Indian Space Programme Discussion

[member_28348]

Well, not all are interested in manned space flights. I may find myself part of a minority set (of at least three - your truly and presumably sanjaykumar, and Bade) but that would not stop me from holding forth my view that manned space flight will go the route of Dodo.

Four! Include me in. I have been consistently saying that all this manned flight stuff is of no use and really a distraction. Can that manned flight bit. Get the launch vehicles efficient and reliable and go after the commercial launch business and corner it and get the cash registers ringing.I already said this once. Leave this moon/manned flight business to NASA and the Chinese and their insecurities. Let us count the cash.

It is exactly for that I maintain that the ISRO reusable fly back boosters are the way to go. For that the best combo is LCH4/LOX stages and hence my misgivings about the Kerosene/LOX that ISRO is going after. ISRO envisages using the Kerosene/LOX in the re-useable stuff, but that will require huge maintenance and inspection and cleaning (Kerosene tends to coke, and you need special grades of kerosene that requires special processing to get the kind of fuel you want). No such problem with LCH4. That is available in plenty commercially, just evaporates leaving no residue and has higher Isp than Kerosene .

The manned space program budget is Rs 12,500 crores. A colossal waste of money. You can develop an LCH4/LOX stage of 2MN rating and close to 375 to 400s Isp in around Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 crores. Save Rs 10,000 crores , pay the ISRO folks a Rs 100 crore bonus and do everyone a favour!

this may sound unrealistic now sir, but we are living on a dying planet (i mean a habitable planet for humans) given our rate of reproduction and depletion of resources. if we we as a nation want to survive after say 100-200 years from now...we need a manned space program with increasing capability generation by generation.

leaving a dying planet is much better than fighting till last person for basic necessities like clean air, usable land and water as our neighboring country will do someday before going extinct!

[member_28108]

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/scienc ... 713050.ece

Three days after it was recovered from sea, ISRO’s unmanned crew module was today brought to Kamarajar Port at Ennore near here on board a Coast Guard ship.


Coast Guard ship ICGS Samudra Paheredar brought the three-tonne weighing crew module to the port and it was later shipped to Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, some 100 km from here, Coast Guard sources said.

ISRO had earlier said that after being brought to Sriharikota, the module would be taken to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala for further study.

Inching towards realising India’s ambition to send humans to space, ISRO had on December 18 successfully tested an unmanned crew module on board an experimental mission of its heaviest rocket GSLV Mark-III that blasted off from Sriharikota.

Around 730 seconds after it lifted off at 9.30 AM from the Second Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, the crew module — CARE (Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment) — splashed down into the Bay of Bengal, after separating from the LVM3-X rocket with active S200 and L110 propulsion stages.

Few hours later, Indian Coast Guard ship recovered the module from the Bay of Bengal off Andaman and Nicobar Islands the same day and proceeded to Chennai.

[Saral]

We are not living on a dying planet. World population is projected to reach maximum by 2100 and after that decline steadily. This is already happening in Japan, Spain etc (they have maxed out) . Human life quality has gone up consistently, decade on decade for quite a while. No reason why it should not continue. Aren't we supposed to have run out of oil by now? Price of oil doesn't suggest that.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240 ... 2612287156

Major life extinction event due to meteor / super volcano / super bug is more likely than due to over population. So techs for dealing with these more relevant in the next few centuries than finding/colonizing other "earths" which is pure science fiction.

