Indian Space Programme Discussion

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 15 Apr 2016 10:01

Cartosat-2B:
1) Black & White photos
2) No videos
3) 0.8 m resolution
4) 45 degree slewable camera

Cartosat-2C:
1) Multispectral camera
2) Videos
3) 0.65 m resolution
4) (Though not mentioned), slewable camera for photo and video

Cartosat 3 (??)

The video in 2C (am assuming multispectral, steerable) is a major capability!! Wonder what area can it cover for a high resolution video?

We need a dozen of these puppies in the sky. Am sure Pakis have trained the jihadis to avoid crossing when the Cartosats are overhead. The only way to defeat it is to have Cartosats overhead all the time. Plus 100s of drones. Plus Imaging-Infrared-Cartosats for night-vision

Baikul · Post by **Baikul** » 15 Apr 2016 18:03

Prem Kumar wrote:Cartosat-2B:
......................We need a dozen of these puppies in the sky. Am sure Pakis have trained the jihadis to avoid crossing when the Cartosats are overhead. The only way to defeat it is to have Cartosats overhead all the time. Plus 100s of drones. Plus Imaging-Infrared-Cartosats for night-vision

Have all our satellite launches occurred in the public domain? Ie, is it possible to make 'covert' launches, or even as additional payload on regular runs. If the latter is true, then we may have more assets overhead than is generally assumed?

member_28108 · Post by **member_28108** » 15 Apr 2016 20:31

Chailwalla tells chaiwalla of a chaiwalla we have steerrable camears and things better than we think we have even at the time of Kargil.

Pulikeshi · Post by **Pulikeshi** » 16 Apr 2016 10:09

^^^Haha how many nested chaiwallas come bearing information

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 16 Apr 2016 20:47

The three Cartosat sats with the slew able cameras give us the same capability that the recently launched UK's DMC trio sats supposedly give, focus on any spot on Earth?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 17 Apr 2016 05:57

ISRO to launch 21 satellites in one shot - Madhumathi D.S., The Hindu

According to secondary sources, the small satellites are of masses ranging from one kg to 130 kg. Three are from Indian universities – the 12-kg NIUSAT from the Noorul Islam University in Kanyakumari; the 2-kg SathyabamaSat; and the 1-kg Swayam from Pune’s College of Engineering.

Wikipedia says

Noorul Islam University (NIU) will soon be rigging up its own satellite and launching it too with government help. The Rs.5-crore satellite will be used for agricultural applications and also facilitate higher education. The satellite fabrication would be done under the watchful guidance of 18 former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) employees who now work at the Noorul Islam College of Engineering.

symontk · Post by **symontk** » 17 Apr 2016 20:12

RLV-TD Likely to Touch Record Mach 5 Speeds: ISRO Officials

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), whose launch is planned for May this year, will also be the first Indian ‘aircraft structure’ to fly up to Mach 5 speeds, according to ISRO officials. To compare, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) touches a maximum speed of Mach 1.6.

The RLV-TD is essentially ISRO’s first “baby step” towards building a workable RLV, which will bring down launch expenses phenomenally. The 1.75 tonne, 6.5 metre-long model is due to leave the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here at Thumba in a week’s time for Sriharikota spaceport via Bangalore.

In fact, the aircraft-shaped technology demonstrator will achieve Mach 5 speeds twice, during ascent atop a booster rocket and amid final descent after separation from it from a height of 70 kms.

“It is actually designed to achieve Mach 6 speeds,” sources said. The `95-crore mission is the first of a series of technology demonstrations ISRO is planning to conduct before actually designing and building an advanced RLV, which is expected to materialise by 2030. “Acoustic tests will be conducted at Bangalore before the RLV-TD is taken to Sriharikota,” VSSC director K Sivan said.

Shaped like a tiny aircraft, with double delta wings and twin fins, the technology demonstrator is one-fifth the size of the actual vehicle planned. It will be taken up to 70 kms by a booster rocket and separated at that height to glide back to earth. The vehicle will land in the Bay of Bengal, some 560 kms from Sriharikota. ISRO officials said that, unlike the earlier SRE-1 and Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment missions, the RLV-TD will not be recovered from the sea.

Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/ ... 351385.ece

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 17 Apr 2016 20:42

symontk wrote: The 1.75 tonne, 6.5 metre-long model is due to leave the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here at Thumba in a week’s time for Sriharikota spaceport via Bangalore.
Source : http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/ ... 351385.ece

The journey via Bangalore is to test the vehicle's thermal resistance because of the hot summer Bangalore is having right now. Sun colour on phone weather map is orange.

