Indian Space Program Discussion

[member_23832]

Restoration of GSLV D5 Mission
Press Release, August 30, 2013

The launch of GSLV D5 with Indian Cryogenic Stage, scheduled for 16:50 hrs on August 19, 2013, had to be called off due to a leak observed in the UH25 Fuel system of the Liquid Second Stage, during the last lap of the countdown. At the time of calling off the Countdown, the GSLV Vehicle was loaded with 210 tons of liquid and cryogenic propellants. About 750 kg of UH25 Fuel had leaked out, leading to contamination of the area around the launch pad. It took 6 days of round the clock operations before the contamination could be reduced to the safe level to enable movement of the GSLV D5 back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The GSLV D5 Launch Vehicle has been safely moved back to the Vehicle Assembly Building on the early morning of August 26, 2013. The Vehicle has been destacked.

Chairman, ISRO constituted a High Level Task Team on August 20, 2013, chaired by Shri K. Narayana, (former Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre) to identify the cause of the leak and to work out an action plan for quick restoration of the Mission, taking into account the safety, reliability and life of the Liquid Second Stage and the four Liquid Strap on stages, which were wetted with liquid propellants. The leak is suspected to be in the lower portion of the propellant tank or the fluid lines between the tank and fuel filling system of the Second stage. Detailed investigation of the leak is underway.

The following action plan is put in place:

A new Liquid Second Stage (GS2) is being assembled to replace the leaked stage. All the four Liquid Strap on Stages are being replaced with new ones. The First Stage (Solid) and core base shroud are being inspected and the elements that are affected will be replaced. The Satellite Assembly, Avionics Equipment Bay and the Cryogenic Stage will be preserved, following prescribed practices.

Based on current availability of hardware and components, the GSLV Vehicle assembly and checkout is expected to be completed at the Vehicle Assembly Building by the first week of December 2013 and the launch could take place by December 2013.

Source: http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/script ... Aug29_2013

[AbhiJ]

Delete the above Link.

[SSridhar]

Questions over fuel leak in GSLV - N.Gopal Raj, The Hindu

In Thiruvananthapuram, with its large community of retired and serving rocket scientists and engineers, there have been murmurs of concern over whether the leak that halted the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission earlier this month occurred because a propellant tank made of an older aluminium alloy suddenly cracked.

On August 19, just two hours before the rocket’s scheduled lift-off, liquid fuel, known as UH25, was observed to be leaking from its second stage. The launch was immediately called off and steps taken to secure the launch vehicle.

The leak was suspected to have occurred either in the lower portion of propellant tank or the fluid lines between the tank and fuel filling system of the second stage, according to a press release issued by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). A detailed investigation was under way.

The GSLV as well as its older sibling, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), use a similar second stage. The tank for this stage was being made with an aluminium alloy, known as ‘Afnor 7020’ that has a propensity to develop cracks over time. For that reason, ISRO, on the advice of a national expert committee constituted about a decade ago, decided to shift to a different aluminium alloy, ‘AA 2219,’ that has been widely used in several launch vehicles.

It is learnt that the GSLV second stage tank, which is now being closely scrutinised, was made of the old alloy. The first such tank that used the new alloy is said to have reached ISRO in the latter half of last year. Questions are, therefore, being asked whether the space agency should have risked using a propellant tank made of the old alloy when an alternative was available.

Second stage propellant tanks made of Afnor 7020 had flown in 21 missions of the PSLV as well as the seven previous flights of the GSLV without this kind of problem occurring, countered S. Ramakrishnan, director of ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. The PSLV first flew with a tank made of the new alloy only in September last year.

When the assembly of the second stage of the latest GSLV mission started, a suitable tank made of the new alloy was not available, he told this correspondent. The Afnor 7020 tank used for the stage was fabricated in June 2010 and tested by ISRO in September 2010.

Prior to the tank being integrated into the stage, it was tested once again in April last year, according to Mr. Ramakrishnan. That time the tank was filled with gas to about six times atmospheric pressure, with monitoring carried out to detect any flaw. The tank was used only after it cleared that test, he said.

The ISRO chairman had constituted a High-Level Task Team to identify the cause of the leak and work out an action plan for quick restoration of the GSLV mission, according to the space agency’s press release. The team is headed by K. Narayana, former director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

[SSSalvi]

In one of the earlier post ' What stopped India's rocket launch? ', it was mentioned that 750 kg of fuel was leaked leading to the abortion of GSLV launch. How much fuel is actually loaded/required in 2nd stage for the flight?

No monitoring system can remain un-activated till so much of leakage. It should have signaled stoppage of count down much earlier.

Does it mean that so much fuel vanished instantly ( e.g. a sudden a crack ) ?
Or does it mean that 750kg of fuel from the stage had to be drained after leak was detected?