[member_28108]

http://www.keralaexpo.in/post/2014/10/2 ... yanan.aspx

Very happy with HC order, says Nambi Narayanan
21 OCTOBER 2014, 05:39 AM BY VJP 0 COMMENTS

Kochi: In a blow to the state government, the Kerala High Court on Monday quashed the order dropping action against former Additional DGP Siby Mathews and two others who investigated the ISRO espionage case initially saying the conduct of the government 'has not been above board'.
The high court directed the state government to reconsider the decision exonerating the officials to set everything right.
Allowing the petition filed by Nambi Narayanan, former ISRO scientist and an accused in the case, Justice A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai remitted the matter back to the government for reconsideration and issuing formal orders within 3 months.
Speaking to Manorama News, Nambi Narayanan said that he is very happy with the HC quashing the government order.
"The ones behind this case were influential enough to keep this one pending when the both UDF and LDF ruled the state," he said.
The court made it clear that 'the course of action to be taken was left open to the government but it shall not be namesake making adminstrative justice a mockery'.
The judge in his 57-page order said the state government, which was 'enthusiastic' in withdrawing the case from CBI and handing it over to state police, had not taken note of the lapses in invesitgation by Kerala Police 'seriously', as could be seen from the records.
"The kind of seriousness as expected from a welfare state was not shown by the state. The conduct of the state was not above board. It does not confirm with the known pattern of a responsible government bound by rule of law',the court held.
To set everything right, the government should reconsider the decision to exonerate the three officers in the SIT, it said.
Rejecting the argument that Kerala police are investigating over one lakh IPC cases a year, the court said this is not a 'valid reason' for a person like Siby Mathews, who led the SIT team, to justify the irreregularities pointed out in the investigation.
"The duty of an investigating agency is not merely to bolster up a prosecution case but to bring out the real untarnished truth'. The judge said while the SIT failed in that, CBI has done that.
Nambi Narayanan had approached the court in December 2012 seeking initiation of criminal and disciplinary action against Siby Mathews, and two retired Superintendents of police – Joshua and S. Vijayan who were held responsible by CBI for his illegal arrest.
The senior scientist was accused of being involved in the espionage case but was later discharged.
CBI had recommended action against the three SIT officials 15 years ago but action had not yet been taken against them.
The Judge pointed out that the SIT investigated the case for less than 20 days. But it appears from the note, said to have been sent by CBI, that within that short time, 'enough damage had been done'.
The court said it was of the 'definite view' that the commission and ommission made should not have occurred during the course of fair investigation.
As a scientist of ISRO, Narayanan, along with other scientists, has made contribution in developing the Mangalyan satellite launch vehicle.
'While the spacecraft in the orbit rounds the Mars, the petitioner, Narayanan, continues his fight for justice', the court observed.
In 2011, government decided to exonerate the members of the SIT and recommended dropping of all action against them. This was recorded by the high court in an earlier PIL.
Courtesy:http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/ ... yanan.html
Subsequently, government's action was challenged by Nambi Narayanan. The matter was heard six months ago and the judgement was delivered on Monday.
The espionage charges surfaced with the arrest of a Maldivian national Mariam Rasheeda at Thiruvananthapuram in October 1994. Another ISRO scientist, two Bangalore-based bussinessmen and another Maldivian woman were the accused in the case.
The Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate court had in 1996 exonerated all acused on the basis of a CBI report which had concluded there was no evidence to prove the espionage charge against the accused and hence they should be exonerated.
However, in June 1996, the state government ordered a reinvestigation into the case. Though the High Court had upheld the government order, the Supreme Court quashed it in 1998.
The apex court had criticised the government for ordering yet another investigation by the state police after the CBI probe found that the allegations were false and the magistrate court ordered the release of all the accused.

[member_28108]

Dr . Radhakrishnan, Chairman ISRO visited Kamarajar Port today to receive capsule retrieved from sea by Indian Coast Guard. He was received by CMD, Director, GM MS and other officers of KPL. Senior officers from ISRO and IG Coast Guard were also present.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/sci-tech/ ... 18376.html

Chennai: ISRO scientists will study the data recorded by around 200 sensors in the dummy crew module that reached the Kamarajar Port near here Sunday, said a senior official of the space agency.

"The crew module has around 200 sensors to record various aspects of the flight. Our team at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvanthapuram will study the data," S.Somanath, project director, GSLV-Mark III said.

