Indian Space Program Discussion

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 30 Jun 2013 08:11

The primary service area for the system covers India and up to 1,500 km beyond its borders.

Wonder if that figure can be increased in any particular direction.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 30 Jun 2013 12:30

India's First Midnight Launch set for Monday - New Indian Express

nvishal · Post by **nvishal** » 30 Jun 2013 21:49

IRNSS blast off tonight at 11:40pm from a PSLV engine

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 30 Jun 2013 22:17

More like Monday according to ISRO http://www.isro.org/

nvishal · Post by **nvishal** » 30 Jun 2013 23:24

^ yes naya date monday ka hai

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 01 Jul 2013 00:51

RLV TD3 under construction. Old Pic

disha · Post by **disha** » 01 Jul 2013 08:14

Jayram wrote:
Those who wish to use the IRNSS will need receivers equipped to pick up and utilise the data transmitted by the Indian satellite system. A standard GPS receiver will not do.
Any reason for this? Is this to recover money to enable this technology or is this simply standard practice since gps recievers would need at least a software update to receive this data ?

Different codex'es. The "standard GPS" will be "American Standard" (pun unintended

).

disha · Post by **disha** » 01 Jul 2013 08:26

Opened a topic for IRNSS discussion.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 01 Jul 2013 09:03

An Indian Mission to Another Frontier in Space - N.Gopal Raj, The Hindu

Today, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the first of seven satellites that will provide the country with an independent navigation satellite capability.

A navigation satellite system uses a cluster of spacecraft that regularly transmit signals.

Suitably equipped receivers can then use that data to work out their exact position. Satellite-based navigation has, over the years, become indispensable, with a multitude of both civilian and military uses. Vehicles, big and small, as well as aircraft and ships increasingly find their way using such navigation devices. People these days turn to map and location-based services on their mobile devices.

World scene

The best known and currently the most widely used navigation satellite system is the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), which became operational two decades ago. Russia too offers global coverage with its Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Europe is establishing its own global system, Galileo. Although the full constellation will be ready only by 2019, it plans to begin some services with a reduced number of satellites by the end of next year.

Last December, China announced operational services from its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System over that country and surrounding areas. It intends to launch more satellites and expand the system for global coverage by 2020. Japan has already launched the first of three satellites for its regional system that will augment GPS services.

Footprint

With seven satellites, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) will broadcast its signals primarily over India and to about 1,500 km beyond its borders.

ISRO planned to put the full constellation of satellites into orbit by the financial year 2014-15, according to the space agency’s chairman, K. Radhakrishnan. If necessary, the coverage area around India could be enhanced by adding four more satellites, he told The Hindu .

As to why India needed its own satellite navigation system, he responded: “It is essentially to ensure that you have an assured service when you want it. If you are dependent on a foreign navigation signal and then you are in dire need, there could be a situation [it may] not be available to you.”

That sort of concern has also been voiced in Europe, which, although a close ally of the U.S., still felt the need to have its own navigation satellites. Much to America’s annoyance, European institutions began moves in the late 1990s to establish the Galileo system.

Defence, prime factor

The European Commission noted that Galileo would ensure Europe’s independence in a sector that had become critical for its economy and the well-being of its citizens. “We have become so dependent on services provided by satellite navigation in our daily lives that should a service be reduced or switched off, the potential disruption to business, banking, transport, aviation, communication, etc to name but a few, would be very costly.”

Military operations rely heavily on satellite navigation, and India’s defence requirements appear to have played an important part in the decision to establish an independent system. The operator of a foreign system can choose to deliberately degrade the accuracy of its signals, as the U.S. reportedly did with the freely accessible GPS signals when invading Iraq.

Apart from signals that anyone can utilise free of cost, satellite navigation systems, including the Indian one, provide an encrypted service that is restricted to those authorised to receive it.