SSSalvi · Post by **SSSalvi** » 18 Apr 2016 05:19

Prem Kumar wrote:Cartosat-2B:
1) Black & White photos
2) No videos
3) 0.8 m resolution
4) 45 degree slewable camera

Cartosat-2C:
1) Multispectral camera
2) Videos
3) 0.65 m resolution
4) (Though not mentioned), slewable camera for photo and video

Cartosat 3 (??)

The video in 2C (am assuming multispectral, steerable) is a major capability!! Wonder what area can it cover for a high resolution video?

We need a dozen of these puppies in the sky. Am sure Pakis have trained the jihadis to avoid crossing when the Cartosats are overhead. The only way to defeat it is to have Cartosats overhead all the time. Plus 100s of drones. Plus Imaging-Infrared-Cartosats for night-vision

Carto 2B had : It is capable of imaging a swath (geographical strip) of 9.6 km with a resolution of better than 1 metre. .......
steerable up to ± 26deg along as well as across track to obtain stereoscopic imagery .... ( ref: ISRO brochure )

What extra is implied by ' video ' capability of Carto 2C? ( of course .65M is understandable - they have now publicly stated this )

member_28108 · Post by **member_28108** » 18 Apr 2016 08:01

Seems that they can obtain video image of an area ie real time detection of movement and tracking of a target. So during a pass they should be able to lock on to a target and record changes probably 30 FPS. That may be what they are sayin wrt video imaging.

symontk · Post by **symontk** » 18 Apr 2016 08:52

shiv wrote:The journey via Bangalore is to test the vehicle's thermal resistance because of the hot summer Bangalore is having right now. Sun colour on phone weather map is orange.

Trivandrum is also burning, its a hot summer every where this year

SSSalvi · Post by **SSSalvi** » 19 Apr 2016 07:43

prasannasimha wrote:Seems that they can obtain video image of an area ie real time detection of movement and tracking of a target. So during a pass they should be able to lock on to a target and record changes probably 30 FPS. That may be what they are sayin wrt video imaging.

Thanks for info doc.

May be we need some more info flow from ISRO. With 7 km/sec the maximum one can latch on the object could be 5-6 seconds, hence saying.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 19 Apr 2016 15:28

Nanosatellite designed by 250 Bengaluru college students will soon reach space - Aparajitha Ray, ToI

Come July and 250-odd students of PES University on Mysuru Road may become the youngest space scientists from India. These youngsters have invested time and energy for making an imaging nanosatellite that will be launched along with one of Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) space programmes soon.

The satellite named PISAT will take snapshots of Earth, particularly India, from space. Students and professors will control the machine from the PES campus; PISAT will travel as a co-passenger of Isro's PSLV.

The project was first envisaged by professor V Sambasivarao, a faculty of PES and former deputy director of Isro. "I retired in 2011and started teaching at PES Engineering College. Since then, I have wanted students to understand that space isn't something beyond their imagination and building a rocket isn't rocket science. We started working on the student satellite programme by the end of 2011. The management has fund ed the whole project and we roped in Isro at every step," he said.

"Recently, Isro scientists came to college, reviewed the satellite design and tested its working before giving us a flight-model-for-launch clearance. Education minister TB Jayachandra will unveil the satellite on Wednesday and we'll hand it over to the space research organization by May-end," said Sambasivarao. "Isro had asked us to hand over the satellite by June 10 and has already finalized which vehicle will be flying with it. PES has established the commanding and control station (S-band ground station) on its campus to track and control PISAT," he added.

Isro wanted the college to set up a control station which was funded by the PES management.

The programme saw participation of engineering students from all disciplines and was completed in collaboration with four other colleges — SKR Engineering College, Chennai; Sona College of Technology, Salem; Veltech University, Chennai and Nehru College of Engineering, Thrissur. The Institute of Engineers also chipped in. Isro scientists guided the students through the entire project that spanned over five years.

Sukruthi Savukar, a second-year mechanical engineering student spends close to three hours thrice a week at the control station. "After completing my first year of engineering, I spent two months as an intern with the programme. But, in no time, I got involved with the space mission. We entered Isro's premises and even met the chairman, which is otherwise out of bounds for citizens. There were many such 'wow' moments during the course of this project. It's a matter of great pride that our satellite is ready to fly with Isro's PSLV," said Sukruthi.