He said the crew module has a static recorder that records the various aspects - thermal, acoustics, velocity, electronics performance and others - that the module experienced in its descent.

India Dec 18 moved forward in its rocket technology with the successful flight testing of its heaviest next-generation rocket - the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mark III) - and the crew module in a 20.43 minute mission.

The crew module that splashed in Bay of Bengal Dec 18 was recovered by Indian Coast Guard ship Samudra Paheredar and was brought to Kamarajar Port near here Sunday.

"The module will be transported to Sriharikota (where the rocket port is located in Andhra Pradesh). At Sriharikota the module's on-board fuel tanks would be cleaned and then sent to VSSC where the data would be studied," Somanath said.

According to him, as per the initial inspection made by a team of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials, everything relating to the crew module seems to be normal.

Though it is called as a crew module, the 3.7 tonne module does not have a door/latch as it involves a complex technology.

The main objective was to study the re-entry characteristics of the crew module -- called Crew

Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment - and its aero braking and validation of its end-to-end parachute system.

According to Kamarajar Port's Facebook page, ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan visited the port to receive the crew module.

[shaun]

[NRao]

Isro crew module reaches Sriharikota

[NRao]

ISRO to Study Data in Crew Module's `Black Box'

[member_28348]

We are not living on a dying planet. World population is projected to reach maximum by 2100 and after that decline steadily. This is already happening in Japan, Spain etc (they have maxed out) . Human life quality has gone up consistently, decade on decade for quite a while. No reason why it should not continue. Aren't we supposed to have run out of oil by now? Price of oil doesn't suggest that.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240 ... 2612287156

Major life extinction event due to meteor / super volcano / super bug is more likely than due to over population. So techs for dealing with these more relevant in the next few centuries than finding/colonizing other "earths" which is pure science fiction.

http://m.space.com/28071-lesson-on-prep ... -film.html

[SwamyG]

ISRO has a nice new website isro.org I liked the old one, but the new one's really good.

Looks better but has large primary photos so needs a lot of navigation .
Prasanna

I like the New one. If you want quick navigation go to sitemap: http://isro.org/sitemap

[PratikDas]

Saving the picture of the CARE module after splashdown from the new ISRO website for posterity.

Click for High-Res

[Varoon Shekhar]

Any explanation given by ISRO, as to why the IRNSS-1D launch has been pushed back at least 2 months? After the launch of IRNSS-1C on Oct 16th, if you recall, ISRO was saying that there will be another IRNSS mission in December or January, followed by yet another, IRNSS-1E by February end. And then the next GSLV Mark 2 launch in March-April. To ISRO's credit, two of the planned missions did take place when they said they would, namely GSAT-16 and GSLV Mark3, in early and mid December respectively.

But what of the other 2 or 3 events? What unforeseen issues cropped up in the interval between Oct 16th and Dec 18th, that have caused this postponement? Simply not enough components, personnel, given the demands of GSAT-16 and GSLV mark 3? Or what other possible sudden problems?

[shaun]

Indigenous radar to be ready soon

The totally indigenous Rs. 240-crore multi-object tracking radar, which was developed and built by scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and some industries of the country, will be ready for operation during the first quarter of 2015.

“The electronics, mechanical structure and radom of the radar are ready and integration of all components will start during the month-end. This is the first totally indigenous multi-object tracking radar,” SHAR-ISRO Associate Director and Project Director of the radar V. Seshagiri Rao said here on Monday.

“The new radar which will operate from Sriharikota range can track nearly 10 objects simultaneously in a distance as far as 1000 km in space, while the conventional radars spot a single object at a time. This is useful in many ways since it can detect 10 objects at a time and in case space debris is approaching an Indian satellite, the path of satellite can be diverted to avoid collision and damage,” Mr. Seshagiri Rao explained about the radar while talking to The Hindu.