[SSridhar]

IIT-M's first satellite to help predict earthquakes - The Hindu

The electrical model of IITMSAT, the first satellite of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, is almost ready.

The 15-kg satellite that will attempt to study radiation belts on Earth and help in predicting earthquakes is the largest among all the satellites developed by the IITs till now.

Work on the IIT-Madras Student Satellite Project or IITMSAT started as early as in 2009, recalled the team of 20 undergraduates and a few postgraduates who work after class hours and during weekends on the project.

“The focus was on studying the energy of charged particles in the upper part of the ionosphere, and their behaviour due to lightning storms and earthquakes,” said Akshay Gulati, one of the team’s founding members, who has continued to work with the team as a project officer after graduating from the institute.

“The data collected by the satellite over its mission life of one year will be given to scientists who will be able to verify any correlation with data gathered from seismic and weather monitoring stations,” Akshay added.

The students said data from a few previous missions had been used to study effects on the radiation belts due to seismic activity, but the IITMSAT is being designed to make more sensitive measurements.

Equipped with sophisticated devices, the model of the project is supposed to ready by the end of the year. While the team now works at a laboratory in the Central Electronics Centre on the IIT-M campus, they will soon be provided with a new, private laboratory.

Though many other universities have already launched satellites into space, IITMSAT, said Akshay, had a unique sense for collecting data about radiation belts with a high temporal resolution to understand earthquake precursors better.

“Because it is a large satellite, we need a free slot in a PSLV. We are looking to launch it any time after May 2015,” he said.

To get the technicalities right, the project team has collaborated with ISRO (Bangalore), TIFR (Mumbai) and IGCAR (Kalpakkam). The team members had the opportunity to work in these laboratories through their summer break. Working in such high-end laboratories with expensive and rare equipment specialised for nuclear instrumentation was the highlight of the project, said team members.

“It is not too often that a second-year undergraduate student gets to hold integrated circuits that cost over Rs. 1 lakh or handle radioactive sources,” said Varsha Subramanyan, a third-year undergraduate of the electrical engineering department and a part of the team that went to ISRO to work on the project.

[member_24808]

Why did they use a four year old engine for a mission as important as GSLV D-5?

[SSSalvi]

Current orbit of GSAT-7.

View from South




View from Equator

[SriKumar]

In one of the earlier post ' What stopped India's rocket launch? ', it was mentioned that 750 kg of fuel was leaked leading to the abortion of GSLV launch. How much fuel is actually loaded/required in 2nd stage for the flight?

No monitoring system can remain un-activated till so much of leakage. It should have signaled stoppage of count down much earlier.

Does it mean that so much fuel vanished instantly ( e.g. a sudden a crack ) ?
Or does it mean that 750kg of fuel from the stage had to be drained after leak was detected?

This article has many details about the fueling and leak etc.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130820/j ... iJa-RtQHkU

[svinayak]

In one of the earlier post ' What stopped India's rocket launch? ', it was mentioned that 750 kg of fuel was leaked leading to the abortion of GSLV launch. How much fuel is actually loaded/required in 2nd stage for the flight?

No monitoring system can remain un-activated till so much of leakage. It should have signaled stoppage of count down much earlier.

Does it mean that so much fuel vanished instantly ( e.g. a sudden a crack ) ?
Or does it mean that 750kg of fuel from the stage had to be drained after leak was detected?

Is there a possibility that foreign countries may have deployed their monitoring sat and ASAT ready when the GSLV countdown was started

[vasu raya]

Work on the IIT-Madras Student Satellite Project or IITMSAT started as early as in 2009, recalled the team of 20 undergraduates and a few postgraduates who work after class hours and during weekends on the project.

“The focus was on studying the energy of charged particles in the upper part of the ionosphere, and their behaviour due to lightning storms and earthquakes,” said Akshay Gulati, one of the team’s founding members, who has continued to work with the team as a project officer after graduating from the institute.

“The data collected by the satellite over its mission life of one year will be given to scientists who will be able to verify any correlation with data gathered from seismic and weather monitoring stations,” Akshay added.

The students said data from a few previous missions had been used to study effects on the radiation belts due to seismic activity, but the IITMSAT is being designed to make more sensitive measurements.

Equipped with sophisticated devices, the model of the project is supposed to ready by the end of the year. While the team now works at a laboratory in the Central Electronics Centre on the IIT-M campus, they will soon be provided with a new, private laboratory.

Though many other universities have already launched satellites into space, IITMSAT, said Akshay, had a unique sense for collecting data about radiation belts with a high temporal resolution to understand earthquake precursors better.

if this hypothesis works then probably we can monitor Chinese underground nuclear blasts on the Brahmaputra river as well since they show up as tremors on the surface, nevertheless we need sensitive seismic stations on the ground also and those growing Himalayas are definitely a happening place for seismic activity

[chaanakya]

Why did they use a four year old engine for a mission as important as GSLV D-5?

