Indian Space Program Discussion

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 09 Apr 2012 03:06

Nair: Probe why Radhakrishnan scrapped deal

SagarAg · Post by **SagarAg** » 09 Apr 2012 15:46

New ISRO centre to control spy satellite launch

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 595040.cms

CHENNAI: The Indian rocket that will carry the 1,850 kg indigenous surveillance satellite - Radar Imaging Satellite (Risat-1) - to the skies this month will be controlled by the new mission control centre at Sriharikota, said a senior official of Indian space agency ISRO.

"The second mission control centre was inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil this January. The forthcoming rocket launch would be controlled and monitored from the new mission control centre. The rocket will fly off the first launch pad," S Satish, director (Publications and Public Relations), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said.

ISRO has its rocket port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh around 80 km from here.

A senior ISRO official not wanting to be named said: "The new mission control centre is modern and has larger area to accommodate more space scientists, officials, VIPs and others."

ISRO officials said that the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carrying remote sensing satellite Risat-1 is slated for launch from April 25-30.

"The exact launch date depends on the readiness of the rocket and satellite systems. Normally it will take 12-14 days for the rocket launch after carrying out all the tests," an ISRO official said.

ISRO officials said that Risat-1 systems are being checked at Sriharikota and it will be mated with the rocket later.

Once the satellite is loaded on to the rocket, the entire rocket systems would again be tested.

The PSLV rocket is in a fully assembled condition and is waiting for Risat-1, the heaviest microwave remote sensing satellite to be built by India. The satellite has all weather, day and night imaging capability.

The satellite would be used for disaster prediction and agriculture forestry, and the high resolution pictures and microwave imaging could also be used for defence purposes.

The satellite's synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can acquire data at C-band. In 2009, ISRO had launched 300 kg Risat-2 with Israeli built SAR enabling earth observation in all weather, day and night conditions.

Remote sensing satellites send back pictures and other data for use. India has the largest constellation of remote sensing satellites in the world providing imagery in a variety of spatial resolutions, from more than a metre ranging up to 500 metres, and is a major player in vending such data in the global market. (didn't knew about this )

According to ISRO officials, the rocket that would sling Risat-1 would be PSLV's upgraded variant called PSLV-XL.

The rocket would weigh around 320 tonnes at lift-off and would be the third such expendable rocket to be sent up by ISRO.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 09 Apr 2012 18:46

^^^
Wish they wouldn't headline the 'spy' capability of the satellite. If it was used solely for that purpose, it would be appropriate. But looking at the total capability, the satellite is certainly going to be put to civilian/ research goals more. Someone was even quoted as saying that this satellite doesn't need to be put to that use, since RISAT-2 already is.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 16 Apr 2012 11:11

Incidentally, it is 2 years to the day( April 15/2010) since the GSLV Mark 2 with the Indian cryogenic engine was launched, unsuccessfully. Any update on that particular project?

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 16 Apr 2012 12:19

Varoon Shekhar wrote:Incidentally, it is 2 years to the day( April 15/2010) since the GSLV Mark 2 with the Indian cryogenic engine was launched, unsuccessfully. Any update on that particular project?

Didn't they say they would be back with a rectified launcher within one year's time? Or was it just that they will be back with a complete failure analysis in that time?

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 16 Apr 2012 13:57

merlin wrote:
Varoon Shekhar wrote:Incidentally, it is 2 years to the day( April 15/2010) since the GSLV Mark 2 with the Indian cryogenic engine was launched, unsuccessfully. Any update on that particular project?
Didn't they say they would be back with a rectified launcher within one year's time? Or was it just that they will be back with a complete failure analysis in that time?

In any case they suffered another failure with the GSLV Mark 1 (with Russian CUS), and may have (rightly) delayed the next launch to take care of all the resultant issues.

SSSalvi · Post by **SSSalvi** » 17 Apr 2012 13:20

A dhabawala on Bangalore-SHAR road says that he felt that a big package from Bangalore to SHAR had met some accident on the highway. The goods were transported to SHAR in damaged condition and ( for the first time in the history of SHAR ) the ' Big Package' was opened and repaired at SHAR.( These packages are never opened in any other place than Bangalore where special facilities are available to repair them ). Currently the specialists are checking the closed package before marrying with rocket.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 18 Apr 2012 19:12

http://isro.org/pdf/AnnuaReport2012.pdf

Annual report of ISRO for 2011-12 is out. Many nuggets as usual. Seems to be good progress made on cryogenic engine.