“Antenna of a radar would move to track an object but in the case of the new multi-object tracking radar, its 12x6 meter antenna does not move but its electronic beam moves,” he said about the radar.
link http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Vis ... 716475.ece

[SSSalvi]

Ringside view of LVM3/CARE from a blogger and from a poet. ( Warning .. No tech stuff here )

What if you did something that was awesome, a first for you and your country, and the world just yawned?

A poetry enthusiast sees launch from a distance.

[PratikDas]

ToI: MOM marks 100 days on New Year, to live for years

Arun Ram,TNN | Dec 30, 2014, 03.23 AM IST

CHENNAI: As the world rings in the New Year on January 1 Indian space scientists will have another reason to uncork the champagne: The day will mark 100 days of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) in the red planet's orbit.

What's more, MOM which was given a life span of 180 days may well continue to study Martian details for up to 15 years.

This is because the spacecraft has saved so much during the journey to Mars that it still has 37kg of fuel. It takes only two kg of fuel a year to keep MOM in orbit. The electronic systems which are tested for a life of more than 15 years will hold the key to MOM's longevity as they could get damaged in solar flares and unexpected incidents in space.

"We are so excited about the 100th day of MOM in orbit. So far the spacecraft has been in the pink of health. And it looks like it will live on for several years," MOM project director S Arunan told TOI. Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said scientists were looking forward to June — well past the spacecraft's assigned life of mid-March — when it will go through a phase of no communication with earth.



"This would last two weeks when the sun comes in between MOM and Earth cutting off the signal," said Radhakrishnan. "This will be an ultimate test for the spacecraft's autonomy (the ability to gauge its own health, remain in orbit and carry out experiments without orders from Earth)."

The Isro chairman said fuel was only one of the limiting factors of any spacecraft. "The life of a spacecraft depends also on the longevity of its batteries and electronic systems which we had subjected to endurance tests," he said.

The systems pass through what scientists call an 'infant mortality test,' were they undergo 168 hours of burn-in (under high temperatures). This is to ensure they withstand the extremities of space weather. "Our systems have passed all these tests, so hopefully MOM will have a long life," said Radhakrishnan.

That would mean a higher probability of spotting something interesting on and around Mars. MOM is fitted with five instruments, including a methane sensor that looks for methane — the definite indicator of past life — and an absorption cell photometer to pick up traces of deuterium and hydrogen which could suggest early existence of water on the red planet. The other instruments are a colour camera, an infrared spectrometer and a composition analyser.

[Najunamar]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 705657.cms

Will be interesting to see the next Chairman - could give pointers as to the emphasis….

[anmol]

It looks like ISRO have finally updated their website. http://www.isro.org/

[SSridhar]

Space stalwart Gowarikar passes away - The Hindu

Vasant Ranchhod Gowarikar, a stalwart who played a key role in India’s space programme, passed away in Pune on Friday after catching dengue. He was 81.

A chemical engineer with a doctorate from Birmingham University, Dr. Gowarikar joined the Indian Space Research Organisation in 1967, settling down in Thiruvananthapuram.

A determined leader, who was a hard taskmaster and yet won the loyalty of subordinates, his group developed the binders and other key ingredients that went into solid propellants required for the country’s rockets. The ability to make these ingredients indigenously protected the rocket programme when the U.S. imposed sanctions.

The Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant at Sriharikota, where solid motors for launch vehicles are cast, was conceived by him.

Dr. Gowarikar was director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the lead agency for the rocket programme, before leaving ISRO in 1986 to become Secretary for the Department of Science & Technology.

[Vipul]

ISRO working on manned space mission: K. Radhakrishnan.

After the success of Mangalyaan, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on developing technology to send a manned mission to space, the organisation’s former chief K. Radhakrishnan on Saturday said.

“We have been able to send robots to space. Technology available in India needs to have a few more steps to be able to send human beings to space,” Radhakrishnan said during an interaction with senior space scientist Pramod Kale at the 102nd Indian Science Congress which opened on Saturday.