As part of India’s modernisation of its armed forces, a satellite system of its own gave the country redundancy and reduced dependence on outside agencies for a key technology, observed Wing Commander Ajey Lele, a space and national security analyst at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in Delhi.

Moreover, satellite navigation had huge civilian applications, he pointed out. With India developing both economically and technologically, this factor too would have influenced the decision to establish the IRNSS.

The applications of global navigation satellite systems are potentially enormous, according to the consultancy firm, Frost & Sullivan. “The industry view is that it is a massive market waiting to take shape and what we see of its present use can be considered a tip of the iceberg.”

The global applications market would grow from €65 billion in 2012 to about €134 billion in 2021, it estimated in a report issued some months back.

India’s IRNSS, along with GAGAN, “is set to serve a potentially huge market across the sub-continent,” the report noted. (GAGAN, an abbreviation for “GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation,” is a satellite-based system implemented jointly by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India to improve GPS accuracy over the country as an aid for aviation. (For more details, see “GAGAN — making GPS more accurate,” “Science & Technology” page, The Hindu , June 2, 2011.)

Interoperability

The world’s navigation satellite operators increasingly find it beneficial to make their systems work together. Interoperability, which allows receivers to take signals from more than one system, is catching on.

Especially in situations where signals from one constellation of satellites might not be readily available, such as when those signals are obstructed by tall buildings in an urban setting or in mountainous terrain, a receiver that is able to utilise multiple systems can function better and more accurately.

A combination of Galileo and GPS receivers would allow far more accurate position determination, noted a 2011 review of the European system. The same would be true if the BeiDou and GPS systems were used together, noted a presentation made at a conference held in Shanghai, China, two years back.

Ensuring interoperability among navigation satellite constellations and integrating their services was going to be the primary challenge for realising their full potential, according to the Frost & Sullivan report.

ISRO was working with industry to develop receivers that worked with the Indian system, said the space agency’s chairman.

Some of those receivers would be designed to take signals from IRNSS as well as another constellation.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 01 Jul 2013 19:23

ISRO’s GSLV Mk-2 Launcher Return to Flight Test in August.

ISRO hopes to resume its GLSV medium launcher operations with the return to flight test of GSLV D05 fitted with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) and carrying the communication satellite GSAT-14, tentatively on August 6, 2013.

ISRO’s 2012 Annual Report had stated that the next two GSLV missions would be conducted as developmental flights.

GSLV-D05 will be test flown with a 3.4-m payload fairing and indigenous CUS. A follow-up test flight, GSLV-D05, will be conducted with a 4-m payload fairing and indigenous CUS.

ISRO had earlier fitted the 4-m composite payload fairing for the first time on GSLV F06 for its December 2010 launch. The launch failed because a group of 10 connectors located at the bottom portion of the Russian Cryogenic Upper Stage snapped because of aerodynamic loads induced distortion in the fairing, cutting off command signals from the onboard computer in the Equipment Bay (located near the top of the vehicle) to the control electronics of the four L40 Strap-ons of the First Stage.

The launch failure led to the grounding of the GLSV launcher.

A Failure Analysis Committee recommended strengthening of the shroud.

All GSLV flights before GSLV F06 featured a 3.4-m aluminium payload fairing.

ISRO’s focus in the GSLV D05 test in August would be on proving the indigenous CUS which failed during its maiden test on GLSV-D3 on April 15, 2010

The failure was attributed to a malfunction of the booster pump of the indigenous CUS.

On October 12, 2011, S.Ramakrishnan, director of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) said the agency had identified and fixed the reasons for the failure of the first engine during the flight of GSLV-D3.

“We have studied the design of booster pumps and redesigned it. The computer simulation was done and validated.” he said.The booster pump has been successfully hot tested twice in the past three months at the newly-built high altitude test facility (HAT) at ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri.

