Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 16 May 2017 00:35

I could be mistaken on the 50 satellite payload, 37 is for certain, maybe a few of those haven't arrived as yet

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 16 May 2017 22:12

While we wait for the LVM-3 launch... from the skyscrapercity forum.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 17 May 2017 02:03

Look at this launch video. They have the loudspeakers from the launch center - no Doordarshan Bokwaas. Pure fun!
Ah, the clear skies that day, if only they had a telescoped stabilized camera... they could have captured so many things...
This video has everything a jingo wants, including the relevant stage parfaarmance naarmal, many times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVTKPxMcqCY

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 17 May 2017 03:54

A brief but good video of the launch of GSAT-9, South Asia Satellite with GSLV-F09

I agree that full motion HD from the spacecraft would be wonderful and even more inspirational. At this stage I'm using up wishes for the successful launch of GSLV Mark-III, but perhaps we should aim higher and expect improvements on all fronts and not move forward with the intention to compromise all the time.

Jayram · Post by **Jayram** » 17 May 2017 05:59

That video posted by Gagan showing the spontaneous applause and the slow ascent of the rocket with the moon and to the moon is very nice.!

vasu raya · Post by **vasu raya** » 17 May 2017 22:54

ISRO’s GSAT-trio to usher in high-speed internet era

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 May 2017 00:46

UAE reaction on ISRO launching their satellites || ISRO 104 satellite launch INDIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlaslF5DTiE

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 May 2017 00:49

ISRO REALLY needs to invest in better TV coverage of its sat launches...

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 18 May 2017 00:57

vasu raya wrote:ISRO’s GSAT-trio to usher in high-speed internet era

Trust Indian Express to write "Gigabytes per second" when they should've written Gigabits per second.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 18 May 2017 05:42

Fvck Gagan

)))), I came to post that very video; and you beat me to that. Waa waaa

But enjoy this also onlee

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 18 May 2017 06:00

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 18 May 2017 09:17

SwamyG wrote:Fvck Gagan )))), I came to post that very video; and you beat me to that. Waa waaa

But enjoy this also onlee

But the actual UAE footage on that video is just the part with the burka wearing babes. The rest is from the US customers video that you posted, but from a different angle. The US guys are clearly having trouble understanding what is going on. The DD guy is giving a ball by ball commentary with poems thrown in in good measure.

They are interpreting "Naarmal" as "Nominal" due to the Naarmal accents

One can hear them marvel at the flame to rocket ratio, and the super powerful solid boosters of the PSLV.

disha · Post by **disha** » 20 May 2017 23:19

http://www.financialexpress.com/india-n ... ia/677556/

The Indian Space Research Station (ISRO), in an attempt, at a new age of high-speed internet in India, will be launching three communications satellites, namely GSAT-19, GSAT-11 and GSAT-20 in the next 18 months.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 27 May 2017 23:21

Video report on theNASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) Satellite from DNA from Zee TV. Video is in Hindi
NISAR is to be launched in 2021, and is said to be the most expensive SAR satellite.

ISRO और NASA मिलकर बना रहे है World की सबसे महंगी Satellite "NISAR"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsu-bTK_iIA

KL Dubey · Post by **KL Dubey** » 28 May 2017 10:30

KL Dubey wrote:BTW, does anyone know what is the commercial status of the Indian satellite-based positioning system (IRNSS/NAVIC) ? Are there now phones/navigation devices/apps that can use this system instead of GPS ? Or is this really just a "military use" thing ?

I guess this news item answers my own previous question:

Get ready! India's own GPS set to hit the market early next year

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 28 May 2017 10:35

Get ready! India's own GPS set to hit the market early next year

India's very own desi Global Positioning System (GPS) is operational and is set to hit the market for public use in early 2018.
"The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) with an operational name of NavIC is currently being tested for its accuracy and is most likely to be available in the market for public use early next year," said Tapan Misra, the director of Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre (SAC).

Misra said, "Academic institutions have been roped in to do ground verification and calibrate data of NavIC to find its accuracy. We have developed digital chips to miniaturise technology (for use in mobiles and handsets) and experiments are on them. The system is being tested all across the country."

Explaining the scientific reasons for NavIC's superiority over GPS, Misra said, "Our system has dual frequency (S and L bands). GPS is dependent only on L band. When low frequency signal travels through atmosphere, its velocity changes due to atmospheric disturbances. US banks on atmospheric model to assess frequency error and it has to update this model from time to time to assess the exact error. In India's case, we measure the difference in delay of dual frequency (S and L bands) and can assess the actual delay. Therefore NavIC is not dependent on any model to find the frequency error and is more accurate than GPS.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home ... 876680.cms

rahulm · Post by **rahulm** » 28 May 2017 10:39

I hope, really hope NaviC makes it.

I had really high hopes on Bhuvan but unless I have missed' it seems to have disappeared from public view. It was supposed to rival Google maps.

Mollick.R · Post by **Mollick.R** » 28 May 2017 10:56

Sir i think NaviC will make it only when indian govt. tells all mobile manufacturers if you want to sell mobile handsets in indian market after DD/MM/2018 you must include NaviC chips in it.