“Sending human beings to space requires ability to provide the environment and life support system for the crew, minimising the failure rate and developing an escape system, etc. ISRO is working on several such things,” he said.

Speaking about the challenges faced by Mars mission, he said, “The hurdles began with getting a particular position of the planets. That put a limit on the opportunities available for mission launch. The mission was completed in a record time of 4 years 2 months and the spacecraft was tested in a very short span of 18 months. We expected it to have a lifespan of 6 months. It has already completed 100 days of existence in the Mars orbit and is expected to last at least 6 more months. It would be too early to speak about the findings of the mission. But the data being received from the craft is of very good quality. Scientists find it to be very useful while analysing it,” Radhakrishnan said replying to a question.

“The ground team was able to manoeuvre the craft to save it from a possible encounter with a comet,” he said. The ‘auto’ mode of the mission too has been tested. Scientists are now waiting for June, when the craft would be out of reach of the ground control for around 15 days.

“If we could regain control over the craft after that period, that would be one more major achievement,” Radhakrishnan said.

[mahaperu]

Space stalwart Gowarikar passes away - The Hindu

Vasant Ranchhod Gowarikar, a stalwart who played a key role in India’s space programme, passed away in Pune on Friday after catching dengue. He was 81.

A chemical engineer with a doctorate from Birmingham University, Dr. Gowarikar joined the Indian Space Research Organisation in 1967, settling down in Thiruvananthapuram.

A determined leader, who was a hard taskmaster and yet won the loyalty of subordinates, his group developed the binders and other key ingredients that went into solid propellants required for the country’s rockets. The ability to make these ingredients indigenously protected the rocket programme when the U.S. imposed sanctions.

The Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant at Sriharikota, where solid motors for launch vehicles are cast, was conceived by him.

Dr. Gowarikar was director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the lead agency for the rocket programme, before leaving ISRO in 1986 to become Secretary for the Department of Science & Technology.

An icon of science passes away. Worked on leading edge of science of technology. Sad to see many people in India still fighting diseases due to lack of basic infrastructure, sewage and cleanliness.

[SSridhar]

I heard his lecture at CLT, IIT-M once and he spoke about the efforts at ISRO about both solid and liquid propellants. Way back.

[hnair]

Sad to hear about Dr Gowarikar and dengue First time I met him, was during this trip to VSSC from our school and felt he looked a bit too young to be a Dir of VSSC! Very dynamic gentleman. Heard only praises about him, from old ISRO hands.

(Dengue is easily dealt with, but you need very specialist treatment and timing of platelet transfusion is hyper-important)

[vina]

I heard his lecture at CLT, IIT-M once

Et Tu , Brutus!
Now line up with Bade Mian, Grand Mullah Poobah , Adminullah and others and march to the cave complex for debrief!

[vina]

Sad to hear about Dr Gowarikar and dengue First time I met him, was during this trip to VSSC from our school and felt he looked a bit too young to be a Dir of VSSC! Very dynamic gentleman. Heard only praises about him, from old ISRO hands.

(Dengue is easily dealt with, but you need very specialist treatment and timing of platelet transfusion is hyper-important)

But Dengue is dealt with very easily indeed by preventing it in the first place. I remember during my 1 year while living in Singapore, there were regular instructions passed out while leasing the apt , inspections from the dengue and other vector control public health folks, on making sure that there is no stagnant water, the potted plants don't have water collecting in the run off container etc. It is sad to lose anyone, either a child or someone as eminent as Dr Gowarikar. Sure , the grim reaper does get you one way or another, but you actually want to make him work for it and give in easily at all like the Dengue business. This is where we fail big time as a society and country and this is where I applaud Modi , with his focus on public cleanliness and responsibility in maintaining your surrounding clean,and not just personal cleanliness and hygiene. All power to him there.