To avoid Audit objection of wasteful expenditure.

[member_27444]

In one of the earlier post ' What stopped India's rocket launch? ', it was mentioned that 750 kg of fuel was leaked leading to the abortion of GSLV launch. How much fuel is actually loaded/required in 2nd stage for the flight?

No monitoring system can remain un-activated till so much of leakage. It should have signaled stoppage of count down much earlier.

Does it mean that so much fuel vanished instantly ( e.g. a sudden a crack ) ?
Or does it mean that 750kg of fuel from the stage had to be drained after leak was detected?

Is there a possibility that foreign countries may have deployed their monitoring sat and ASAT ready when the GSLV countdown was started

Boss you are wearing too much ct Star Wars hat

Asat and Sat warfare happens way above earth where no man has gone before with a sword and shield
Ok shield yes but not sword for sure

The gas leak occurred on terra firma and in our ISRO space

[svinayak]

Boss you are wearing too much ct Star Wars hat

How much?

[member_25400]

About 750 kg of UH25 Fuel

<leak noticed 2 hours before and countdown stopped 74 minutes before>

That's quite a substantial leak;UH 25 is toxic, corrosive, carcinogenic and it's vapors are flammable in air. It is hypergolic (ignites without need for spark, in contact with the oxidiser). Darned good thing they noticed the leak and stopped the count; I can only guess at the pressure and the running around in that 45 minutes. (should have been less, time must have included double checks and (should then have) a straight go to a safety officer in order to stop it faster. I suspect additional approvals/confirmations would have actually happened).

I'm not surprised that it took 6 days of watering before it was safe enough to approach/bring back to dismantle. No question at all - Safety Culture *should always* predominate over flamboyance here. Flamboyance is best kept to PR (sometimes) and in the form of charisma to leadership.

[Arunkumar]

^^^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nedelin_catastrophe

http://gizmodo.com/5239848/how-not-to-l ... n-disaster

Nobody wants a repeat of the Soviet accident

[member_23832]

Moon man
Published September 6, 2013 | By adminSOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH INDIA



Alok Chatterjee, who works at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, played a key role in India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission. Chatterjee — who started his career with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and had worked under APJ Abdul Kalam — is now leading the Isro-Nasa collaboration. He was also a part of Nasa’s Curiosity mission and the upcoming Mars 2020 mission, which intends to look for signs of life on the red planet. Chatterjee was in India to lead negotiations on a new project being undertaken by Isro and Nasa. He spoke to Prasun Chaudhuri while on a visit to Calcutta. Excerpts:
What will be the next joint venture by Nasa and Isro?

After the success of Chandrayaan-1, the two organisations are coming together to launch DESDynI– Deformation, Ecosystem Structure and Dynamics of Ice — meant to study long-term changes in the Earth’s climate. This will help monitor the Earth’s surface deformation and forecast earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides. It will also predict the response of ice sheets to climate change and the impact on the sea level. The payload will have two powerful radars—L and S Band synthetic aperture radars (SAR) — to track the Earth’s surface from space. It will be the world’s first free flying dual frequency platform that will measure global changes in the Earth system and improve the use of natural resources and disaster management. It’s not a spy satellite. Nor does it have any military purpose as surmised by some recent news reports.

Will Nasa put the payload (the radars) in an Indian satellite and rocket, just like it did in Chandrayaan-1? When will it be launched?

This time we are going for a broader collaboration. Unlike Chandrayaan 1—in which several countries provided their small payloads — only the US and India are involved. Each country will split the cost in equal proportions and jointly develop the sophisticated payload. NASA will provide the L-band SAR and Isro will contribute its S-Band SAR as part of the combined payload which will use some common interfaces. This joint payload will then be integrated on an Indian satellite in Bangalore with Nasa contributions and launched on an Indian rocket (GSLV) from Sriharikota. The data will be shared by both the countries.

As this mission involves considerable commitment by India, it is going through an elaborate approval process by different government agencies. We are told that the Space Commission, the Planning Commission, Ministries of Finance and External Affairs have completed the approval process. It has been two years since we started negotiating the technical agreements. It is now with the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and we have been told that approval is imminent by the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs. We are expecting to formally start working on the project by November 2013. If all goes well DESDynI (not the final name) will be in space by 2019-2020.


But the GSLV rocket hasn’t met with much success. Isn’t the tried and tested PSLV the better option?

We tried hard to accommodate the DESDynI mission on the well-proven PSLV rocket but it’s too big and heavy. It needs a powerful rocket like the GSLV. It’s true that GSLV launches have failed in the recent past but we fervently hope that the next launch of the GSLV will be a success. The cryogenic upper stage of the GSLV rocket has been a problem, ever since the Russians withdrew abruptly from the collaboration. Isro had to indigenously develop this stage, which is essential for enhancing the capability of rockets to haul heavy payloads into orbit. Apparently, a successful GSLV launch is now a top priority for Isro. Its Chandrayaan-2 mission, slated for a 2015 launch, too is banking on GSLV.