LPSC director MC Dathan told TOI on Friday, June 28 that a mission readiness meet for GSLV-D05 launch was held on Thursday. Dathan added, “We are very confident after the repeat successful High Altitude Tests in the last three months. Yet we are anxious about the indigenous cryogenic stage which was moved from LPSC Mahendragiri on May 13, it is being integrated with the vehicle at Sriharikota and further checks will be completed within 45 days. It will be ready by July end and tentatively the launch is set for August 6.”

If the two missions are successful, the GSLV program will be considered as being back on track and the launcher will once again be used to launch high value payloads like Chandrayaan 2, which could be launched in 2014.

member_20067 · Post by **member_20067** » 01 Jul 2013 20:18

The satellites... are for real... I always wonder can we do testing without putting 300 million dollars satellites and use more like dumb satellites with same weight and dimension specification till we get the launch technology perfected...

disha · Post by **disha** » 01 Jul 2013 22:33

Same cost. Say the cost of putting a kilogram into space is 10,000 USD (standard taken from google)., then putting 2000 kg is @20 million USD. Your dummy satellite has the same electronics (you cannot put a dead wood into geo space)., will have the same LAM/fuel (since once you put., you have to de-orbit and bring the dummy safely down) and in the worst case you do a full testing of your dummy sat., it will reach its geo space and park itself there - you lost a slot.

Of course you can say to me "you dummy" just launch it in GSO orbit to test the 4th stage parameter., at the apogee it is at @36k KM., and still takes an orbital slot.

And you have to have a dedicated staff to monitor till the dummy is de-orbited. So what are you saving money on with a dummy? Just for the Ku/Ka band antennas? Some cheap solar panels? Let us say all your savings for the sat are USD 100k., compared to the launch vehicle cost (and separately from the launch cost itself)., that is peanuts. Yes a fraction.

Why launch a dummy? BTW, sat costs are not 300 million dollars. Iridium for example costs only 5 million dollars. 300 million is for the entire launch campaign including the vehicle.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 02 Jul 2013 15:34

General question:
In case of loss of attitude and imminent loss of control, why don't rocket designers think of saving the payload by ejecting just like a ejection seat? Is it because of weight penalty of installing the system? Surely, part of whole of the payload(s) can be salvaged and insurance cost could come down!

vina · Post by **vina** » 02 Jul 2013 15:58

In case of loss of attitude and imminent loss of control, why don't rocket designers think of saving the payload by ejecting just like a ejection seat?

All man qualified rockets have such a system (google for it, it looks like a pointed tower on the rocket's nose) , and in the event of an accident , that rockets fire, lifting the spacecraft with humans in it out of danger.

JayS · Post by **JayS** » 02 Jul 2013 16:29

Neela wrote:General question:
In case of loss of attitude and imminent loss of control, why don't rocket designers think of saving the payload by ejecting just like a ejection seat? Is it because of weight penalty of installing the system? Surely, part of whole of the payload(s) can be salvaged and insurance cost could come down!

That's an interesting idea. May be weight penalty is the reason its not done for unmanned launches. Ejection of 2-3 tons of payload will need a lot of boost. Every kg weight added in last stage would increase cost by thousands of $$. Also added complexity. May be the whole affair out-costs the insurance premiums.

Also I wonder if a satellite would survive such rescue...I have no idea...

bharats · Post by **bharats** » 10 Jul 2013 07:27

An old article on Cryogenic Engine (read below)

Beginning anew, ISRO revamps set-up to meet challenge of building cryogenic engines
BY: Raj Chengappa
From: The India Today
June 30 1995, 16:36 IST

Link: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/isro ... 88973.html

Perched atop a thickly forested hill near Trivandrum, the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was among the first to have its slopes drenched by the monsoons last week. And as the new season sets in, the stains of the spy scandal that crippled its functioning in the past few months are being washed away too. The LPSC is now all set to make a fresh beginning with one of its main objectives: building sophisticated rocket engines that use cryogenic fuels - to power all future Indian space flights. Recently, the Union Government approved some major changes designed to kick-start the cryogenic-engine programme. A.E. Muthunayagam, Director of the LPSC since its inception, was asked to take charge as secretary, Department of Ocean Development.