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 19 Apr 2012 04:45

Varoon Shekhar wrote:http://isro.org/pdf/AnnuaReport2012.pdf

Annual report of ISRO for 2011-12 is out. Many nuggets as usual. Seems to be good progress made on cryogenic engine.

[Page 62] The committee assessed the development status of overall vehicle and mission and endorsed the proposal for the experimental flight of GSLV-Mark III with passive cryo stage.

Does this mean the first flight of GSLV Mk III will be for lofting the cryo ~~engine~~ stage but not igniting it?

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 19 Apr 2012 05:30

SSSalvi wrote:A dhabawala on Bangalore-SHAR road says that he felt that a big package from Bangalore to SHAR had met some accident on the highway. The goods were transported to SHAR in damaged condition and ( for the first time in the history of SHAR ) the ' Big Package' was opened and repaired at SHAR.( These packages are never opened in any other place than Bangalore where special facilities are available to repair them ). Currently the specialists are checking the closed package before marrying with rocket.

Dang! Does the package's name start with an R?

AdityaM · Post by **AdityaM** » 20 Apr 2012 20:52

Havent heard much of the post-Chanrayan mission data analysis.
It was said there was too much data then. So what hve we gained from that mission in terms of data

arun · Post by **arun** » 20 Apr 2012 21:40

Launch date for PSLV C-19 carrying Risat-1 announced.

Launch scheduled for April 26 “early morning”:

Isro flying high, all set for Mars mission

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 21 Apr 2012 03:36

"Launch date for PSLV C-19 carrying Risat-1 announced.

Launch scheduled for April 26 “early morning”:"

Very good news! Now please, ISRO, no more delays on this one! It was originally supposed to go up sometime in 2011.

Also, once again, a confusing news item about RISAT-2 which the link says was bought from Israel. Other sources are pretty emphatic that only the SAR was imported from Israel, while the rest of the structure was mostly indigenous.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 23 Apr 2012 03:16

RISAT-1 all set for launch at Sriharikota

The 71-hour countdown for the lift-off will begin at 6.45 a.m. on Monday.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 23 Apr 2012 06:45

Perfect time to launch a civilian SAR payload, the only one in orbit and operational is the Canadian one RADARSAT which is well past its mission life, the Europeans lost contact with their ENVISAT this month which also had a SAR payload for civilian use. If they open up the data sharing there will be many knocking on ISRO's door perhaps.

arun · Post by **arun** » 23 Apr 2012 21:53

Gerard wrote:RISAT-1 all set for launch at Sriharikota
The 71-hour countdown for the lift-off will begin at 6.45 a.m. on Monday.

Countdown commenced at 6.47 am this morning.

Launch is scheduled for 5.47 a.m. on April 26 :

71-hour countdown commences for RISAT-1

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 24 Apr 2012 00:50

With RISAT-1, India will get clear, unclouded picture.

Those tracking kharif paddy, among other scenes, can get a clear picture of it this year, thanks to RISAT-1, the all-weather satellite.

The nation's second radar imaging satellite will be put into orbit at dawn on Thursday.Its specialty is the SAR or synthetic aperture radar which can see through clouds.

Development and other agencies that track objects, people movements, natural features and disasters on ground using satellite images can now get a round-the-year, all-terrain view of these areas.

SAR has been developed by the ISRO's Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad. A radar imaging satellite is widely believed to have military uses too - a view that ISRO, a civil space agency, ignores.

“RISAT-1 will help to give sharp and clear images of kharif crop, especially paddy, during the cloudy months of September-November,” said an ISRO official. “Otherwise, rice estimation would have to wait till December or January.”

It also beams some very sharp imageries of 1-metre resolution: of persons or objects such as cars that are 1m high or broad.
For all-weather data, national agencies relied on Canada's RADARSAT's imageries. That dependence will come down now, the official said.

RISAT-1 will also improve tracking and management during floods, cyclone and other natural disasters. The SAR can also ‘look' back and forth with its ‘ScanSAR' feature.Other earlier IRSs (Indian remote sensing satellites) used optical and infrared sensors that failed to see below clouds.

RISAT-1 is led by its Project Director, Ms N. Valarmathi, - the second woman to helm a satellite project.

It costs Rs 378 crore – almost double an INSAT communications satellite - due to SAR. The launch adds Rs 120 crore to it.

RISAT-1 was due for launch in early to late 2009 but was urgently replaced by a much smaller RISAT-2. (It was in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.)

ISRO built the RISAT-2, of April 2009, with the help of Israel Aerospace Industries and launched it on its PSLV vehicle. Its special uses are disaster management, forest cover, terrain mapping and what is called ‘species representation.'