[alexis]

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... sro-chief/

Hopefully the new permanent Chairman is appointed soon

[member_28108]

Dengue can kill easily.There are different presentations including Dengue Shock syndrome and Dengue hemorrhagic fever. Low platelets and ensuing coagulopathy are not the only method by which Dengue kills. So saying it is "easy to treat" is not correct.It is difficult if there is a cytotoxic storm and its sequelae.

[member_28108]

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/rQIXOa ... -demo.html

Isro to carry out winged-reusable rocket tech demo Isro will carry out the technology demonstration of the reusable launch vehicle in March Nikita Mehta

Isro will test if the 12-tonne vehicle can reach five times the speed of sound, whether it can re-enter the atmosphere and land on the sea using its computer system. Photo: AFP Mumbai: Satellites are typically deployed by expensive rockets which disintegrate in phases en route to space; however, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is working on developing the technology for a winged rocket that can be used repeatedly, a senior official said. Isro will carry out the technology demonstration of the reusable launch vehicle in March, the official said. Space vehicles are costly to build and launch, and making them reusable could help reduce space mission costs. “The structure that makes a rocket has to be such that it should have 98% propellant and 2% structure. Only then reusability is possible. Today’s technology does not allow you to go to that level as 5% to 10% will be the mass of the structure and around 90% will be the propellant,” said S. Somanath, associate director of Isro’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). “But then, new ideas are coming up, SpaceX is working on a reusable launch vehicle, but nobody is sure if in the next 10 years, reusable vehicles will be a reality,” Somanth added. VSSC is trying to develop a Winged Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) which will act as a flying tester to assess hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion. Isro is currently integrating the flight model. In the technology demonstrator, Isro will test if the 12-tonne vehicle can reach five times the speed of sound, whether it can re-enter the atmosphere and land on the sea using its computer system. To be sure, this will be a technological demonstration and the tested vehicle will not be reusable. The VSSC director explained that take-off will be vertical like a rocket, and landing will be like that of an aircraft. “The reusable launch vehicle is important because space orbiting currently costs us $5,000 per km. That kind of money, space exploration and commercial space activities, are not possible,” explained Somanth. “We want to come down to $500, and the one problem here is hardware. Propellant is not that costly, but the hardware is extremely costly and needs to be reused for space travel to be affordable,” he added. Attempts at developing an operational reusable rocket launcher have not been quite successful so far. Till now, only two vehicles have come close to being a reusable launch vehicle—one being the space shuttle developed by the US, and the other, Buran developed by Russia. Both of these were only partially usable.

[nash]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i ... epage=true

“The launch campaign for IRNSS 1D has come, which starts on January 16. Within two months, all components from other ISRO labs have to reach Sriharikota. The launch is likely after March 15,” a senior ISRO official told PTI.

[Vipul]

Tests over, India set to make the ‘iris’ of biggest telescope ever.

Sometime in 2023, a 30-metre man-made "eye" will open atop the Hawaiian volcanic dome of Mauna Kea in search of life beyond the solar system. And India would have contributed its "iris".

Barely a month after signing in as a full partner in the $1.4 billion Thirty-Metre Telescope (TMT) project jointly developed by five nations, India is all set to make sensors and actuators that will keep the huge mirror of the biggest telescope in place.

"We have completed the tests. We are ready," said Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) scientist B Eswar Reddy. IIA, Aryabhatta Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) constitute the Indian arm of the consortium that also comprises labs from Canada, the US, China and Japan.

Edge sensors and actuators are crucial components of the telescope as the huge mirror is not a single piece, but a composite of 492 hexagonal segments. Each segment is controlled by three activators and two edge sensors along each inter-segment gap to ensure accurate optical images.

Eswar told the 102nd Indian Science Congress that India plays a pivotal role in setting up the telescope with a resolution 12 times better than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. "India will be involved in polishing the primary mirror and setting up its control system, besides developing electronics, edge sensors and actuators," Reddy said.

The US will make the primary mirror segments, while China comes up with the tertiary mirror. Canada will put in place the dome and Japan the telescope structure.