G. Madhavan Nair, 50, project Director of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle that was successfully launched last year, was appointed in Muthunayagam's place. Meanwhile, although the Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to clear S. Nambinarayanan, head of the cryogenic project, of any involvement in the so-called scandal, he may not return to his post. Nambinarayanan would like to pull out. Reason: "The case has blown my confidence. I just won't be able to take the kind of daredevil decisions needed to execute such projects without fears that someone would attribute sinister motives to them." That would be a sad exit for someone considered to be one of the country's leading experts in liquid-propulsion technology.

G. Madhavan Nair (extreme right) taking over from A.E. Muthunayagam (second from right)

While the hunt is on for Nambinarayanan's successor, Nair is busy putting together a team of scientists that would form the core group responsible for building the cryogenic engine. Last week, a series of meetings were held to review the entire design of the indigenous version.
Originally, before the Russians yielded to US pressure and reneged on the Rs.230 crore deal to supply two cryogenic engines and transfer the technology to build them, India had planned to develop carbon copies of the Russian designs. After the recent review meeting. however. Nair clarified: "The cryogenic engine we propose to build would be similar to the Russian one but not the same."

The critical question, though, is: How long would Indians take to develop it indigenously? Using super-cooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen as propellants, the cryogenic engine is to power the final stage of India's Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The launcher will help India put satellites of the INSAT class into orbit thereby saving on the cost of hiring expensive French rockets, GSLV's first launch, already delayed by two years, is now scheduled for mid-1997. To meet India's requirements, the Russians have agreed to sell India seven fully assembled engines. That would take care of the GSLV launches till the turn of the century. By then, India will have to be ready with its cryogenic version. Relying excessively as they did on the Russian offer, Indians neglected their own cryogenics programme. The ISRO top brass maintains that the spy scandal has not affected its cryogenic programme.

But their unwillingness to commit themselves to a specific timeframe for developing the engine is one major indication of just how unsure they are. While former ISRO Chairman U.R. Rao had indicated that India could build one within four years, his successor, K. Kasturirangan, is more circumspect. "It took advanced players such as Europe and Japan over eight to 10 years to build similar engines," he cautions. "Our target of achieving it by the turn of the century is ambitious." Understandably so, for what the recent review has shown is just how difficult the task of building the engine is going to be. Relying excessively as they did on the Russian offer to transfer technology, the Indians had neglected their own cryogenics programme. Now, as Nair says: "We have to start literally from scratch." Top of the agenda is acquiring the capability to handle the extreme temperature variations - from supercooled conditions of - 250 degrees Celsius that the fuels are stored in to the incredibly hot 2,000 degrees Celsius that is experienced in the engines' thrust chambers.

To build the engine, the Union Government has managed to set aside Rs.350 crore. So far, the LPSC has set up a facility in its Mahendragiri complex near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu to make liquid hydrogen with the help of a German collaborator, Linde, at a cost of Rs.50 crore. Meanwhile, fabrication is under way for its principal test stand in the same complex. But these are just small steps compared to the task ahead. Although the Russians did pass on some drawings before the contract was cancelled, and a small team of Indian scientists was trained by them for almost a year, it was far from sufficient for the LPSC to build the engine based on their experience.

Now space scientists will have to put their heads together and work on mastering several critical technologies that include making metals that can withstand extreme temperatures, high-speed turbo pumps, precision injectors and ignition systems. And with the US carefully monitoring the project's progress, ISRO may not be able to get any kind of foreign help. Says Kasturirangan: "We would have to do it completely on our own." The problem is that the organisation's own experience on the cryogenics front has been none too happy. Two years ago, it had designed a one-tonne-thrust cryogenic engine to "wet our feet in the technology", as a scientist put it. But because of improper mixing of fuels, the engine exploded while being tested. No further trials have been conducted since then. Now the LPSC is entrusted with the task of building a 7.5-tonne-thrust engine required for the GSLV - a quantum jump in technology. Conscious of its limitations, the Centre has been seeking help from a number of science-and-technology institutes across the country including the IITs.