Nasa’s moon mineralogy mapper (M3) in Chandrayaan-1 seems to have thrown up excellent results.

Yes. M3 provided the first mineralogical map of the lunar surface and discovered water molecules on the surface of the moon. Later, using data collected by M3 and other recent Moon missions, Nasa confirmed magmatic water or water locked under the surface of the Moon. The findings represent the first remote detection of this form of water that originates from deep within the Moon’s interior. Earlier studies had shown the existence of magmatic water in lunar samples collected during Nasa’s Apollo missions.

But Chandrayaan-1 operated for just 312 days, as opposed to the intended two years.

Yes, it was expected to last two years. The thermal control system of the spacecraft gave in to the thermal environment of the lunar surface, something that the Isro scientists had not foreseen. I think the two-year time frame was too ambitious given that Isro was launching a deep space mission for the first time. However, the Chandrayaan-1 mission had achieved more than 80 per cent of its primary science objectives by the time it was abandoned.




What is the future of Nasa-Isro collaboration? Is Nasa helping India in its Mars mission Mangalyaan?

Potential future collaboration opportunities are quite significant provided the two governments carry out the objectives of the joint strategic partnership of which space science collaboration is a significant part. Just as it was for the Chandrayaan-1 mission, Nasa is providing the critical communication and navigation support for the Mangalyaan mission at Isro’s request. There are plans for such support for the Chandrayaan-2 mission too. Nasa administrator Charles Bolden in his recent visit to India clearly indicated that Nasa is keen on future collaborations with Isro, particularly on the asteroid mission. I am sure Nasa would be interested in Isro sharing its science data from future missions such as Mangalyaan, Astrosat, Oceansat, Chandrayaan-2 and others.


How did you initiate the Nasa-Isro collaboration?

Having worked in Isro between 1973 and 1982 (10 years), I had always wanted to initiate significant collaborations between the two once I moved to Nasa in 1985. If you recall, APJ Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, called for foreign participation in the Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2003. I immediately took this up with the Nasa management and sent the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument proposal to Isro. I worked closely with Kalam, and other Isro scientists to have the proposal assessed and evaluated for inclusion as one of the payloads. Isro selected M3 as one of the six international payloads on the Chandrayaan-1 mission. Once it was selected Nasa decided to fund its development in 2005. During the integration phase, I was Nasa resident project engineer in Bangalore for 18 months to oversee the assembly, tests and launch of M3. This successful partnership was the beginning bof recent Nasa-Isro collaborations and I’ve been leading these joint ventures owing to my familiarity with Isro and Nasa.


Coming back to DESDyni…you mentioned it’s not the final name.

Well, this is a technical name. At Nasa we usually call for public participation in naming a project. For example, Nasa’s Mars Science Laboratory rover was named Curiosity by a sixth-grade student from Kansas, who won a nationwide student contest. As a prize, she visited JPL in Pasadena, California, and signed her name directly on the rover as it was being assembled. Isro too can organise a contest to name DESDyni. Such contests help the public to get involved. I have suggested that Isro name it Bhumi-SAR! It could also be called NISAR for Nasa-Isro SAR. Nothing can be decided till the project is formally approved by both organisations.

Is Nasa also planning a manned mission to Mars?

Nasa is currently involved in building rockets that will allow launching manned missions to Moon, Mars and asteroids in the distant future. The current budgetary constraints do not allow for a rapid road to manned launches to Mars. If you look at the Nasa Mars programme road-map, it is based on first sending robotic missions like Curiosity and others to gather all the pertinent information to undertake complex future manned Mars missions. A series of robotic missions will eventually lead to a manned Mars mission most likely in the 2030 time frame unless accelerate by available funding and public support. It is likely to involve international partners to share the resources. Curiosity is working fine — sending excellent scientific data on Mars’ geology. It’s crushing the soil of Mars, analysing it and sending us the information — just like a human field geologist. And its on-board nuclear power plant will likely keep it running for several more years. The earlier Mars rovers (such as Opportunity and Spirit) were run on solar power and hence limited. The next few Nasa Mars launches are the MAVEN (2013), InSight (2016) and Mars 2020 as the stepping stones for future manned missions. As you know, Isro is launching Mangalyaan in October of this year which will provide valuable scientific data and lead to significant technology development for India. At Isro’s request Nasa is participating in this mission by providing the critical communication and navigation support as was done on Chandrayaan-1 and is being planned for Chandrayaan-2. We are sure that Isro will share the mission data as Nasa does for its missions.


Were you involved with the Curiosity project? Are you involved with future Nasa Mars missions?

