Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

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SSridhar
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by SSridhar »

With weather clear, Isro to launch last satellite of 2020 on December 17 -ToI
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch its last satellite of this year next Thursday (December 17). The satellite, codenamed CMS-01, will be launched from the second launchpad of the Sriharikota launch centre (SHAR) at 3.41pm.

As reported by TOI, Isro had been waiting for weather to get clear at the launch centre as a few cyclones in the last fortnight had stalled the last launch of 2020. South India, including the Sriharikota island, had been receiving heavy rainfall in the last few weeks owing to cyclones.

In fact, the CMS-01 launch, which will be lifted off by PSLV-C50, can be deferred if the weather turned adverse in the coming days. CMS-01 is a communication satellite and is meant to provide services in the extended-C band of the frequency spectrum.

The extended-C band coverage will include Indian mainland, Andaman-Nicobar & Lakshadweep Islands, an Isro statement said. The CMS-01, which will have a lifespan of seven years, will be a replacement for Gsat-12 that was launched on July 11, 2011. The upcoming launch will be the second launch of this year after the successful liftoff of EOS-01 (remote sensing satellite) on November 7.

This will be the 52nd mission of PSLV, 22nd flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration and 77th launch vehicle mission from Sriharikota. The other satellites that are ready for launch are Gisat-1 and Microsat-2A. They are likely to be launched next year with different code names.

Gisat-1 satellite, which was slated for March 5 this year, was earlier postponed due to technical reasons a day before the launch. On mission launches next year, Isro chairman K Sivan earlier told TOI that “the pandemic-triggered Budget restrictions have affected Isro’s launch operations and that missions next year will be launched only on priority basis”.

He said the first test-launch of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) or mini-PSLV and a technology demonstrator test of the reusable launch vehicle (RLV) will also happen next year.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by jaysimha »

Image
A national Level Collaborative Indian Mapping Event
Let us MAP India Together
IITB ISRO AICTE Mapathon
Eligibility to participate: All Indian Nationals
Registration: 07 Dec. 2020 - 18 Dec. 2020
Submission: 14 Dec. 2020 - 31 Dec. 2020
Results: 04 Jan. 2021 - 10 Jan. 2021



AICTE, IIT Bombay and ISRO, are jointly inviting all Indians -
to produce maps using Indian remote sensing data. Mapathon is a map-making competition for a
specific problem statement. The primary objective is to understand the potential of ISRO's Indian
remote sensing data and make maps for Indian regions using free open source mapping software
(e.g. QGIS). The participants will collectively work in a crowd sourcing method for jointly
producing thematic maps of India using Indian remote sensing data.
Problem statements

●Mapping of natural resources / man-made features.
●Change Detection based on AWIFS or LISS III Datasets.
●LULC Change with hotspots using LULC maps from Bhuvan.
●Flood Maps.
●State-wise Health Care Indicators Maps.
●Locust infestation / Stubble burning / Low lying areas / Jhum Cultivation.
●Road Network / Drainage Maps.
●Land Degradation Maps.
●Health infra, population, age group etc. for Vaccination.
●Detection of change in Waterbodies / Reservoirs / Wetlands.
●Any other topic suggested by BRFites.


https://iitb-isro-aicte-mapathon.fossee ... contact-us
https://iitb-isro-aicte-mapathon.fossee ... poster.pdf



Request to admins Once More...
We can discuss Rockets/satellites in the current thread..

Can we have a separate thread for remote sensing applications?
i think it will benefit one and all
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Amber G. »

Interesting big news (IMO) from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
India's planetary missions may soon be able to reduce of payload mass and launch costs with the help of an indigenously developed Metal- CO2 battery (with CO2 as an Energy Carrier).
Expect more details in mainstream news media.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by RajaRudra »

What a change, Tomorrow is the launch but not much discussions in this forum.
a decade before, this forum would be buzzing with updates and macro, mini and micro level information and updates.

ISRO had made us more confident. i don't remember the name of the person(in this forum). he needs to do the ritual of bad mouthing to kick out any zilk(drishti)
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by RajaRudra »

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 755718.cms

Isro’s inaugurates space object tracking center
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by SBajwa »

RajaRudra wrote:What a change, Tomorrow is the launch but not much discussions in this forum.
a decade before, this forum would be buzzing with updates and macro, mini and micro level information and updates.

ISRO had made us more confident. i don't remember the name of the person(in this forum). he needs to do the ritual of bad mouthing to kick out any zilk(drishti)

Dilbu anti jinx :D
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by SSridhar »

PSLV-C50 successfully places CMS-01 in geosynchronous transfer orbit. Very precise injection.