On Monday morning, launch scientists at ISRO's launch port, Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, began counting down three days ahead of the event.ISRO will launch it on its workhorse PSLV rocket, this one codenamed C19. The Launch Authorisation Board has cleared the launch for 5.47 a.m. on April 26.

The current remote sensing spacecraft weighs an ISRO-regular 1,850 kg. It operates in the C-band. RISAT-2 was around 300 kg and operates in the X-band.

During the 71-hour countdown, liquid propellant will be filled in the rocket's second and fourth stages. The tracking radar systems, communication networks and a host of ground systems will be checked.

“Mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft (... and) charging of batteries and pressurisation of propellant tanks onboard the satellite will be performed.”

The rocket codenamed PSLV-C19 will inject RISAT-1 satellite into an initial pole-to-pole orbit at a distance of 480 km from Earth's surface.

Once in space, it will be nudged into a final orbit 536 km away by firing the thrusters on the satellite.

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 24 Apr 2012 01:27

I like the elegant deployment plan for the SAR antenna: From faces of a prism to a flat panel as seen on page 3 and 4 of the brochure.

http://isro.org/pslv-c19/pdf/pslv-c19-brochure.pdf

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 24 Apr 2012 03:42

Expected RFI from RISAT at 5.35 +/- 0.225 GHz

The Indian Space Organization will launch a C-band (5.35 GHz) synthetic aperture radar RISAT in early April. The maximum bandwidth is 225 MHz, orbital altitude is 608 km, average power 200 W from 288 modules of power 10 W each. The spot size on earth will be quite variable

All the details are available here: Synthetic Aperture Radar Payload OF Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) of ISRO

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 24 Apr 2012 07:19

The RISAT-1 satellite being prepared for launch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1CId2aKAw

a program about Dr. Vikram Sarabhai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTDUCB_eLOw

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 24 Apr 2012 09:47

Hiten wrote:The RISAT-1 satellite being prepared for launch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1CId2aKAw

a program about Dr. Vikram Sarabhai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTDUCB_eLOw

Wow!!!, the PSLV processing video is a real treasure, I am sure we
will be discussing the details in it upto launch and beyond.

gakakkad · Post by **gakakkad** » 24 Apr 2012 10:02

lot of good details and photographs of chandrayan 2 rover/spacecraft/camera module in the isro annual rport page 67..

also a confirmation about a planned Mars mission in 2013..

Indian MARS Mission
ISRO is planning to undertake a mission to the planet Mars during 2013 timeframe. The Project Report for
Indian Mars Orbiter mission has been submitted for approval of Government of India. 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.
Scientific payloads have been short-listed by the ADCOS review committee. Baseline, solar array and reflector
configuration of the satellite have been finalised. Frequency filing for communication subsystem is under progress.

all in all lot the annual report is worth glancing..

gakakkad · Post by **gakakkad** » 24 Apr 2012 10:05

Interestingly ISRO emphasizes us of Hindi as a language of comm..page 94 of report..

other interesting tidbit is that 110 questions related to ISRO were asked in 2 houses of parliament last year.

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 24 Apr 2012 20:58

Great photos of RISAT-1 and PSLV-C19 on ISRO's Facebook page.

Bolasani · Post by **Bolasani** » 25 Apr 2012 11:18

RISAT-1's radar can see through clouds and work in darkness - The Hindu

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 25 Apr 2012 13:21

^ Suddenly both ISRO and DRDO ( with Agni V launch ) are more open and forthcoming with information (Brochures, photos, launch processing videos etc.). Guessing...this may be a policy decision by GOI to project confidence and visibility in both domestic and international community.

D Roy · Post by **D Roy** » 25 Apr 2012 16:42

Yes. And in the article titled 'Reign of Fire" carried by the Week, DG DRDO said as much.

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 25 Apr 2012 19:22

D Roy wrote:Yes. And in the article titled 'Reign of Fire" carried by the Week, DG DRDO said as much.

Is this a print version? Any chance of a web link

?

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 25 Apr 2012 20:18

just noticed
scheduled launch time: 05:47 IST
sunrise @ SHAR : 05:50 IST
Launch could be a visual treat!