Yes, I was involved with this in the early stages before I got involved with Chandrayaan-1/M3 project in 2004. I was the mission architect during the concept phase whereby I had to take into consideration the science and technology in developing a mission concept that will work when implemented. This included the concept design of the famous Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) phase whose successful implementation led to the now famous landing in August 2012. You must have heard the details from my JPL colleague Dr Anita Sengupta when she visited India recently.

As far as future Mars missions are concerned, I am leading the launch phase design of the recently announced Mars 2020 mission. This will use the Curiosity heritage but will have new competitively selected instruments and payload on the rover based on the results of the Curiosity mission. I am currently sharing my responsibilities equally between the DESDynI and the Mars 2020 missions.

http://idrw.org/?p=26547#more-26547

[Austin]

Now, ISRO allows foreign satellite in Indian orbital slot, reveals CAG report

[chiragAS]

---Self deleted----

[Austin]

If I am not wrong US applied sanction under MTCR on ISRO and Russian Engine Manufacturer Glavkosmos for Cryogenic Engine sale and subsequently pressurized Russia to not sell technology for Cryogenic Engine , subsequently only transfer of 7-8 fully made engines was agreed till ISRO develops its own engine

here it is https://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/offdocs/s920511.htm

[kit]

If I am not wrong US applied sanction under MTCR on ISRO and Russian Engine Manufacturer Glavkosmos for Cryogenic Engine sale and subsequently pressurized Russia to not sell technology for Cryogenic Engine , subsequently only transfer of 7-8 fully made engines was agreed till ISRO develops its own engine

here it is https://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/offdocs/s920511.htm

Technology transfer can be made in other ways.. Russian engineers and technicians can work in ISRO facilities and improve/advice on designs.As far as i know they have and still do.Sanctions et all are just that political statements., countries well connected work around it and india is no stranger to this system., its the price it needs to pay. Sometimes hand holding is required if it can ease the learning curve.

[SSridhar]

Sanctions can and will be worked around, but they have a potential to disrupt and delay the projects and plans and set them back by years which is what the sanctioning nations want to achieve.

[Austin]

^^ Which is what they did , then PM Narsimaha Rao famously stated that we would have the indiginous Cryo engine by 1998 and that was ISRO commitment to the nation and we are now in 2013 and has yet to prove our own cryo engine in flight.

Sanctions effectively managed to delay our GSLV program with indigenous engine by ~ 2 decades.

[vic]

The problem with our technology pursuit is limited funding. Anyway, we did have info from wiki leaks about India trying to buy semi cryogenic engine design from CIS nation

[Austin]

The problem with Cryo engine was not really technology but the complexity of technology involved with such engines and we having no base to develop one so things had to be done from scratch.

ISRO had initially understimated the complexity involved and was sure it would be done by 90's but as work progressed it came to terms with it , the infamous Spy scandal also delayed the who thing but then it was of our own making.

[member_23832]

ISRO to unveil Mars Orbiter Mission next week
Published September 7, 2013 | By adminSOURCE: DHNS



Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will unveil the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on Wednesday, kick-starting its much-anticipated mission to Mars.

Mom is scheduled to be launched during October 21-November 19 using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C25 (PSLV-C25) and will carry five payloads.
An official note issued here on Friday said: “The spacecraft, with all the payloads, has completed the Thermo-Vacuum Test that extensively tests the spacecraft under simulated environment space. At the same time, PSLV-C25 launch campaign has also commenced at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota and the first stage with the strap-ons has been assembled.”

The launcher is likely to be ready for integration by October 10. After leaving the earth’s orbit in November, the spacecraft will cruise in space for about 10 months before finally entering the Red Planet’s orbit.

The spacecraft will be placed in an elliptical orbit, the nearest point of which from Mars’ surface will be 500 km and the farthest point will be 80,000 km.

The 1,350-kg spacecraft will carry five instruments/payloads totalling a mass of 15-kg selected by the Advisory Committee for Space Sciences (ADCOS), to study the Martian surface, atmosphere and mineralogy.

Checking for methane, mapping the Martian surface and sending data from the optical imaging payload are among the important activities of the mission.

http://idrw.org/?p=26589#more-26589

[VinodTK]

Cross posting from Indian Military Aviation thread

India's Tech Roadmap Points to Small Sats, Space Weapons

[member_23832]

Isro unveils orbiter for Mars mission, launch in Oct-Nov

Scientists and engineers work on a Mars Orbiter vehicle at the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite centre in Bangalore on September 11, 2013..RELATED
.BANGALORE: India's upcoming Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) seeks to reveal whether there is methane, considered a "precursor chemical" for life, on the Red Planet, key officials behind the ambitious venture said on Wednesday.

A Methane Sensor, one of the five payloads (scientific instruments) onboard the spacecraft, would look to detect the presence of the gas, MOM Project Director Arunan S said.