K.Sivan says, C-51 will carry a private Earth Observation Satellite built by an Indian startup + 2 other privately-built sats.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Aditya_V »

Excellant! but like Yesterday's Prithvi II test BRF Janta has started to ignore this as well.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by JTull »

Yaaawwn!
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by ArjunPandit »

Aditya_V wrote:Excellant! but like Yesterday's Prithvi II test BRF Janta has started to ignore this as well.
the only thing exciting about is it the possibility that it was not prithvi 2 :twisted: :mrgreen:
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Vivek K »

Where does one read up on ISRO's future plans to launch heavier payloads.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mort Walker »

Aditya_V wrote:Excellant! but like Yesterday's Prithvi II test BRF Janta has started to ignore this as well.
Not really. The people who are knowledgeable about this stuff have left the forum due to a number of reasons. I have to find news and information on other forums.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Ashokk »

Big bets on India: Amazon, OneWeb, 24 others seek nod for space business
BENGALURU: Within months of India deciding to open up the space sector, at least 22 proposals from Indian firms and institutions and four foreign companies are being formally reviewed by IN-SPACe, the newly formed space regulator. Jeff Bezos’ US-based Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Bharti Group backed UK-based OneWeb are among the firms that have shown interest.
The proposals before IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) range from permissions for ground stations, establishing satellite constellations to making and launching satellites, launch vehicles and providing applications.
K Sivan, secretary, Department of Space (DoS), said: “The fact that so many Indian firms, both big companies like L&T and Bharti Group and startups are progressing well is encouraging and in line with our PM’s vision. Interest from foreign firms like Amazon will also help India become a global space hub.”
AWS, which only announced its new ‘Aerospace and Satellite Solutions’ vertical around the time India cleared decks for IN-SPACe (June 2020), has sought “permission for enabling private space business by making available gateway ground stations as a service”. This would include setting up of ground stations and offering satellite-based services.
OneWeb’s request is to establish a small satellite constellation and provide services, while UAE’s Archeron Group wants assistance for small satellites’ launch and Norway’s Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) wants to set up ground stations.
TOI was the first to report about OneWeb and KSAT proposals in October. OneWeb, backed by Bharti Group, has made its proposal through Bharti Global, and is also in talks for launching some of its satellites on a PSLV.
IN-SPACe, through its interim committee headed by R Umamaheshwaran, scientific secretary, DoS, has already held preliminary technical discussions with AWS, Archeron and KSAT.
Umamaheshwaran told TOI: “AWS proposal is in a nascent stage. On Bharati Global’s proposal, technical discussion is in progress regarding licensing and necessary permission and also production of ground receivers in India. Their proposal to launch one mission of OneWeb series through PSLV is also being studied.”
Among the 24 Indian proposals, Tata’s NELCO has sought support for technology demonstration of Low-Earth Orbit network services, while L&T wants to “undertake end-to-end role in the small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV).”
Multiple startups, Astrome Technologies, Pixxel, Dhruva Space from Bengaluru, Agnikul Cosmos from Chennai and Skyroot Aerospace from Hyderabad have sought permissions for space-based applications, satellite making, launching and development and launch of launch vehicles.
Bengaluru-based Alpha Design has sought technology for small satellites, while Delhi-based MapmyIndia has requested nod for providing services. As reported by TOI, Isro has already signed agreements with Agnikul and Pixxel.
AGNi (Accelerated Growth of New India’s Innovations) spearheaded by India’s Principal Scientific Advisor’s office, Srinivas Institute of Technology (Mangaluru), IIT-B, IIT-M, SpaceKidz India, UnitySat and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham are among institutions who have made proposals with IN-SPACe.
The other firms are: Orbitx India Aerospace (Jaipur), Vellon Space (Madurai), Tamboli Capital (Bhavnagar), Tathya Earth (Mumbai), DFY Graviti Technologies and Orbitable Pvt Ltd in Bengaluru.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Vips »

Skyroot Aerospace becomes first Indian company to test-fire solid-fueled rocket engine.

Indian Space startup, Skyroot Aerospace, has proven the crucial propulsion technology of their maiden rocket Vikram-1, with the latest test-firing of an engine.

Vikram-1 rocket is powered by four engines- three solid-fuel stages and one liquid-fuel stage that the firm has designed and developed. In August this year, the company had tested its liquid-fueled engine and now has proven the technology of the solid-fueled engine (Kalam-5), by successfully test-firing a miniature version.