GOI may think about giving some preferential tax treatment too

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 28 May 2017 17:29

Indeed a very mild cheen type dictum must go out for all handset makers to support this in one year timeframe. The incremental cost in manufacture will be minimal given our massive market size and uniform referenve design needed. They can submit to govt labs for testing and carry on.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 28 May 2017 17:40

Hope so, I can get away with this foreign lady's voice guidance that can't pronounce half Indian address names clearly.

rahulm · Post by **rahulm** » 28 May 2017 17:43

My Google maps voice guidance has an Indian voice over for local names. Pronounced correctly.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 28 May 2017 17:54

Thanks will look it up, and hopefully need not have to take my eyes off the road to look at my phone.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 28 May 2017 18:11

IIRC, you can select Indian voice for TTS at least on Andriod. I don't know about iPhones.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 28 May 2017 18:36

http://m.economictimes.com/news/science ... 878253.cms

One more article on GSLV Mark 3.

raj-senthil · Post by **raj-senthil** » 29 May 2017 21:27

GSLV Mk III-D1/GSAT-19 Mission is scheduled to be launched on June 05, 2017 at 17:28 Hrs

GSLV-Mk III is capable launching 4 ton class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer orbit (GTO). It is a three-stage vehicle with two solid motor strap-ons (S200), a liquid propellant core stage (L110) and a cryogenic stage (C25).

GSLV-Mk III-D1 is the first developmental flight, carrying 3136 kg GSAT-19 satellite to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The vehicle is configured with a 5 m ogive payload fairing and slanted strap-on nose cone to provide aerodynamic robustness.

GSLV Mk III-D1/GSAT-19 Mission is scheduled to be launched on June 05, 2017 at 17:28 Hrs (IST) from the Second Launch Pad at SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 29 May 2017 21:57

^ The striking change is the covering of the open truss of the cryogenic stage seen in this version. Probably related to the mild anomaly that was seen during the CARE LVM3 launch prior to booster separation.

JTull · Post by **JTull** » 29 May 2017 22:31

prasannasimha wrote:^ The striking change is the covering of the open truss of the cryogenic stage seen in this version. Probably related to the mild anomaly that was seen during the CARE LVM3 launch prior to booster separation.

Where did you see that?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 29 May 2017 22:47

the truss and cryo stage are painted black. its still very much uncovered per the ISRO link above - unless they are using older pics.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 29 May 2017 22:49

The solid strap-on tips are more aerodynamic, like in the GSLV-MK2s

Previous configuration:

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 29 May 2017 22:52

Vihangam Drishya ...

The new VAB is fast reaching completion

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 29 May 2017 23:09

Rains are fast approaching and the window is kind of iffy!

Gagan wrote:The solid strap-on tips are more aerodynamic, like in the GSLV-MK2s

Also payload shroud is more rounded

btw, wonder where are the huge doors with transporter rails for the new VAB?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 29 May 2017 23:20

Looks ariane5ish now.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 29 May 2017 23:56

hnair wrote:
btw, wonder where are the huge doors with transporter rails for the new VAB?

Doors are facing the ocean.
So a rocket on the gantry will have to go out, then like a railway train, travel back, while changing track, and come onto the curved track that is visible.
Saar, please see here
13°42'35.75"N, 80°13'33.34"E

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 30 May 2017 00:00

A little bit visible here

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 30 May 2017 00:31

Just look at the size of this liquid stage !

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 30 May 2017 00:32

GSAT-19

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 30 May 2017 01:58

Gagan wrote:A little bit visible here

For unlawful carnal knowledge.

KL Dubey · Post by **KL Dubey** » 30 May 2017 02:54

Singha wrote:Looks ariane5ish now.

But more like Ariane 4 in terms of payload capacity (4 tons to GTO), yes ?

Ariane 5 pushes 7-11 tons into GTO.

I think PSLV is equivalent to Ariane 1, whereas GSLV Mk I and II are similar to Ariane 2/3.

We catchin' up!

disha · Post by **disha** » 30 May 2017 03:40

For ISRO., it is easy to catch up by GSLV-MK III itself. It can upgrade the solid boosters by another 20-30% propellant weight to give a 250 tonne boosters., replace the core liquid stage with a five clustered C-25 stage (to give 1 MN core) and replace the upper stage with the GSLV Mk II's CUS (75 KN)., and increase the burn time of CUS. Again doing anything which is not incremental is an altogether new designed rocket

Of course there are many other variants possible., take out the core and replace it with equivalent clustered SCE to get a 10% more payload capacity. Or make it the gigantic GSLV-Mk IV with four boosters and with clustered SCE and bigger upper stage.

Point is, at this stage the engine development is reaching fruition (almost, for academic completeness SCE needs to be demonstrated)., it is now in the hands of the aerospace designers to come up with different vehicles that can use the engines in various stages.

The ogive nose cone sitting on the core rocket sometimes looks like the rocket propelled grenade! Basically the core can grow in heft (or diameter) and also grow in length (or tall) to be accommodated on existing launch platforms.

But just like PSLV was tinkered with from its initial launch of 800 kg SSO orbit to 1600 Kg SSO orbit (yes rounded figures)., so does GSLV Mk III can go from 4 tonne payload to 6-8 tonne payload.

However the next stage for ISRO is to design moon landings. For this., they will need to design in orbit docking and larger moon rockets.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 30 May 2017 03:43

The current GSLV MK3s
Solid booster is the 2nd most powerful booster in the world
The cryo engine is the most powerful upper stage cryo engine in the world

The first stage will be better with the semi cryo being placed, payload will improve from 4 to become 6 tons to GTO

China and US use cryo in first stage. China's leaky old tech first stage cryo pumps out 550kN
The GSLVs upper stage cryo is 200kN
ISRO can easily design a bigger cryo or cluster them

Bottom line is that once ISRO demonstrates Semi Cryo, they will have mastered almost all the varieties of rocket engines out there.
They can then design any rocket for any payload, switch around engines and stages, cluster them as needed. The sky is the limit!