He said the sensor was aimed at understanding whether life existed on Mars or if it would have life in future.

"Methane is fundamentally base for life on any planet," he said.

M Annadurai, Programme Director, IRS & SSS (Indian Remote Sensing & Small, Science and Student Satellites), said: "Most probably we will be able to answer whether there is presence of Methane. If it's there, yes; if it's not, not there. If it's available, where it's available".

After a media preview of the Mars orbiter at Isro Satellite Centre here, where it is being given final shape, officials of the space agency indicated that the aim is to launch the mission on October 21, weather permitting.

The launch window is from October 21 to November 19. MOM is a Rs 450 crore mission - Rs 110 crore for building PSLV-C25 that would launch the Rs 150 crore spacecraft, with the remaining amount spent on augmenting ground segment, including those required for deep space communication.

Once launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota, the spacecraft would go around the earth for 20-25 days before embarking on a 9-month voyage to Mars. The minimum life of the spacecraft around Mars is six months but it would certainly outlive it, as similar satellites orbited by other countries have sometimes lasted six-seven years, Arunan said

Director of ISAC S K Shivakumar and Arunan defended the MOM, saying the thrust is on self-reliance and building technological base for future inter-planetary missions and there is nothing like undertaking the mission on our own, even though there have been similar ventures by other countries in the past.

India's MOM would look at Mars from a different perspective, Arunan said.

Isro has addressed many challenges in the coming mission, particularly on communication, navigation, power and propulsion systems.

As there is a communication delay of 20 to 40 minutes, full-scale autonomy has been built into the satellite which means that in the event of contingency the spacecraft would take decisions on its own and put it on safe mode without a ground intervention. The ground segment then can diagnose the problem and correct it.

The spacecraft is slated to be transported to the launch pad on September 27, after the national committee review on September 19 and pre-shipment committee review on September 26, Arunan said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 488446.cms

[Bade]

The launch window is from October 21 to November 19. MOM is a Rs 450 crore mission - Rs 110 crore for building PSLV-C25 that would launch the Rs 150 crore spacecraft, with the remaining amount spent on augmenting ground segment, including those required for deep space communication.

This is so cheap for such an important mission. That is like 15-20 million US dollars. Rest of the ground systems cost are investments for the future missions too at least for the next two decades. ISRO should be doing more planetary science missions.

[member_23832]

In a first, two civilian ships to support Mars orbiter launch

For the first time in the history of India's space flights, two civilian ships will play a supporting role in India's forthcoming flight to Mars designated as the Mars Orbiter Mission.

The launch is slated for lift-off between October 21 and November 19 from Sriharikota.

On Wednesday, the 1,350 kg Mars Orbiter spacecraft with the five payloads was unveiled to the media for the first time at Isro's Satellite Centre. It was in the process of being fine-tuned and the clean room was the scene of hectic activity with scientists clad in their white robes attending to the orbiter.

The orbiter is set to be moved to Sriharikota on September 27. Speaking to TOI on Wednesday, B S Chandrasekhar, director of Isro Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network ( Istrac), said that Shipping Corporation of India's 'Yamuna' and 'Nalanda' ships will be positioned in the South Pacific Ocean. "They are now fully equipped and will depart for the South Pacific Ocean from Visakhapatnam on September 15 and will support the mission during the launch phase,'' he said.

He said that in a previous flight—the space capsule recovery experiment mission — a naval ship was used. "This is the first time we are using a civilian ship for a major interplanetary mission,'' he added.

Chandrasekhar said that the current plans project that the 70-metre antenna of Nasa's deep space network at Canberra in Australia will acquire the first signal of the crucial Mars orbiter insertion in September 2014 after a nearly 300-day flight.

A liquid apogee motor will play a major role in the orbit insertion. "This motor has a major part in orbital manoeuvres and has to restart for the insertion after a 300-day flight,'' an Isro official said.

SK Shivakumar, director of Isro Satellite Centre, said progress in the Indian Mars programme has been satisfactory. "We were able to achieve because we were able to regroup ourselves,'' he said.

Mylswamy Annadurai, programme director, said the mission will mark a quantum jump in technology. It posed a major challenge because globally the success rate of Mars missions was not even 30%, he said. Lessons learnt from the Chandrayaan mission have been embedded into the Mars mission. "The powering system of the spacecraft has been changed,'' he said.

S Arunan, project director, said that the mission had incorporated a number of redundant systems to ensure a successful Mars capture of the spacecraft. "The on-board autonomy called for the development of 68 new software modules,'' he said, adding that they have concentrated on those areas where foreign Mars missions had failed.