Solid motors or solid-fueled engines are high thrust, low-cost rocket engines with propellant in solid form. They are highly reliable as they have very few moving parts.

Startup Skyroot Aerospace unveils India’s first privately developed Cryogenic Rocket engine

The Engine Testing was done at a private test facility on December 22 in Nagpur, owned by Solar Industries, which is India's largest explosives manufacturer and a leading space and defence contractor (also partner and investor in Skyroot).

Theoretically, this means that the company is close to realizing its dreams of putting together an orbital-class rocket, as its propulsion technology is the hardest to master.

A typical rocket consists of two or more stages, each of which would have its own engines (either single or packed in a cluster). Simply put, a rocket is a combination of multiple engines (stages) that are vertically stacked.

"This test demonstrates the capability of our technology for the Vikram-1 rocket. Though we have fired a scaled-down engine during this successful demonstration, it must be noted that building a smaller engine is also a complex process. This successful test firing gives us the confidence that the bigger models will succeed," Pawan K Chandana, CEO, Skyroot Aerospace told Zee Media.

The engine 'Kalam-5' is named so for its peak sea-level thrust of 5.3 kN. It is notable that the engine is built with an advanced carbon composite structure in a completely automated process.

While carbon composite cases are very challenging to design and manufacture, they are five-times lighter than steel, hence improving efficiency.

Kalam is a series of five solid-fueled rocket engines with a thrust ranging from 5kN to 1000kN (approx 100Tons). In terms of technical specifications, Kalam-5 is designed to take 66 atmospheres and 30000C of combustion pressure and temperature respectively.

Team Skyroot had earlier told Zee Media that they were planning a maiden launch by December 2021. They added that the decision to launch a live satellite or a dummy payload would be taken by mid-2021, based on demand.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by jaysimha »

ISRO to open Regional Academic Centre for Space at IIT Varanasi
This is to facilitate short and long term projects at the institute
Press Trust of India | New Delhi
Last Updated at December 23, 2020 16:23 IST
https://www.business-standard.com/artic ... 793_1.html

The Regional Academic Centre for Space (RAC-S) of ISRO will act as a major facilitator for promoting space technology activities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by jaysimha »

Silver Jubilee Celebration of IRS-1C Launch by Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS) and Space Applications Centre (ISRO) Ahmedabad on December 28, 2020

https://www.sac.gov.in/vyom_publishing/ ... EC2020.pdf

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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by A Nandy »

https://www.hindupost.in/science-techno ... year-plan/
Reusable rockets, satellite constellation for broadband in ISRO’s 10-year plan
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Shanmukh »

Not sure how much credence to place on this.

https://m.facebook.com/1428772703/posts ... um=twitter

Something is very wrong if what this man is saying is true.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

Shanmukh wrote:Not sure how much credence to place on this.

https://m.facebook.com/1428772703/posts ... um=twitter

Something is very wrong if what this man is saying is true.
https://www.sac.gov.in/Vyom/TapanMisra.jsp

He has 5 granted patents, 1 pending patents, 4 copyrights and more than 25 papers to his credit.

If that FB profile is true , this would need to ba taken very seriously !!
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Neela »

kit wrote:
Shanmukh wrote:Not sure how much credence to place on this.

https://m.facebook.com/1428772703/posts ... um=twitter

Something is very wrong if what this man is saying is true.
https://www.sac.gov.in/Vyom/TapanMisra.jsp

He has 5 granted patents, 1 pending patents, 4 copyrights and more than 25 papers to his credit.

If that FB profile is true , this would need to ba taken very seriously !!
Have a look at the Radar thread .
And If we believe Scientist Nambi Narayanan's story, then I dont have any reason not to trust this.
Simply put , bureaucrats and policemen were used against Nambi Narayanan. The story from Tapan Mishra sir are eerily similar.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by shaun »

Its true , he was unwell as per news report from early 2018. But why so many attempts , he was relieved from his duty as SAC director , mid 2018.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

shaun wrote:Its true , he was unwell as per news report from early 2018. But why so many attempts , he was relieved from his duty as SAC director , mid 2018.
Quite likely the perpetrators are still in power and wish to remain hidden !!
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by chetak »

^^^^^^^

x posted from the political thread

perhaps there may be a few more details in this report


Former ISRO SAC Director Tapan Misra reveals he was poisoned with deadly Arsenic Trioxide in 2017: Exclusive Details

Former ISRO SAC Director Tapan Misra reveals he was poisoned with deadly Arsenic Trioxide in 2017: Exclusive Details

The former ISRO SAC Director Tapan Misra has made an explosive revelation about an assassination attempt made on him on 23 May 2017.