The retired ISRO scientists are revolutionizing aerospace engineering education and interest in aerospace among the students community. I had already posted about another university near Kanyakumari which is also sending a payload in the upcoming PSLV and how that university boasts about 18 retired ISRO scientists/engineers on its faculty.

Ashokk · Post by **Ashokk** » 19 Apr 2016 16:40

Last in ISRO's series of navigation satellites to launch on April 28

CHENNAI: India is slated to put into orbit its seventh and final navigation satellite on April 28, thereby having its full satellite navigation system up in the sky, said a senior space agency official.

"The launch of India's seventh and the final in the series of satellites will be on April 28 afternoon. The IRNSS-1G (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1G) will be put into orbit by our rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)," K.Sivan, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS over phone on Tuesday.

The PSLV rocket will blast off after 12 noon on April 28 from India's spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here.

Till date, India has launched six regional navigational satellites (IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, ID, 1E and 1F) as part of a constellation of seven satellites to provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km.

Though the full system comprises nine satellites -- seven in orbit and two on the ground as stand-by, the navigation services could be made operational with four satellites, ISRO officials had said earlier.

Each satellite costs about Rs.150 crore while the PSLV-XL version rocket costs about Rs.130 crore. The seven rockets would entail an outlay of about Rs.910 crore.

The first satellite, IRNSS-1A, was launched in July 2013, the second in April 2014, the third on October 2014, the fourth in March 2015, and the fifth and sixth on January 20 and March 10 this year.

Once the regional navigation system is in place, India need not be dependent on other platforms.

The IRNSS is similar to the global positioning system (GPS) of the US (24 satellites), Glonass of Russia, and Galileo of Europe as well as China's Beidou.

While GPS and Glonass are fully functional global systems, the Chinese and the Japanese systems are offering regional coverage and Europe's Galileo is yet to be operational.

The IRNSS will provide two types of services -- standard positioning service and restricted service. The former is provided to all users and the latter is an encrypted service for authorised users.

Meanwhile ISRO is in the process of developing the front-end radio frequency chips for the satellite navigation system. The initial version is expected to be ready this year, ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar told IANS earlier.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 19 Apr 2016 18:49

SSSalvi, any public information on costs for establishing a ground station at Universities/Colleges. Was wondering if what they have now can be modified for direct broadcast downloads from other remote sensing satellites. It could also enhance their training as well as be a continuing project training more students over the years.

SSSalvi · Post by **SSSalvi** » 19 Apr 2016 20:35

^^^

Bade ji,

Will try to workout for a simple minimum station configuration and costing.

I am in public domain .. so no prob

.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 19 Apr 2016 21:06

This is for supporting a Univ project in India as a batch contribution. I see many smaller colleges are doing it. So was curious.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 19 Apr 2016 21:18

so, how do we convert all existing GPS devices to IRNSS ones? a simple chip swap?

Ashokk · Post by **Ashokk** » 19 Apr 2016 22:47

Bade wrote:SSSalvi, any public information on costs for establishing a ground station at Universities/Colleges. Was wondering if what they have now can be modified for direct broadcast downloads from other remote sensing satellites. It could also enhance their training as well as be a continuing project training more students over the years.

Nitte Amateur Satellite Tracking Centre

Nitte Amateur Satellite Tracking Centre (NASTRAC) is a ground station which was built by students of NMIT under the leadership of Dr. Jharna Majumdar, Project Coordinator STUDSAT -1 as a part of the project STUDSAT. The main purpose of NASTRAC is to track and receive data from ground station to the satellite at VHF and UHF frequencies. NASTRAC is first of its kind in India and received a patent (PATENT NO.1374/CHE/2011). NASTRAC was the first to successfully track and receive first beacon from the other student satellites in India namely SRMSAT and JUGNU.

NASTRAC was upgraded to full duplex communication system to meet the mission demands of STUDSAT-2. NASTRAC aims to provide support and guidance for colleges interested in building a Ground Station, to develop a database management system and data archival for the end users. NASTRAC in full duplex communication system is capable of tracking amateur satellites operational in VHF and UHF frequencies.

You can also homebrew a satellite receiver quite cheaply using a DVBT dongle and RTL-SDR. More information here

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 19 Apr 2016 22:53

^^ thanks for the links.

