Bharat Rakshak

ISRO scientists praise Chinese space feat



We are too good onleee..

When is the next GSLV launch?

ISRO Announces Two New Missions

Thursday, Apr 26, 2012, 13:42 IST
Place: Sriharikota | Agency: PTI

…………… PS Veeraraghavan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, who was present, said ISRO will launch a low cost communication satellite GSAT-14 on board GSLV D5 in September/October 2012. ………….

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) As it prepares for Moon and Mars missions, ISRO is planning to hive off production of communication satellites and polar satellite launch vehicles (PSLV) to the industry.

The space agency is keen to focus on unique science projects, develop remote sensing satellites and do more R&D instead of engaging in the repetitive exercise of building communication satellites and launch vehicles.

NVIDIA today announced that the SAGA system, India's most powerful supercomputer(1) and the holder of the 85 position on the Top500 list released yesterday, is leveraging NVIDIA™ GPUs to dramatically improve the design and analysis of the delivery vehicles critical to the nation's space program.

Developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), one of the six largest space research agencies in the world, the SAGA supercomputer is used to tackle complex aeronautical problems. Harnessing the power of 640 NVIDIA Tesla™ GPUs and providing up to 394 teraflops of peak performance, SAGA enables ISRO to accelerate and improve the design and analysis of new and existing satellite launch vehicles by enabling more complex and accurate design simulations.

With plans for 60 missions over the next five years, ISRO will develop a third launchpad at its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to meet the growing demand.

"We are planning to have a third launchpad at Sriharikota to cater to our future missions," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan told the media.

He said the new launchpad would help ISRO augment the frequency of missions, which was necessary to meet its ambitious targets.

"We plan to launch 24 missions over the next 24 months, which include our communication satellites and some foreign payloads," he said, adding that over a five year period, the space agency has plans to launch 60 missions.

The new pad could also be used for launching Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk-III) carrying heavier satellites as also by the reusable launch vehicle, India's own version of a space shuttle.

It would include construction of a new vehicle assembly building, mobile pedestals, umbilical towers, emergency exits, ground escape system, crew ingress and egress systems, safety bunkers, material handling equipment and related electrical systems.

It is also part of ISRO's plan is to develop dedicated 'Space Park' next to the space port at Sriharikota. The new missions are necessary as there have been demands in the international market for ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to launch foreign satellites.

As ISRO starts building a launch vehicle for its mission, a launchpad gets blocked for nearly two months till the launch of a satellite.

With ISRO setting a target of 24 missions in 24 months, more launchpads become a necessity.

Besides communications satellites, ISRO also has plans to launch Chandrayaan-II, the sequel to its successful moon mission, launch a satellite to study the Sun, send a probe to Mars and undertake a human spaceflight.

On plans for developing another space port, Radhakrishnan said it was only at the stage of a feasibility study.

“A lot of studies have been done on the possible mission to Mars”, Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan told reporters here.

“We have come to the last phase of approvals”, he said. .

“And I am sure that, maybe soon, we will be hearing an announcement on the Mars mission“.

According to ISRO officials, a significant amount of work on the planned Mars mission has been completed and scientific payloads have been short-listed.

The project report for Indian Mars Orbiter mission has been submitted for government approval.

The mission envisages launching an Orbiter around Mars using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL). The Orbiter will be placed in an orbit of 500 x 80,000 km around MARS and will have a provision to carry nearly 25 kg of scientific payloads on-board.

The tentative scientific objective for the Mars mission will be to focus on life, climate, geology, origin, evolution and sustainability of life on the planet,” according to ISRO.

Scientific payloads have been short-listed by ISRO’s Advisory Committee for Space Sciences (ADCOS) review committee.

Baseline, solar array and reflector configuration of the satellite have been finalised, the Bangalore-headquartered space agency said.

This is the petaflop era. OT but wonder how the indian attempt is going along !

India's 3400-kg communication satellite GSAT-10 is now ready to be shipped to the spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana for launch by European space consortium Arianespace in two months, according to Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, K Radhakrishnan. "GSAT-10 with 30 transponders is ready to be shipped for launch. This launch is expected in the middle of September," Radhakrishnan, also Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission, said on the sidelines of the 39th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) being held here.

Officials of the Bangalore-headquartered space agency said it is a three-axis body stabilised geostationary satellite that is based on ISRO's three-ton structure to provide communication services and augment existing services. It carries 12 normal C band, six extended C band and 12 Ku band transponders. The satellite will have a minimum operational life of 15 years. — PTI

key features

*z It will provide communication services and augment existing services

*z It carries 12 normal C band, six extended C band and 12 Ku band transponders

*z The satellite will have a minimum operational life of 15 years

India’s 3400-kg communication satellite GSAT-10 is now ready to be shipped to the spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana for launch by European space consortium Arianespace in two months, according to Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, K Radhakrishnan.

“GSAT-10 with 30 transponders is ready to be shipped for launch. This launch is expected in middle of September,” Mr. Radhakrishnan, also Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission, said on the sidelines of the 39th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) being held in Mysore.