5 January, 2021
OpIndia Staff

Former ISRO SAC Director Tapan Misra claims an assassination attempt was made on him in July 2017

Image
Tapan Misra(Source: ISRO)

The former ISRO SAC Director Tapan Misra has made an explosive revelation about an assassination attempt made on him on 23 May 2017. Taking to Facebook, Misra disclosed the long-held secret of how he was poisoned with a deadly Arsenic Trioxide, during a promotion interview from Sci/Eng SF to SG in ISRO HQ at Bangalore.

The former ISRO SAC Director suspects that the fatal dose of poison was probably mixed with chutney along with Dosai, in snacks after lunch. In his Facebook post, the ISRO scientist claimed that it took him two years to recover from the agony and pain caused by the administration of poison.

Misra attributed the cause of assassination attempt to espionage attack, embedded in the government set up, to remove a scientist with the significant contribution of military and commercial importance, like expertise in building Synthetic Aperture Radar.

Misra has alluded American involvement in the assassination attempt on him. He said that an Indian American professor of one of the topmost US university suddenly appeared in his office in July 2019 and asked him to keep mum on the poison attack. He was also threatened with hundreds of emails and on occasions saved by the swiftness of the security agencies.

Misra also lamented about the ISRO hierarchy and his own colleagues who started treating him as a pariah following the attack. Despite his repeated attempts to get justice, Misra contends that two successive ISRO chairmen turned a blind eye to his protestations.

Here is the verbatim statement of the former ISRO SAC Director Tapan Misra as posted on his Facebook account:

Long Kept Secret

We, in ISRO, occasionally heard about the highly suspicious death of Prof. Vikram Sarabhai IN 1971. Also heard occasional doubts about the sudden death of Dr S Srinivasan, Director of VSSC IN 1999. Case of Shri Nambinarayanan in 1994 is well known. But I never thought that I will be at the receiving end of such mystery.

I was poisoned with deadly Arsenic Trioxide on 23rd May 2017, during a promotion interview from Sci/Eng SF to SG in ISRO HQ at Bangalore. The fatal dose was probably mixed with chutney along with Dosai, in snacks after lunch. What followed was nightmare lasting for almost two years Severe loss of blood to the tune of 30-40% through anal bleeding. I barely could come back from Bangalore and be rushed to Zydus Cadila hospital in Ahmedabad. It was followed by severe breathing difficulty, unusual skin eruptions and skin shedding, loss of nails on feet and hands, terrible neurological issues due to hypoxia, skeletal pain, unusual sensations, one suspected heart attack and Arsenic depositions and fungal infections on every inch of skin and internal organs. Treatment was received in Zydus Cadila, TMH-Mumbai and AIIMS-Delhi over a period of two years. Famed forensic specialist, Dr Sudhir Gupta told me that in his whole career, for the first time he was seeing a live specimen of a survivor of the assassination attempt with a fatal dose of assassination grade molecular As2O3. Otherwise, his experience was limited to cadavers.

I am thankful to one of my Director colleagues, present at the same meeting, who warned me on 5th June 2017, of the possibility of poison given to me. Probably, I guess, he witnessed poison mixing in my food. On 7th June, MHA security agency personnel met me and alerted me of Arsenic poisoning. I am thankful to them, as their info helped doctors to focus on exact remedy instead of scratching their heads with unusual signatures of my ailment. Security agencies took me to different cities. I am sure, without their intervention, I would have been dead with multiple organ failure within two to three weeks.

I learnt that this poison is given in molecular level suspension (crystal level is harmless) just after a heavy meal. It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless suspension and hence cannot even be suspected. It gets absorbed through stomach during food ingestion, kills RBCs immediately to such large extent that the fine blood vessels are clogged, leading to heart attacks and strokes within two to three hours and the victim can easily be passed off as a heart attack death.

Fortunately, that day, I did not take lunch. Arsenic passed directly to colon region and most of them got rejected through bleeding. The small remnant created so much damage to my health that I only know and I kept my morale high to face the danger with poise.

The motive appears to be espionage attack, embedded in the Government set up, to remove a scientist with the critical contribution of very large military and commercial significance, like expertise in building Synthetic Aperture Radar. I will also not rule out it as a new modus operandi of adjusting seniority and clear me who was perceived as an obstacle. Whatever may be the reason, it was a great shame for the country and our security apparatus.