More on the PiSAT from PES students.
https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eopo ... sat#launch

SSSalvi · Post by **SSSalvi** » 20 Apr 2016 01:40

^^^
I assume you are talking of a station for PISAT.

Problem is every sat has its own characteristics ( especially the Communication freq, Bandwidth,Modulation scheme, encoding etc ) so one can't have a single solution for all sats. ( e.g. the station being used for NOAA sats operates in about 1.7GHz band so it can't be used for PISAT or most of other Remote sensing sats which operate in 2.2-2.3 GHz band ).

You get cheap antenna systems for 1.7 GHz band because that frequency is used for sat-TV / Ship borne systems etc hence is mass produced.

One suggestion for chaiwala and sabziwala friends who can talk to ISRO authorities.

PISAT might be using S Band due to ISROs heritage of S band satellites. But you don't get cheap ( and off the shelf ) solutions for S Band receivers so in future let us try to shift at least student sats to readily available L band ( 1.7 GHz ) for communication. This will avoid inventing the wheel for every new student sat.

Alternatively if there are in Freq Clearance issues then let all student sats operate on the same band and then a standard configuration receiving station can be realized in mass production mode bringing down the costs that has to be borne by poor universities.

From my side ( I had never thought of this till you instigated me ) will try to convey to Kiran Kumar. ( Of course his predecessors are around here, they also may convey it if they like the suggestion )

As usual some thought processes emerge from BRFites ( or is it more appropriate to name it as BRFights )

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 20 Apr 2016 01:47

Not for PiSAT, but for IIT-M sat...the number thrown around are large...a few $10k...hence the query. Is a general purpose solution possible...I would nudge them to get ISRO folks involved unless they are already doing it.

From the point of view of an investor, to get more bang for the buck, it has to have a wider usage...beyond a student satellite project...

SSSalvi · Post by **SSSalvi** » 20 Apr 2016 03:14

Do you mean 2018 launch?

Cost projection that you have mentioned is not abnormal for this type of station.

You need fast steerable antenna which can cover the top half hemisphere of 360 deg around itself from ground to nearly overhead.

Daily 2 to 5 times the satellite goes from horizon to horizon in about 5 to 20 minutes so the antenna should have a tracking mechanism.

Apart from this a received data processing is required after the antenna system.

BTW IITM sat seems to be an exploratory project to use Low Earth Orbiting satellites rather than a routine operational satellite project and has a very short lifetime of about a year.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 20 Apr 2016 04:46

I am not sure of the launch date, as very little information is available on their web-site. We are trying to see how we (our class alumni) can support it financially to get it going...I did not see it mentioned in the forthcoming launch schedule of nano-sats.

Can the ground station be re-usable in the future for similar projects. I am sure it will require refurbishing etc for new missions, but hope it will not be a throwaway after use situation.

This set me thinking of why cannot institutes become home to proper ground-stations to receive remote sensing data. Many Univs in the US have fully functional ground stations. It really helps in developing observational earth sciences right at UG/PG level. Maybe, ISRO can help jump-start all this. Is Kiranji listening.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 21 Apr 2016 07:27

These five regional remote sensing centers (http://vssc.gov.in/VSSC_V4/index.php/is ... dia?id=290
) would have the human resources to jump-start university level training and collaborative work. Another idea is to create new regional centers within a University setup, rather than as independent bodies.

The equivalent agencies in the US have moved in this direction and it has yielded great productivity as well as trained hands to be used in academics, government as well as industry. Indian Space program being mostly earth focused should have done this a while ago.

Some of the issues you raised regarding post-processing of data collected can also be done regionally, than at a central node (Hyderabad) as computing resources are getting cheaper, and so is also disk space. For this to happen ISRO has to give up ownership of data like what other space agencies do. I believe there is even a NOAA ground station on the Roorkee campus, whether it is functioning or not I am not aware of.

Bhaskar_T · Post by **Bhaskar_T** » 21 Apr 2016 10:34

"Evil Yindoos (ISRO), subsidised by GOI, launching US satellites throwing us out of the market" - US private players.

If I recall correctly, India will launch 25 foreign satellites in 2016-17 using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). While 12 of these belong to the US, the remaining 13 belong to six countries - Germany, Canada, Algeria, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 921599.cms

Amid the US' push to expand cooperation with India in the space sector, the country's nascent private space industry has expressed its opposition to the large scale use of low cost ISRO launch vehicles for putting American satellites into orbits.
Such a move, corporate leaders and officials of the fast- emerging American private space industry told lawmakers this week, would be detrimental to the future health of the private sector US space companies. They feel it would be tough for them to compete against low-cost Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launch vehicles, which they alleged are subsidised by the Indian government.