TRACKING RED PLANET

Total project cost - Rs 454 crore

Likely launch—November 2013

Launch vehicle-- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

Weight—1,350 kg

Launch site -- Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh

Mission duration—300 days

Five scientific instruments that form the payload-- Methane Sensor For Mars, Mars Colour Camera, Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser, Lyman Alpha Photometer and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 503832.cms

[sanjaykumar]

Apologies for polluting this thread with this bullsh!t.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/world ... d=all&_r=0

[Sagar G]

Apologies for polluting this thread with this bullsh!t.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/world ... d=all&_r=0

Aree saaar you didn't post the most important part onlee,

A Vision for India: Why Not Go to Mars? By MANU JOSEPH

We must mark out all these brown sahibs properly.

[kit]

Apologies for polluting this thread with this bullsh!t.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/world ... d=all&_r=0

but certainly 'How can India talk about mining Mars when the fact is that it depends on exploitative foreign companies to mine its own real estate on Earth for minerals in the first place?'

dude is definitely talking about mnc investment in mining of thorium and titanium !!

probably knows what he is talking though not elaborating !

also he is not saying dont go to mars., but as to why other priorities are not so relevant !

[Sagar G]

Posco

[member_23832]

Isro to make new stage for GSLV

Published September 15, 2013 | By adminSOURCE: DHNS


The high-level task team constituted to probe the August 19 failure of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-D5 (GSLV-D5) is yet to submit the final report on the reasons for the glitch, but the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has decided to assemble a new second stage for the rocket.

A senior Isro official, while stating that the exact date for the launch of GSLV-D5 can only be set in November, added that the launcher would be launched into space in December, carrying the GSAT-14.
“Going by the availability of hardware and components, the GSLV assembly and checkout is expected to be completed at the vehicle assembly building by the first week of December,” said a note issued by Isro.



“Although the exact reasons for the leakage in the second stage of the engine, which prevented the launch on August 19, are being probed by the team headed by K Narayanan, it has been decided that a new liquid second stage (GS-2) will be assembled to replace the leaked stage,” said the official.

He added that the process of assembling has begun, and that besides the GS-2, all the four liquid strap-on stages are being replaced with new ones.

Another official, while stating that the team is also inspecting the first stage (solid) and core base shroud, added that if any of the elements are found to be affected, “we will replace even those”.

“The satellite assembly, avionics equipment bay and the cryogenic stage will be preserved, following prescribed practices,” said an official note issued by Isro.

http://idrw.org/?p=26789

[VinodTK]

Here comes Rukmini, India’s first military satellite

[RamaY]

^ looks like they are planning 8 satellites, the wives of Sri Krishna.

[Sabyasachi]

Apologies for polluting this thread with this bullsh!t.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/world ... d=all&_r=0

Aree saaar you didn't post the most important part onlee,

A Vision for India: Why Not Go to Mars? By MANU JOSEPH

We must mark out all these brown sahibs properly.

Sorry for OT but many know him for his anti Hindu rants, he does for his overseas masters.

[Lilo]

A Vision for India: Why Not Go to Mars?
By MANU JOSEPH
Published: September 11, 2013
NEW DELHI — Leaving no room for extraterrestrials to have false hopes, the motto of the Indian Space Research Organization is very specific: “In The Service Of Human Kind.”

November will mark 50 years since India sent a rocket into space for the very first time, a research projectile that was launched from a quiet fishing village in southern India, terrifying many who prayed for pardon from their gods as they watched the orange vapor trail of the Nike-Apache rocket climbing to an altitude of about 200 kilometers, or 125 miles. If everything goes according to plan, in November, as if in tribute to the origins of its space program, India will send a mission to Mars that will orbit the Red Planet.

The stated objectives of the 4.5 billion rupee, or $70 million, mission are to ascertain whether India can indeed send a spacecraft into orbit around Mars, and to study the planet’s atmosphere and geology so that India could one day mine Mars and even send willing Indians there. And, of course, to detect evidence of life.

Since its very beginning, India’s space program has attracted two extreme reactions — that it is an important and honorable pursuit, which should make every Indian fiercely proud; and that it is a wasteful expenditure in a country where children die of starvation, a poor nation trying to compensate for its sense of smallness by assuming a phony machismo.

In 1969, India’s best-known cartoonist, R.K. Laxman, showed an average Indian being introduced to American space scientists as the best candidate to be sent to the moon. “This is our man!” the caption read. “He can survive without water, food, light, air, shelter. ... ”

That cartoon is not entirely irrelevant today, even as India is working on a project to send humans to space and bring them back.

India’s space scientists have consistently dismissed all questions about the value of their work as petty grudges of people who do not understand the value of their work. The scientists have considerable support among lay people, but even those who have affection for the space program find it hard to defend the Mars mission.

How can India talk about mining Mars when the fact is that it depends on exploitative foreign companies to mine its own real estate on Earth for minerals in the first place? And if science must be a serious Indian pursuit at all, as it has to be in any nation, should not India focus all its resources on, say, mosquito-borne diseases that have killed millions of Indians? Space exploration in the time of dengue does seem baffling at first glance, but then should a nation really imagine that all its great ambitions should ideally line up according to a hierarchy of grave social importance and take up only one project at a time?