What pains me is that ISRO hierarchy and my colleagues tried to shun me as a pariah. I pleaded with two successive Chairmen to help me in getting justice. Kirankumar tried his best to convince me that my earlier case of squamous cell carcinoma is resurrecting. I personally talked to Dr Kasturirangan and Shri Madhavan Nair and they developed cold feet.

What followed was a series of nightmares, along with the severe deterioration of health. I was bombarded with hundreds of threatening emails to keep my mouth shut. I was saved by whiskers, due to alacrity of security agencies, from the massive explosive incident, in which Rs. 100 cr. the lab was destroyed. This happened on 3rd May 2018.

On 19th July 2019, an Indian American professor of one of the topmost US university suddenly appeared in my office. He requested me not to utter a word in future. As a quid pro quo, my IITK grad son will be accommodated in a top-notch college in the USA. I declined and he left my office at 1430 hrs. And my thirty-plus years contributing career was consigned to sinecure position at 1630 hrs. on the same day. I was removed from all responsibilities, including SAC Directorship.

My security was breached and I was poisoned with gaseous poison, probably Hydrogen Cyanide, which hypoxiates leaving no trace, on 12th July 2019. I was hypoxiated severely, leading to convulsion, loss of senses and memory. I survived because of NSG training of my PSO. I was transferred immediately to the hospital, administered ozonised oxygen and had to spend a couple of days in ICU. Hospitalization was followed by a long treatment for hypoxia, which is continuing. Curiously it happened just two days before the planned launch date of Chandrayan 2 on 15th July. Probably to prevent me to be present there on this occasion.

There was a plan to defame me by doctoring the CCTV recording of my room on 23rd and 24th Jan 2020. It still baffles me how this high-security recorder, located in the room of Director, SAC was accessed, contents were digitally edited and played back in analogue for rerecording. CCTV recorders are special recorders which can only be fed in analogue and can be digitally retrieved. The attempt was foiled because of the alertness of security agencies. I still marvel at the cinematographical quality of editing of such an unimpressive fellow like me.

For the last two years, there were mysterious appearances of poisonous snakes like cobra, krait at regular intervals of a few days in my quarter. Karbolic acid vents are put every 10 ft. Yet nobody could prevent intrusions of the snakes. Fortunately, because of my four cats and my security staff, they could be killed or caught alive. Only three months back, we accidentally discovered a carefully laid secret tunnel in my compound and hidden in a trove of banana plantations. Once we blocked the tunnel, all snake intrusions stopped.

Two incidents convinced me that the mysterious people are after me and probably going to hit me hard before my superannuation at the end of this month. They want my mouth shut forever.

1. All the signatures point to deliberate poisoning of my mentally challenged son with Covid 19. The poor boy, who cannot even speak or eat or carry out hygiene activities himself, had to be hospitalized for 10 days, followed by months of complications.

2. There was a failed attempt in poisoning me with Arsenic, probably in the first week of September 2020. It failed, but it was enough to create a signature of quite a good amount of poisoning, leading to skeletal pain, skin peeling and nail dying.

Enough is enough. I have faith in our security apparatus and men. But these mysterious men are much more equipped, trained, lethal and determined to snuff out living witness of the most shameful incident of Indian science. I put forward to Government, intellectuals and fellow scientists and my classmates and teachers, spread across the world, that all efforts should be made to keep me and my family safe and punish these mysterious men. I am convinced that these are the men, embedded in our system, are leading to mysterious deaths of scientists and the destruction of our institutions. These incidents should be wake up call to prevent such nefarious happening to many of our bright minds in future. The nation, which cannot protect their own people who made contributions in building it in the first place, is destined to perish.


OpIndia spoke to Tapan Misra
OpIndia got in touch with Tapan Misra over the same and he confirmed that he had made the post. He further told us, “My sincere request to govt and the political system is that those who build the country, if we do not protect them, if we do not protect our assets, tomorrow our country will perish.”
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by AdityaM »

kit wrote:
Shanmukh wrote:Not sure how much credence to place on this.

https://m.facebook.com/1428772703/posts ... um=twitter

Something is very wrong if what this man is saying is true.
https://www.sac.gov.in/Vyom/TapanMisra.jsp

He has 5 granted patents, 1 pending patents, 4 copyrights and more than 25 papers to his credit.