Officials of Bangalore-headquartered space agency said it is a three-axis body stabilised geostationary satellite based on ISRO’s three-ton structure to provide communication services/augment existing services. It carries 12 normal C band, six extended C band, 12 Ku band transponders. The satellite will have a minimum operational life of 15 years.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said ISRO hopes to conduct flight testing of its Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with indigenous cryogenic engine and stage by January next year.

GSLV flight with indigenous cryogenic engine and stage conducted by ISRO in April 2010 and the one with Russian engine and stage in December that year had failed.

“We have done a lot of studies to find out the reason for the failure and taken corrective actions. We have conducted almost 40 tests on subsystems as well as on the engine. A couple of weeks ago, flight engine was tested for 200 seconds.

That’s cleared for assembly as a flight stage,” he said.

Cryogenic engine and flight stage should be ready by November. ISRO needs to conduct two more ground tests before committing the flight, which is expected by the year-end or January next year, Mr,. Radhakrishnan said.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said ISRO planned Chandrayaan-II mission in 2014, after successfully conducting two GSLV flights.

ISRO proposed to launch the 1500-kg Astrosat, a multi-wavelength observatory in space next year. Astrosat is the first dedicated Indian Astronomy mission, which will enable multi-wavelength observations of the celestial bodies, cosmic sources in X-ray,visible and UV spectral bands simultaneously.

“Within one year, we will be able to launch Astrosat because all the instruments are going through final evaluation in the space environment,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

He also said the ‘SARAL’ satellite, a joint ISRO-French Space Agency (CNES) mission, is planned to be launched by a PSLV from Sriharikota spaceport by October-end this year. “The instruments are basically to look at ocean parameters,” he said.

ISRO officials said SARAL would provide data products to the operational and research user communities in support of marine meteorology and sea state forecasting, operational oceanography, seasonal forecasting, climate monitoring, ocean, earth system and climate research.

GAGAN on course for FOC June2013
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 018105.cms

Russia has offered India joint participation in development of its GLONASS satellite navigation system on an equal basis, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday.

"We have offered our Indian counterparts not only use of the Glonass system but also participation in upgrading it. We practically see it as a joint effort. I think our Indian counterparts will be interested in it," said Rogozin, who has special responsilibity for Russia's military-industrial complex.

10 petaFLOPS is the target set by C-MMACS. Had issued an EoI this February.

perhaps a year or two would be required to get a petaFLOPS facility

AsianScientist (Jul. 18, 2012) – Iran is the only country whose space agency is represented at a space exhibition taking place this week in India.

The exhibition has been organized as part of the 39th scientific assembly of the Committee on Space Research (Cospar) which is now being held at Mysore.

Though nearly 2,500 space scientists from 74 countries are participating in the nine-day international space meet, the Iranian Space Agency, however, is the only foreign space organization which has a presence at the exhibition which opened yesterday.

This can be interpreted as sending a strong signal to those countries which are somewhat opposed to India’s friendship with Iran. The Iranian presence is therefore, not entirely without political overtones.

The Iranian space program has been condemned by the US and Europe because of their concern over its military potential.

When Asian Scientist Magazine sought a response from the Iranian representative, Shahram Yazdanpanah, he said: “We are ready to co-operate and discover the universe. Our space program is completely peaceful. The Iranian Space Agency consists of scientists who are not political.”

“The participation of Iran in the exhibition reflects the growing ties between India and Iran. This is the first time Iran is displaying its space achievements in India. When the Iranian Space Agency received an invitation from ISRO to take part in Cospar, the former decided to respond positively,” Yazdanpanah said.

According to him, the space agency will showcase its abilities to launch satellites and also explain the history of Iran’s space program which, he reiterated, was entirely for peaceful purposes.

Yazdanpanah has been contracted by the Iranian Space Agency to set up the stall at the exhibition. Up until Monday night, he was the representative of the space agency because officials from the organization had not yet arrived from Iran as they were still in the process of obtaining their visas.

OT , but projected date for a pFlop seems to be 2017 ..Thanks

Can PSLV be converted into Man Rated Launch vehical for transporting Astronaut or for Supply platform to Space Station like IIS ?

Unlikely, I read somewhere there is payload restriction of 1500 kg on the PSLV, so ISRO was waiting for the GSLV launch, and I believe 2013 is the year for that.

Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. was analyzing radar data from the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Oceansat-2 satellite last week when he noticed that most of Greenland appeared to have undergone surface melting on July 12. Nghiem said, "This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: was this real or was it due to a data error?"

Nghiem consulted with Dorothy Hall at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Hall studies the surface temperature of Greenland using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. She confirmed that MODIS showed unusually high temperatures and that melt was extensive over the ice sheet surface.

Thomas Mote, a climatologist at the University of Georgia, Athens; and Marco Tedesco of City University of New York also confirmed the melt seen by Oceansat-2 and MODIS with passive-microwave satellite data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder on a U.S. Air Force meteorological satellite.

The melting spread quickly. Melt maps derived from the three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet's surface had melted. By July 12, 97 percent had melted.

Nghiem's finding while analyzing Oceansat-2 data was the kind of benefit that NASA and ISRO had hoped to stimulate when they signed an agreement in March 2012 to cooperate on Oceansat-2 by sharing data.