Says V. Gnanagandhi, deputy Director of the cryogenics project: "The idea is to put together expertise wherever we can find it in the country so that we can complete the task in the shortest possible time." But time is not on ISRO's side.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 10 Jul 2013 14:10

Though not Indian LV but interesting it seems Europe in future has decided to go with 1 sat launch at a time dumping Ariane 5 for Ariane 6 for future. ESA approves basic design for Ariane 6 ..also opting for solid fuel booster for two stages and liquid for 3rd.

Esa selects Ariane 6 basic design

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 10 Jul 2013 14:31

Just glancing through some of the design choice countries have made for future launch vehical

Europe Ariane 6 will be 1st ,2nd stage all solid and 3rd stage Liquid.
Indian GSLV Mk3 will be 1st stage solid and 2nd and 3d stage Liquid ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchro ... cle_Mk_III )
Russian Angara will be all 3 stage liquid fuel ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angara_%2 ... _family%29 )

Not sure what direction US will take but they have a new SDV program under works
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-De ... ch_Vehicle

abhijitm · Post by **abhijitm** » 10 Jul 2013 15:40

GSLV D5 mission: Isro begins tests on indigenous cryo engine

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has commenced testing the indigenously developed cryogenic engine, which has been mounted on the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) — MK II.

“Vehicle integration is going on at present. The cryogenic engine has been mounted on the launch vehicle, and elaborate checks are on,” Isro spokesperson Deviprasad Karnik said.

KrishG · Post by **KrishG** » 10 Jul 2013 23:57

Austin wrote:Just glancing through some of the design choice countries have made for future launch vehical

Europe Ariane 6 will be 1st ,2nd stage all solid and 3rd stage Liquid.
Indian GSLV Mk3 will be 1st stage solid and 2nd and 3d stage Liquid ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geosynchro ... cle_Mk_III )
Russian Angara will be all 3 stage liquid fuel ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angara_%2 ... _family%29 )

Not sure what direction US will take but they have a new SDV program under works
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle-De ... ch_Vehicle

1. We can see a general pattern of countries moving away from Hypergolic propellants. The reasons being obvious.

2. Solid fuel is gaining (or regaining) prominence. Both as boosters and as lower stages. The Russians obviously being the exception as they have historically been averse to using it one their big LVs and still are.

3. More lower stages will be powered by semi cryogenic engines which have historically used hypergolic stages.

4. Cryogenic engines will power most of the upper stages of these new rockets.

So, we will have countries coming up with a different configurations of a single rocket for different requirements. This makes the whole process modular and helps the costs. That is what we are seeing with Ariane 6, Angara, Long March and our own UMLV programs.

disha · Post by **disha** » 11 Jul 2013 00:08

KrishG wrote: 2. Solid fuel is gaining (or regaining) prominence. Both as boosters and as lower stages. The Russians obviously being the exception as they have historically been averse to using it one their big LVs and still are.

Thanks for pointing that out... I still have a quarter finished article on why Solid Stage boosters will be in vogue for the next 2-3 decades.

Once cryogenic is mastered, ISRO will turn to semi-cryogenic (actually more complex due to complex chemistry) and that will be used to replace the hyper-golic propellants. They will not completely go away either, since deep space will still require them till ion thrusters take over.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 11 Jul 2013 10:50

Lower stages semi-cryogenic, upper stages cryogenic and multiple solid boosters as needed should be our future goal. UMLV is exactly that.