If that FB profile is true , this would need to ba taken very seriously !!
More from his Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/1428772703/pos ... 45810/?d=n
I played a prominent role in building the Airborne SAR which could fetch India the status of world's fifth country to achieve the feat. Just before we were going to integrate the SAR with the aircraft, I was given a small office order, banning me out of the team. Possibility of big credit attracted a big team without much of a contribution, to the lure of a low hanging fruit. It was another matter that ASAR could not be made to work for five months in the scorching heat of Ahmedabad summer. Precisely, it burnt up 52 times. All clever people deserted and I foolishly moved to make it work and with two sorties, we could make it image. Well wishers said that I should not have jumped to rescue the SAR system, should have allowed my friends to get exposed. But how can I tell people that those inert pieces of hardware had all my sweats and my many sleepless nights woven into? How could I abandone the precious sensor, so dear to me and so useful for our mostly cloud covered country?

I got so frustrated that I borrowed from library, a copy of text book on ANSI C by Dennis Ritchie, learnt the language for a month. Next I developed probably the best SAR processor with motion estimation by GPS aiding, motion compensation and artificial antenna stabilisation in software. It brought me a number of patents. Those responsible for managing SAC, blamed me for sticking my neck out and doing a job which I was not supposed to do. Though the ASAR got fantastic images, my irresponsible initiatives have annoyed teams, cocooned in compartments, though in reality they all raised their hands long back. Needless to say, I really did not understand what crime I committed.
kit
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

Looks like almost all media channels are running stories about Misra
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by csaurabh »

AdityaM wrote: I played a prominent role in building the Airborne SAR which could fetch India the status of world's fifth country to achieve the feat. Just before we were going to integrate the SAR with the aircraft, I was given a small office order, banning me out of the team. Possibility of big credit attracted a big team without much of a contribution, to the lure of a low hanging fruit. It was another matter that ASAR could not be made to work for five months in the scorching heat of Ahmedabad summer. Precisely, it burnt up 52 times. All clever people deserted and I foolishly moved to make it work and with two sorties, we could make it image. Well wishers said that I should not have jumped to rescue the SAR system, should have allowed my friends to get exposed. But how can I tell people that those inert pieces of hardware had all my sweats and my many sleepless nights woven into? How could I abandone the precious sensor, so dear to me and so useful for our mostly cloud covered country?

I got so frustrated that I borrowed from library, a copy of text book on ANSI C by Dennis Ritchie, learnt the language for a month. Next I developed probably the best SAR processor with motion estimation by GPS aiding, motion compensation and artificial antenna stabilisation in software. It brought me a number of patents. Those responsible for managing SAC, blamed me for sticking my neck out and doing a job which I was not supposed to do. Though the ASAR got fantastic images, my irresponsible initiatives have annoyed teams, cocooned in compartments, though in reality they all raised their hands long back. Needless to say, I really did not understand what crime I committed.
This story sounds quite realistic from my personal understanding of ISRO organization.
It is a govt. organization with typical office politics. But there are also really talented and nationalistic people who make it successful, even at risk to their own careers and sometimes even lives ( like in this example ).
suryag
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by suryag »

Folks - from my experience with two biggest semicon companies, this thing happens everywhere, ISRO is not an exception
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Najunamar »

Hope you meant office politics and not the assassination attempts :eek: :eek:
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by sankum »

It's more like international cabal at work controlling the pace of development of technologies.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by dsreedhar »

The Tapan Mishra case is now being talked in multiple TV channels. Checking on him, seems he was sacked in june of 2018.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 075090.cms

What were the reasons? Who made the call and why?
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

dsreedhar wrote:The Tapan Mishra case is now being talked in multiple TV channels. Checking on him, seems he was sacked in june of 2018.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 075090.cms

What were the reasons? Who made the call and why?
I think whoever had done this is still in power and its quite likely there will be an attempt to demonize him, his work , character etc ..just like what happened with Nambi Narayan
kit
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

sankum wrote:It's more like international cabal at work controlling the pace of development of technologies.
Again quite likely India is very much the cash cow for a lot of defence and tech companies esp the middle tier ones that often are not in limelight but well known to those in procurement of Sci/tech industries and the armed forces.. Millions if not billions at stake and even future of companies
Last edited by kit on 08 Jan 2021 16:14, edited 1 time in total.
kit
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

Najunamar wrote:Hope you meant office politics and not the assassination attempts :eek: :eek:
and again yes, there had a quite a few "suicides" among scientists working in DRDO and the nuclear establishments.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by csaurabh »

I don't buy this idea that top scientists are targeted because of 'secret technological knowledge'. First of all, such a thing hardly exists, and even where it does, it is something that suffuses through the organization and is not restricted to upper management.

What these people instead provide is leadership. In the absence of such leadership, being undisciplined and unpatriotic as we are, we would spend our energy fighting office political battles rather than develop anything.