"I think the concern about using Indian boosters is not so much the transfer of sensitive technology to a nation that is a fellow democracy, but rather whether the Indian launches are subsidised by the government to a degree that other market actors would be priced out of the market," Elliot Holokauahi Pulham, CEO of Space Foundation, said.

Testifying before a Congressional committee, Pulham said there has been some discussion about allowing US built satellites to fly on boosters such as the Indian PSLV.

Eric Stallmer, president Commercial Spaceflight Federation, opposed efforts to facilitate a government-subsidised foreign launch company.

"In this case, India, to compete with US companies. Such policy runs counter to many national priorities and undermines the work and investment that has been made by the government and industry to ensure the health of the US commercial space launch industrial base," Stallmer said. He said the challenge right now is that the satellite manufacturers are making satellites at a quicker rate right now than the US has the launch capability.

So a satellite is not making money while it's sitting on the ground, he said.
"Currently, the Indian launch vehicle PSLV has a sweet spot and has the capability of launching some of these satellites right now in a timely manner. We don't want to see US launches going overseas by any means, whether it's to India, Russia or whomever else. But right now, from the satellite, you know, producers and manufacturers, they need to get their assets up in the sky as quick as possible," Stallmer said.

Noting that the current policy with the waivers and the review is a sound policy, he said the US should stringently look at every launch that is taking place in every vehicle or every payload that the US are putting up on an Indian vehicle.
"I think it really needs to be evaluated. We hope to phase this out as a new generation of launched vehicles come online," Stallmer said.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 21 Apr 2016 10:43

I dont understand what they mean by GOI subsidizing ISRO , ISRO launch vehical are competitive and offer the same launch facility at lower cost , GOI does not absorb loss and provides money to ISRO on the contrary ISRO launch business is profitable and provides revenue to GOI.

Pretty much every state owned space organisation does that sort of thing , they just turn out to be competitive compared to private player specially if you have a well oiled machinery like ISRO.

If US private player wants to compete in free market then let them give the same service ISRO does at lower cost. Its not ISRO's fault that they are doing a better job then other players and customers are free to choose who so ever gives them more bang for buck

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 21 Apr 2016 12:08

ISRO, industry representatives to interact on PSLV plan - Madhumathi D.S. - The Hindu

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is addressing a large gathering of industries here on Thursday and pitching a plan for a consortium to produce its PSLV launchers. During the half-day long interaction, ISRO will place before the industry decision makers its plan to almost treble the pace of producing its PSLV launchers – from about four a year at present to 10 to 12 a year.

ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar recently told The Hindu that the discussions would be about building industry’s capacity for making a failsafe PSLV as ISRO has been currently making.

“These are preliminary talks. We are trying to work for a target (to form a consortium) … but it will be based on our discussions and after identifying a mechanism,” he had said.

ISRO officials are slated to make presentations and elicit views of industry representatives.

Key figures from the public and private sector companies such as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Godrej, Larsen & Toubro, MTAR and Midhani will be among the 200 participants.

The participants will include representatives from both ISRO's current vendor base and those interested in joining space programme-related activities.

A senior official familiar with the event said, “So far, industry has been our vendor giving us products that we ask for. We now want it to be our partner, who will take on greater responsibilities and give us integrated systems. After all, ISRO’s main job is to focus on R&D to develop technologies for the future.”

The launch vehicle programme is almost entirely indigenous and ISRO has been speaking of a launcher manufacturing consortium for a couple of years now. ISRO’s Bengaluru centre assembles three categories of national satellites - for communication, Earth observation (EO) and more recently, navigation purposes.

Currently ISRO, mainly through its launch vehicle centre Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, produces about four PSLVs in a year. In the last one year, the organisation has started doing more launches and conducted three to four consecutive launches in as many months.

The PSLVs are needed for putting into space the country’s EO and navigation spacecraft of up to 1,600 kg into orbits of 600-700 km from the ground.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 21 Apr 2016 13:22

Austin wrote:I dont understand what they mean by GOI subsidizing ISRO , ISRO launch vehical are competitive and offer the same launch facility at lower cost , GOI does not absorb loss and provides money to ISRO on the contrary ISRO launch business is profitable and provides revenue to GOI.

