. Based on the data, it will help build a model of what happens during low activity on the sun,” Singh said.

The scientific community the world over is worried if we are heading towards Maunder minimum, a situation similar to what had happened between 1645 and 1715 when there was minimum activity on the sun. The much smaller sunspots, appearing irregularly in the otherwise active solar regions, is happening again. Back then, only 50 sunspots had appeared as against a normal of 50,000.

Since the solar data collected by scientists dates back to only 150 years, there is no way of knowing how the Maunder minimum had affected the earth from 1645 to 1715, Singh said.

“We will now study the effects on climatic conditions too. But as of now, we are not predicting if we are going to face a similar situation as then. We will have to wait for the observations,” Singh said.

The Aditya-1 mission will help Indian space scientists estimate how much thermal insulation would be required for Isro spacecrafts carrying astronauts, as India’s first manned low-orbit space mission is scheduled for 2015.

The abrupt end of India’s first unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, due to intense radiation (thermal heating) has led scientists to use the Aditya mission for this purpose, too. The data is also expected to be shared with other countries sending astronauts to the international space station, besides for safety in future space tourism projects.

That is very Interesting.

ISRO doing it job

 

[sathruvinasakh]

so next what India?
converting the S-200 booster into an ICBM just like french did with their Ariane5 booster to get out with M51?

 

[white_pawn]

Isro tests third biggest rocket motor

Bangalore: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has successfully tested S-200, the world’s third biggest solid rocket motor after the booster rocket of Nasa’s space shuttle and Arianespace’s Ariane-5 launch vehicle.

The S-200—22 mts long and 3.2 mts in diameter—is powered by 200 tonnes of solid propellant. The test is a vital step in the development of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III, which will put a satellite weighing four tonnes in the orbit.

The firing of the motor began at 8 am at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre and lasted its full duration of 130 seconds. The performance went off exactly as predicted with nearly 600 parameters being monitored.

 

[Ultimate Warrior]

Haryana among 5 states selected for ISRO project

CHANDIGARH: Haryana is one of the five states selected under the major remote sensing and GIS application project entitled 'Space-based Information Support for Decentralized Planning' (SIS-DP) of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Haryana chief secretary Urvashi Gulati said the state, only one from the region, has been selected for the implementation of the project in the first phase besides Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala and West Bengal.

National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, director Dr V Jayaraman apprised of aims and objectives of the project while deputy director Dr P S Roy gave its detailed presentation during a meeting held on Monday. It was followed by discussions and suggestions from the line department for the effective implementation of the project.

The project would provide ICT-enabled geo-spatial platform involving local bodies to carry out developmental activities under the Panchayati Raj in a decentralized, fast and transparent manner. The project aimed at harnessing the space technology and the information systems at the local bodies to create information base and provide services. The project would include thematic mapping of the state on 1:10 K scale.

The expected output of the project would be a GIS database on various resources and infrastructure, digital resource atlases, reports and development of information system to cater to the needs of various line departments and skate holders.

 

[RPK]

fullstory

ISRO begins process for Human Space Flight Mission

Hyderabad, Jan 26 (PTI) ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota will soon initiate the process of creating Third Launch Pad for human transportation into space, SHRC Director Chandra Datttan today said during Republic Day celebrations.

After unfurling the Tricolour at the SDSC, he said the work may start in six months with an estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crore.

The Third Launch Pad is required for the 2015 Human Space Flight Mission and beyond, a senior Official of ISRO said adding the launch pad would be designed to accommodate the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), ISRO's dream space shuttle.

The present launch pads would not support human programmes and the third pad would cater to all our future space programmes, the official said. The SDSC has already completed the configuration studies for the Third Pad and the process would be initiated by calling competitive bidding.

 

[xebex]

so next what India?
converting the S-200 booster into an ICBM just like french did with their Ariane5 booster to get out with M51?

well building an ICBM would be DRDO's job. But I firmly believe ISRO and DRDO could certainly share the intellectual propperty to benefit the nation as a whole, wether its for exploring outerspace or kicking our enemy's buttt.

 

[RPK]

fullstory


ISRO has received 'several' payload proposals

Bangalore, Jan 27 (PTI) ISRO would finalise in a couple of months the payloads from the international community to be carried on Chandrayaan-II moon mission, the space agency's Chairman K Radhakrishnan said today.

"Yes, we have and in a couple of months we would finalise it. There are several of them (proposals received from different countries)," he told reporters here.

The Chandrayaan II mission would have an orbiter which would carry a lander and rover, the Indian Space Research Organisation chief said on the sidelines of a book launch on Moon Mission.

"The lander will bring the rover to the surface of the moon and during the time it is there, it will take samples to be analysed," he said, adding, the data would be sent back to earth through the orbiter.

The orbiter would have "some instruments and we are finalising which are those to be put there.

 

[RPK]

Remote sensing to track potato productivity in Himachal | My Himachal


Shimla: As food prices spiral and the government faces flak for being unable to keep essential commodities affordable, the task of forecasting productivity of crops like potato assumes importance for which ground observation coupled with satellite imagery is now being applied.

Explaining the process, SK Pandey, director Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) says. “Our survey teams are presently making ground truth observations which are then co-related with imagery data collected by ISRO satellites that are processed at Space Application Centre, Ahmadabad and by end of January we would be able to make a forecast of expected potato production of the winter crop in the entire Indo-Gangetic belt.”

Problems of plenty and scarcity plague many perishable crops, says senior scientist PM Govindakrishnan and the objective of forecasting the potato crop, a month before harvest is to provide advance information for all stakeholders to adopt timely interventions in either case.”

Remote sensing for crop assessment has been explored since very beginning of space applications in the country, but since 2006 Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agrometeorological and Land based observations (FASAL) concept was devised.

Under FASAL, we are using remote sensing for assessing acreage under winter potato in Punjab, Haryana, UP, Bihar and West Bengal, say the CPRI scientists. As this crop constitutes over 75 % of the total production, which often leads to a glut and distress sales, timely information does help in taking decisions about cold storing a portion of the crop, they add.

Field survey for Punjab has been completed and for other states would be completed soon, says Pandey. The acreage data would be then used in crop growth simulation models to make the expected crop forecast.

The premier institute has not been of the mark for since it started using remote sensing. “The research and development in forecasting potato crops has been fairly accurate, which is well within a margin error 10 percent, says Govindakrishnan.

FASAL concept of using the multi source data and techniques has been successfully demonstrated and taken up to make national level multiple forecast of crops like rice, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rapeseed/mustard, rabi-sorghum, winter-potato and jute