Ramabhadran Aravamudan, who has now retired, joined the Indian space program more than five decades ago and was sent to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States for training. He was in its Wallops Test Range the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and was baffled that NASA did not declare a holiday. He told me that even though writers have used the expression “rocket science” to mean a great, complex type of intelligence, “rocket science is in many ways simpler than medical research and disease management. It is possible to have simple and clear goals in rocket science.”

Also, India’s space scientists have long pointed out that the country’s space program is not very expensive. This year the budget allocation to the Department of Space is 56.15 billion rupees. The travel bill for all Indian government employees alone in 2011-12 was 35.19 billion rupees and is expected to be more now.

The space program had impoverished beginnings by the Arabian Sea, inside a vacated Roman Catholic church in Thumba in southern India. So new and primitive was this science in India that its veterans are surprised it did not kill anyone. Once, three minutes before the scheduled launching of a small test rocket, a scientist pressed the siren switch to warn the local fishermen, as was the norm then, but the switch launched the rocket.

In the late 1960s, the founder of the Indian space program, Vikram A. Sarabhai, a hero in an age when scientists could be heroes even in India, learned that a new satellite telemetry and tracking station was being auctioned off as scrap in northern Australia. He sent two scientists to the Reserve Bank of India to procure a blank foreign exchange demand draft. It was a time when it was almost impossible for Indians to take dollars out of the country, and the request for a blank demand draft seemed so ridiculous to one of the bank officials that he asked the two to leave.

From the very beginning until 2008, when India sent up a lunar orbiter that disappeared halfway into its intended mission life, the nation’s space program was preoccupied with the practical task of launching cheap and locally made communications and weather satellites. The program also acquired a moral facade, which every major Indian science project is forced to acquire, of helping the poor. This the program did by using its satellites to connect remote Indian villages to the rest of the nation, and by being the eye in the sky during natural calamities.

The moon and the Mars missions, as they did not have the ruse of immediate practical applications, had to face various forms of criticism, all of which raised the same familiar question: “Why is a poor country doing this?”

Raj Chengappa, a journalist who has covered the space program for several years, is among those who find criticism of the program “short-sighted.” When the time comes for humanity to decide what on Mars belongs to whom, he told me, “India has the chance to be at the high table.”

Part of the criticism against the Mars mission is not so much an indictment of India’s space program as it is a lament against India. The inescapable question is why does primary health care in India not have the sort of scientist-hero founder, the dedicated researchers and the extraordinary government support that its space program has enjoyed? Was it just that rocket science, despite what writers who majored in humanities imagine, truly is simpler than the war against the mosquito?

Manu Joseph is editor of the Indian newsweekly Open and author of the novel “The Illicit Happiness of Other People.”

Quoting the article in full for archival purpose.

[Hiten]

GSLV mission mid-December

Chennai: With ISRO postponing the GSLV-D5 mission due to fuel leak in the second stage, director Satish Dha­wan Space Centre, Sriha­rikota, Dr M.Y.S. Prasad said the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) GSLV fitted with the new AA219 aluminum alloy’s second stage fuel tank is expected to be ready for launch, by the second week of December.

Speaking to DC on the sidelines of Aar­ush, SRM University’s techno festival on Tuesday, Dr Prasad said the faulty second stage had been sent to Liquid Propulsion Sy­s­tem Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri, near Tirunelveli, for analysis.

“While the old second stage with Afnor 7020 aluminium alloy is under analysis, work is underway to assemble the new second stage with AA219 aluminium alloy. The Work is also progressing well,” he said.

Pointing out that the scientists noticed leak on UH25 fuel at T-minus, two hours before launch through the video monitoring system, the SDSC director said that since the fuel tank was also filled up with colourless fuel and water it took them a few minutes to determine that it was the only fuel, which leaked.

“As the leak was quite heavy, we had to call off the launch and fuel to the tune of 750 kg had spilled following the leak, which had to be neutralised for safety.”

Dr Prasad also said the GSAT-14 satellite and the heat shields were removed separately from the launch vehicle. “The next GSLV mission is expected in mid Dece­mber,” he added.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130918/n ... d-december

water in fuel tank?

[Varoon Shekhar]

Incidentally, today, Sept 20th, is 20 years since the first PSLV launch, on Monday Sept 20/1993. I remember the day, and being disappointed at the narrow failure. Someone said it would be 3 years before they get the next one going, but that was incorrect, it was only one year, and the next mission, and all the following missions after that, have been successful. I actually have the "India Today" issue from Oct 15/1993, that covers the launch, excellent article written by Raj Chengappa. It's just a rocket launch, yet he wrote so stirringly about the minor failure and the hope for future successes.