Craig Alpert · Post by **Craig Alpert** » 25 Apr 2012 20:25

Hindu aritcle mentions RISAT-1 imagery resolution to be anywhere from 50 m to 3m. However in a special "spotlight" mode it can have a resolution of 1 m. This to me tells me that the SAR might have been imported from Israel

D Roy · Post by **D Roy** » 25 Apr 2012 20:44

Juvva,

this link gives the entire article
http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/stra ... -fire.html

But refer to the BR discussion on it
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... ?p=1203510

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 25 Apr 2012 20:51

Craig Alpert wrote:Hindu aritcle mentions RISAT-1 imagery resolution to be anywhere from 50 m to 3m. However in a special "spotlight" mode it can have a resolution of 1 m. This to me tells me that the SAR might have been imported from Israel

I doubt it is from Israel. RISAT-1 was supposed to have been launched much earlier, as stated in this paper:

PratikDas wrote:Synthetic Aperture Radar Payload OF Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) of ISRO
The satellite is planned to be launched in 2007 and is expected to fulfill the requirements of remote sensing with all weather and day night operation capability

I believe it has taken us this long to iron out the technical issues. If we wanted to buy it from Israel, it would've been available much earlier. We certainly wouldn't have had to wait for 3 years since the launch of RISAT-2. RISAT-2 was also for X band frequencies while RISAT-1 is for C band frequencies. C band TR modules would be easier to realise.

member_20067 · Post by **member_20067** » 25 Apr 2012 21:18

top-10-facts-about-risat-1-indias-own-spy-satellite

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/top-1 ... ite-202250

According to the article neither the launch vehicle or the satellite is insured.. I wonder why...? is it because no one will be willing to insure space faring craft...?

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 25 Apr 2012 22:45

New India Assurance insures foreign satellites launched from India or local ones on foreign launchers. Spaceco/Allianz is the reinsurer for NIA. ISRO does not insure local sats launched from India since NIA is owned by the GOI. The launch vehicles are never insured.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 25 Apr 2012 23:08

Pallava Bagla of NDTV seems to have good access to ISRO/DRDO folks, but I am appalled by the factual errors he repeatedly makes in his reporting. For instance, in the 10 facts... article of his linked above, he refers to RISAT-1 as the heaviest satellite launched by India. Not true - it is the heaviest satellite to be launched by a PSLV launcher, also the heaviest satellite to be launched by an Indian launcher into polar orbit. But not the heaviest satellite launched by an Indian launcher - that honor goes to the GSLV and the satellite was the INSAT-4CR, weighing 2160 kgs.

Then he seems to imply that RISAT-2 and RISAT-1 are the only satellites that can be used for surveillance purposes ( a whole series of optical satellites can do the same, although not at night or under cloud conditions).

He has even got the weight of RISAT-1 incorrect. It is not 1528 kgs. A mere look at ISRO's brochure for this launch would show that the weight of the satellite is 1858kgs.

Sorry Vishnu, but you have a dork as your main science correspondent.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 26 Apr 2012 00:17

ECIL going to great heights to eye the sky.

India's eye into the sky to observe celestial objects like stars and pulsars will gain more clarity soon. A large telescope is being set up at Hanle, a small town on the high altitude Ladakh area.

The Rs 50-crore, 21-m, gamma ray telescope is in the final stages of fabrication at the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), Hyderabad. “It will be ready in a modular structure by August-September,” said Mr Y.S. Mayya, Chairman and Managing Director of ECIL.

The MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment) telescope, when ready will be the largest at the highest altitude in the world. The remotely operated, solar back-up telescope will detect bursts of gamma rays from these heavenly objects. The information and visual imagery is useful to astrophysicists to understand the birth, origin and processes of the stars, pulsars and the universe.

The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai is setting up this unique facility. It will enable the study of high energy cosmic gamma ray sources in the unexplored range of 20 to 100 GeV and beyond. The telescope will supplement the worldwide efforts to open up this new window to the observable universe.

The telescope will be set up on the campus of Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore is already operating the Himalayan Chandra Optical telescope (close to the proposed MACE site). A seven-element wavefront sampling gamma-ray telescope HAGAR (High Altitude Gamma Ray Telescope) has also been set up there jointly by IIA & TIFR.

The ECIL has already fabricated the structure, which will contain 356 square mirror panels of one-metre size and also a camera, weighing more than 1.25 tonnes made by the BARC scientists, Mr Mayya told Business Line today.

It is proposed to operate the MACE and HAGAR telescopes in a coordinated manner to improve their sensitivity. The close proximity of the telescopes will help in coordinated multi-wavelength studies of the cosmos.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 26 Apr 2012 01:48

It can spy and also do a hundred humdrum things

Roperia · Post by **Roperia** » 26 Apr 2012 05:39

One minute to launch

Watch live at http://webcast.gov.in/live/

Roperia · Post by **Roperia** » 26 Apr 2012 05:42

Ground lit strap-ons separated.

Roperia · Post by **Roperia** » 26 Apr 2012 05:43

Heat shield separated! Altitude - 115 km +, Time - 3 + minutes