Pretty much every state owned space organisation does that sort of thing , they just turn out to be competitive compared to private player specially if you have a well oiled machinery like ISRO.

If US private player wants to compete in free market then let them give the same service ISRO does at lower cost. Its not ISRO's fault that they are doing a better job then other players and customers are free to choose who so ever gives them more bang for buck

They are trying the same trick with the defence PSUs, claiming that the PSU quotes are lower only because of govt established infrastructure costs, customs exemptions and what not.

So, they are demanding that this "hidden cost" be added to the PSU quotes or subtracted from the competitions quotes to make for a "level" playing field.

WTF should we accommodate these frauds??

nits · Post by **nits** » 21 Apr 2016 14:15

Bhaskar_T wrote:"Evil Yindoos (ISRO), subsidised by GOI, launching US satellites throwing us out of the market" - US private players.

If I recall correctly, India will launch 25 foreign satellites in 2016-17 using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). While 12 of these belong to the US, the remaining 13 belong to six countries - Germany, Canada, Algeria, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

So Happy to read this... its always other way around. First time they are facing heat from a Poor Third World Country... But this rant will not work. Decisions are taken based on Economics not on Nationality

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 21 Apr 2016 20:43

If one goes by pure economics, then perhaps the Chinese can subsidize enough to capture the US launch market. But such co-operation is denied by the US on national security grounds for more than a decade now.

member_23370 · Post by **member_23370** » 21 Apr 2016 21:08

The chinese are able to launch thanks to clinton transferring technology to china.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/11/world ... china.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/po ... 123198.htm

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 21 Apr 2016 21:14

^^ that is old news, and the reason for the current embargo with PRC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 921599.cms

"I think the concern about using Indian boosters is not so much the transfer of sensitive technology to a nation that is a fellow democracy, but rather whether the Indian launches are subsidised by the government to a degree that other market actors would be priced out of the market," Elliot Holokauahi Pulham, CEO of Space Foundation, said.

Testifying before a Congressional committee, Pulham said there has been some discussion about allowing US built satellites to fly on boosters such as the Indian PSLV.

Eric Stallmer, president Commercial Spaceflight Federation, opposed efforts to facilitate a government-subsidised foreign launch company.

"In this case, India, to compete with US companies. Such policy runs counter to many national priorities and undermines the work and investment that has been made by the government and industry to ensure the health of the US commercial space launch industrial base," Stallmer said.

He said the challenge right now is that the satellite manufacturers are making satellites at a quicker rate right now than the US has the launch capability.

BTW, India is seeking collaboration with US on InSAR and more if this becomes successful. So there is technology sharing happening with India, despite what people say here.

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 22 Apr 2016 08:11

US govt subsidises the same pvt players as they're allowed to import engines from Russians whichgives them an unfair competitive edge.

symontk · Post by **symontk** » 22 Apr 2016 15:07

Once PSLV / GSLV / LV launches get done thru private companies, there wont be any fig leaf of hindrances that US companies can make

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 22 Apr 2016 18:03

^^

Space Exchange: China Offers Electronics for Russian Engines.

Our Chinese partners want the technology of building oxygen-kerosene rocket engines. In exchange they are ready to share with us their knowhow about electronic components used in spacecraft construction,” the official said.

China is ready to share radiation-resistant electronic components used in spacecraft construction with Russia in exchange for the technology of building liquid-fuel rocket engines, a senior Roscosmos official told Izvestia newspaper.He added that while Russia remained an internationally-recognized leader in the field of liquid-fuel engines, the Chinese were still unable to copy the most advanced US technologies, that’s why he did not think the proposed exchange made any sense.

arun · Post by **arun** » 23 Apr 2016 07:54

IRNSS-1G to be launched by PSLV-C33 on April 28th at 12.50 p.m:

7th IRNSS navsat to be launched next week

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 23 Apr 2016 12:49

Exclusive: ISRO-ARAI’s lithium-ion battery technology to be ready in 2017

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 24 Apr 2016 02:39

Flight test of RLV-TD next month end: ISRO Chief.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 24 Apr 2016 03:19

They could have gone for lithium polymer although a bit costly, but perfect solution for Indic hot environments.

The market is not necessarily auto, but also for home use like solars and inverter battery packs. I'm waiting when they come out so that I will convert my gel battery to ISRO LiOn ones.