TMT will strengthen the perennial search for intelligent life elsewhere, as it provides direct imaging of planetary systems. It will also help astronomers study planetary atmospheres, their origin and development.

While collaboration replaces competition as the mantra of astronomy and space science, India is a sought after partner. On top of the cosmic ventures, along with TMT, is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a next-generation radio telescope project in which India leads one of the nine packages.

SKA will be 30 times more powerful than the best radio astronomy facility that exists today. Besides looking for extraterrestrial life, SKA hopes to help understand dark energy, sources of magnetic fields and the origin of stars and galaxies.


"India is leading the work package involving the telescope's manager, which will effectively act as the telescope's brain or central nervous system," says Professor Yashwant Gupta, dean of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) located near Pune. GMRT has been designed and built by NCRA, a national centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

[Bade]

The TMT India site has a nice pdf document with all the details on the Indian collaboration, worth reading for those who are young and interested to pursue a career in astronomy.

BTW, the INO (Indian neutrino observatory) though not space related but still big science like TMT and largely Indian built has received cabinet approval recently.

[vina]

Well, Space X 's planned landing of stage 1 booster mission has seen a postponement. But the SpaceX concept is "phat" . Pretty cool and simple. No new fangled stuff, just fire the booster back after it is spent and send it back close to launch site, and then slow the descent and extend the legs and land vertically back. The control is via the R-77 (missile) type lattice grid wings (also used in Soyuz), a clearly Russian innovation that Space X has lifted straight and the test flight videos of the sub scale demos clearly show how that works.

ISRO seems to be thinking in terms of NASA style fly back boosters that were proposed for the shuttle for the Two Stage to Orbit (TSTO) plans. That anyway is lot more complex, because in addition to the rocket, you have to have aerodynamic (winged) flight and the transition flow rocket to winged flight etc.. Maybe ISRO needs to re-look to see if the winged booster is the way to go or you a vertical take off and landing is more optimal and easier to achieve (I suspect the latter is true, Space X is all about simplicity and not stretching anything technologically, but rather optimise everything for cost and simplicity and reliability , for e.g., they have ONE engine, the 80 KN dragon (their own WeakAss, with a slightly better Isp of 300s ), but massively clustered them together and stacked them to have the Falcon 9)).

Speaking of WeakAss engines.. Look at ISRO's Semi Cryogenic Engine . It has an Isp of a 328s ! That is a full 50s to 60s more than the Vikas engines we have today. Going LCH4 would probably take it to 340 to 350s of Isp and you won't have problem of coking and stuff and no problem with refining the Kerosene etc (Go mata produces a lot of ultra pure CH4, a giant gobar gas plant will do the job , classic Yindoo solution, use gobar gas to go to space!) . Those engines will be lot more re-uesable than the Kerosene based on ISRO is working on. Maybe a "fork" like IT/Vity product companies of the product into a track for LCH4/LOX in addition to the Kerosene/LOX is needed.

ISRO should focus on cleaning up the commercial launch business from the Oieropeans. Let the manned mission distraction to Moon and Mars to NASA and the Chinese.

[member_28108]

While ISP may be higher for methane energy density (is that the correct term) is not. Also all methane LOX engines on trial today have had problems sustaining ignition properly. So as I asked before and did not get an answer is there any consistent LOX methane engine in use today commercially? Last that I saw the number is zero. All pictures and videos have been trials. Holds promise but not been realized and found to have issues that limit realization of the ISP practically.
The TSTO winged body is a part of a 4 experiment trial. Probably there are some advantages militarily too as the US still has an experimental system even after the shuttle was scrapped

[SSridhar]

Sriharikota on terror alert as police hunt for SIMI men - The Hindu

The police on Wednesday raised a terror alert across Nellore district after information from their counterparts and intelligence agencies in Tamil Nadu that five activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India have entered Andhra Pradesh.