I have it on good authority that a prominent lab of ISRO (not some chota mota ) could not get any work done because the two senior most people engaged in an office political war for sixteen years. A project sanctioned in 1993 could get started only in 2006 after the departure of the two buffoons!

The assassination of top scientists is not a problem because it leads to loss of some technology secrets. It is a problem because it precipitates an office political civil war. Advanced countries like China, Russia, US, etc do not suffer from this problem, hence they are not targeted for assassination.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Vayutuvan »

china is 'advanced'?! okay, whatever.

that said, I find your posts very informative.
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 08 Jan 2021 11:21, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Vayutuvan »

Najunamar wrote:Hope you meant office politics and not the assassination attempts :eek: :eek:
please do visit math dhaga once in a while, hain?
kit
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

kit wrote:
dsreedhar wrote:The Tapan Mishra case is now being talked in multiple TV channels. Checking on him, seems he was sacked in june of 2018.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 075090.cms

What were the reasons? Who made the call and why?
I think whoever had done this is still in power and its quite likely there will be an attempt to demonize him, his work , character etc ..just like what happened with Nambi Narayan
And here it starts ., the blow back ..part 1

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation ... 47092.html

Mishra’s claim of an “espionage embedded in the government set up” to remove scientists, who are handling critical and sensitive projects, is an “attack on the image of India’s apex space research organization at a time when the country is aiming to secure the fourth place to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and boost its credentials as a low-cost space power after Russia, the US and China,” said sources.
. Mishra, known as the key spy sat maker, was removed as director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, in July 2018 and was appointed as senior adviser to ISRO Chairman by Sivan after alleged differences over privatization issues.

And we all know how and what "sources" are :mrgreen:
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

Posting here as relevant.. all is NOT well ?!

Vayutuvan wrote:
Najunamar wrote:Hope you meant office politics and not the assassination attempts :eek: :eek:
please do visit math dhaga once in a while, hain?
https://asiatimes.com/2019/07/indias-va ... cientists/

India’s scientists too have come under fire, both literally and figuratively. Some believe their targeting may even have begun with the “father of India’s nuclear program,” Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha, a multiple Nobel nominee and founding director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He was a passenger on Air India Flight 101, which crashed into Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966, killing 117 passengers and crew members. Accident investigators blamed the crash on poor communications between the flight deck and air traffic controllers.

Dr Bhabha’s death came a mere 13 days after the death of India’s second prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, under mysterious and ill-investigated circumstances. The prime minister, perturbed by nemesis China’s 1964 nuclear tests, had asked Bhabha if Indian scientists could manage an underground test. Bhabha had just publicly stated that India could produce a nuclear device in a short time.

Former CIA operative Robert Crowley, in telephone interviews with journalist Gregory Douglas, claimed that the US Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for “eliminating” both Bhabha and Shastri. The transcripts of these conversations were published in a book titled Conversations with the Crow.

Right-to-information (RTI) activist Chetan Kothari filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in Bombay High Court asking the government to constitute a special investigative team to probe the mysterious deaths of nuclear scientists and engineers between 2010 and 2014. A large number of these deaths have been categorized as “unexplained.”

In 2013, two chief engineers assigned to India’s first nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant, K K Josh and Abhish Shivam, were found lying on railway tracks by workers. Although saved from being run over by a train, they were found to be already dead. Relatives said that no visible signs of injury were apparent, an assertion backe up by the police. It was suggested that they might have been killed elsewhere, perhaps poisoned, before being put on the tracks to make their deaths appear accidental or as the result of suicides.

The petition to Bombay High Court states, “In any other country, the murder of two engineers connected to a crucial strategic program would have created a media storm. When nuclear scientist Lokanathan Mahalingam’s body turned up in June of 2009, it was palmed off as a suicide and largely ignored by the Indian media.”

In April of 2011, a 63-year-old former scientist and former head of the Indian Women Scientists’ Association, Dr Uma Rao, was found dead at her residence near a Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) campus. While her death was judged a suicide, her family members contested the verdict, deeming the probe unsatisfactory.

The petition claims that deaths not classified as suicide are generally, and conveniently, labeled as “unexplained.”

A prime example is the case of M Iyer, a BARC engineer who was found dead at his residence in South Mumbai. He was found to have internal hemorrhaging to his skull which, according to a police officer, was “possibly the result of a kinky experiment”. No arrests were made.

In all such unexplained deaths of scientists and engineers, fingerprints are mostly absent, hinting at to a high level of proficiency and craftiness on the part of others who may allegedly have been involved in the killings. Other telltale marks, normally used by forensic scientists to explain deaths and identify culprits, are often missing.

In the case of Iyer’s alleged murder, the petition states, “The killer had used a duplicate key to enter the house and strangle the engineer in his sleep. Interestingly, efforts were made by some of the investigating police officers to pass the death off as a suicide.”

According to the Indian government, over a three-year period, at least nine unnatural deaths of scientists and engineers have occurred just at the BARC, as well as at the Kaiga nuclear facility. Two of these have been categorized as suicide, while the rest remain “unexplained.”

The petition further states:

“The most pressing issue isn’t who might be behind the murders, but that the Indian government’s apathy is potentially putting their high-value staff at even greater risk. Currently, these scientists, who are crucial to the development of India’s nuclear programs, whether for energy or security, have absolutely no protection at all, which is quite amusing for people who are in such a sensitive program.”

Between 2009 and 2013, a minimum of 10 employees in the Department of Atomic Energy perished in murders and mysterious fires.

The deaths, all of them mysterious, have been connected by one common thread: the alleged murder victims were all associated with nuclear energy. They have otherwise been quite varied and widespread, both geographically and institutionally. While scientist Uma Rao and employee Ravi Mule were from the Nuclear Power Corporation, 24-year-old scientist Mohammad Mustafa was found dead with slit wrists at the Center for Atomic Research Kalpakkam. Two other young researchers, Umang Singh and Partha Pratim Bag, were burned to death in a BARC lab that reportedly contained no flammable materials; 47-year-old senior scientific officer L Mahalingam was working at the Kaiga Atomic Power Station, while M Iyer was a mechanical engineer of the BARC reaction group.

Kothari has claimed in his PIL that hundreds of nuclear scientists posted to various nuclear establishments across the country have died mysteriously in the last 15 years – many of these fatalities being classified by investigating authorities either as suicides or as “unexplained deaths.” Ravi Mule’s family had also requested a probe, alleging abject police apathy.

Kothari notes that the BARC has reported no fewer than 680 employee deaths during the last 15 years. The Baroda Heavy Water Plant reported 26 deaths, and plants at Kota and Tuticorin reported 30 and 27 deaths respectively in the same period. During this period 92 persons employed with the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research Kalapakkam have died, and an RTI query by the petitioner found 16 of those deaths to have been suicides. The suicide rate of India as a whole is approximately 1 in 10,000, while the death rate is 7 in 1,000, which means the ratio of suicides to the death rate in India is 1 approximately 70. So of course one or two of the 92 deaths could have been suicides. However, were investigations into these deaths casual or hasty, or were insidious forces at work?

Moreover, nuclear scientists suffer another, much more obvious threat to their well-being. A total of 69 of the aforementioned deaths at the BARC were directly attributed to cancer, while the rest were mostly put down to long-term ailments, at least a few of which would have likely been consequences of long-term radiation exposure. In answer to another RTI query, the BARC stated that 70% of the 3,887 health-related deaths there and at other nuclear sites over the course of 20 years (1995-2014) were attributable to cancer. In total, 2,600 lives were lost to cancer at 19 nuclear energy centers in India. In the meantime, 255 employees committed suicide, an average of one a month, mainly owing to chronic illnesses and family woes.

Interestingly, within a 15-year period, the Indian Space Research Organization also lost 684 personnel, or 45 deaths per year.

Conspiracy theorists point to everyone from the CIA to Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) as behind the mysterious death. Their theories claim that it is in the interests of those two nations to sabotage the promising Indian nuclear program as it is central to India’s military and economic autonomy. Doing so would not only keep India from consolidating its status as a regional superpower, but also keep it dependent upon the US for its nuclear needs.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Najunamar »

We all know targeting of top scientists especially in nuclear science, missile technologies goes on and is carried out by all nations (US is probably a leader in this, Israel and other nations are not far behind). There is a need to continually monitor and maintain the safety of our scientists and technicians - we had several instances of the engineers who worked on the Arihant program meet unnatural ends under suspicious circumstances.
While it may be done overtly in Iran, in India it is done with more finesse by the same players.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Prem Kumar »

How the US Space Force (satellite based, IR trackers to detect missile launches) helped save lives in the Iranian missile attack on a U.S base. There's the usual Uncl'ish hyperbole/backstory stuff, but the capabilities are truly amazing! The fact that in 2020, they detected & classified 1000 missile launches across the world.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-te ... rd%20Brief
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