Security has since been tightened around Sriharikota and Sri City while police intensified patrolling at all places, particularly in the vicinity of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The police have taken up frisking and have been checking vehicles at various places including the inter-State borders to trace the suspects, who are wanted in a bomb blast that took place in Chennai. Their names and photographs have been released by the T.N. police.

Checking has also been undertaken in neighbouring Chittoor district where some terrorists of another banned outfit had been arrested in 2014. A close watch has been kept in the coastal areas across the region.

[Gagan]

I agree, that engine tech must be speeded up!
We need to really need to corner the space launch business.
India today has good relations with almost all space aspiring nations, wonder why we have'nt clustered a few weakass engines and gotten a heavy lift launcher, while the big huge solid boosters and semi cryos and cryos get developed?

[Gagan]

Thank god that sriharikota is an island, a decision made after careful evaluation.

But shouldn't it have an airstrip as well hain ji? Why not airlift sats, engines from Kerela, Banglore-kerela, tamil nadu directly to sriharikota?
Why take the land route hain ji?
Why make it difficult for dilli billis to reach the place? First land in chennai, say namaskaram to Jaya didi, then catch a Mi-8 to the place hain ji?

[member_28108]

Thank god that sriharikota is an island, a decision made after careful evaluation.

But shouldn't it have an airstrip as well hain ji? Why not airlift sats, engines from Kerela, Banglore-kerela, tamil nadu directly to sriharikota?
Why take the land route hain ji?
Why make it difficult for dilli billis to reach the place? First land in chennai, say namaskaram to Jaya didi, then catch a Mi-8 to the place hain ji?

The main sections are huge ! so difficult to transport by air.
Prasanna

[JTull]

Another leap in space: India to test reusable vehicle in March

The Indian Space Research Organisation will fly a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) this March as a technology demonstration. This will be the first step towards developing a full-fledged vehicle that can go to space, inject an orbiter and come back to land.

Reusable vehicles reduce the cost of satellite launches by up to ten times. Moreover, in future, a much developed version of the vehicle could be used for manned missions.

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre deputy director S Somanath said Isro has completed ground tests on the vehicle and is in the final phase of conducting a hypersonic test flight and landing in water. "It will be a winged vehicle that will take off vertically like a rocket and glide back to land horizontally like a plane," said Somanath, who is also the project director for GSLV MkIII, the biggest rocket from Isro's stables.

Fitted with solid strap-on thrusters similar to the ones used in PSLVs, the reusable vehicle will fly at five times the speed of sound (mach 3) to reach an altitude of more than 100km. This would last for barely five minutes. After activating its fin and wing controls, the vehicle will glide a bit before starting its descent. "In about 20 minutes after lift-off from Sriharikota, it would land in the Bay of Bengal, close to the shore," Somanath said.

The water landing is planned because India doesn't have a long enough runway. "We need at least a 5km runway. The longest of runways in the country is only 2km,"the scientist said. "We have enough land at Sriharikota for a runway, but this has to be sanctioned and funded for development.

The next experiment would be to land the vehicle on a 2km runway after releasing it from an aircraft from a height of about 5km. The third step would be to take it to a higher altitude and try the ground landing. "As the next step, we would try an air-breaking engine which is under development at Isro," Somanath said.

The multiple demonstration missions will lead to what Isro envisions as a 'two stage to orbit (TSTO) fully reusable vehicle. While India spends Rs300 crore upwards for satellite launches, reusable vehicles hold the key to more affordable launches. Today putting a 1kg object in space costs about $5000. "This should be brought down to at least $500. And reusable vehicles are the answer," said Somanath.

The US and Russia, which put human beings in space as early as in the 1960s, are also working on futuristic reusable vehicles for satellite launches.

[shravanp]

Are there any images of how it looks like?

[member_28108]

Are there any images of how it looks like?

[member_28108]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzn5XaKYdJ8

This will be stage 4 of the experiment. The present one will be a nonrecoverable water landing.