Shankar · Post by **Shankar** » 11 Jul 2013 17:14

semi cryo is more complex not for chemistry but for the high design thrust - almost 10 times that of even C-20 engine that will power GSLV MK3. that necessitates a very high flow rate of liquid oxygen as well as ATF /jp1 -calling for very high pressure operation and system components to meet the high flow demand of propellants within close confines of a flight stage .particularly difficult in liquid oxygen storage and use systems which normally operate at a much lower pressure .everything have to be designed prorotyped and manufactured really from scratch wit no outside help

ravar · Post by **ravar** » 11 Jul 2013 19:14

^^ Without taking away any credit due to Indian scientists in the semi-cryo project, ISRO has a tie-up with Ukraine on the same.

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 11 Jul 2013 23:28

Ready for launch

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/scienc ... 898927.ece

After slotting its nine-day-old navigation satellite, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) now turns full steam on its next and high-stakes test, the flight of the Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV) medium-lift satellite launcher.

ISRO Chairman and Department of Space Secretary K. Radhakrishnan on Monday said the launcher, numbered GSLV-D5, was planned for launch in the second week of next month but not before August 6.

After two-and-half years

The GSLV, which is so crucial for the country’s space programme, is being resumed after two-and-half years. Two consecutive launchers flown in 2010 failed, setting back the programme and putting the vehicle and the indigenous cryogenic stage through rigorous checks and tests.

It will be also the second outing of the homemade cryogenic stage, in place of the Russian stages that powered six of the seven previously flown GSLVs.

Dr. Radhakrishnan said the cryogenic stage had been modified since the April 2010 failure, tested many times and now integrated as the third and upper stage of the rocket at the Sriharikota launch site. He spoke after launching a new programme at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium.

The GSLV, flown first in 2001, has been a partial success. ISRO urgently needs to ready the launcher for putting its communication satellites in earth-fixed or geosynchronous slots in space — or it must pay and use foreign (which have been mostly European Ariane) launch vehicles.

Its older and light-lift launcher, the PSLV, has a neat record after flying 22 times.

The space agency has spared no test or modification on this launcher, which will take up the 2,000-kg GSAT-14 communication satellite: this will replace the experimental Edusat/GSAT-3 which was flown in 2004.

IRNSS-1A progress

Meanwhile, IRNSS-1A, the first navigation satellite in a series of seven to be launched through 2015-16, has reached a near circular orbit of 23 hours and 50 minutes and is at a distance 35,870 x 35,484 km from earth, ISRO said in its latest post-launch update.

The orbit raising operations have been completed after the motors on the satellite were fired five times between July 2 and July 6. “The performance is normal. All spacecraft subsystems are evaluated and functioning normal. [It] is in a geosynchronous orbit with 27 degrees inclination and at 44 degrees East longitude,” it said.

Also coming up this month is the advanced weather satellite Insat-3D. The 3000-kg satellite will be launched from French Guiana on a European Ariane-5 vehicle in the wee hours of July 26.

Mars vehicle

The PSLV vehicle that will carry the Mars orbiter in October will be taken up for integration on July 29. It will be an upgraded XL version. Two of the five payloads or devices going on the orbiter have been received.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 21 Jul 2013 16:53

Mars Mission not for Pride; we mean business - The Hindu

As India prepares to launch its Rs. 450 crore mission to Mars this year, a top space official said the country’s first martian odyssey — that has attracted some criticism — is not just for pride but for undertaking “meaningful research”.

K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), also debunked perception in some quarters that the Mars Orbiter mission around the red planet, that’s just three months away, is primarily a “feel-good” package to just pat ourselves on the back.

“It’s not for pride because the exploration of Mars has its own scientific value and possibly a future habitat which people are talking about...may be 20 years...30 years from now...it’s possible”, he said in an interview, referring to the colonisation angle.

India will be the sixth country to launch a mission to Mars after the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and China.

ISRO says the primary objectives are to demonstrate India’s technological capability to send a satellite to orbit around Mars and conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of life, take pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment.

“What’s the most interesting question on Mars? Life. So, we talk about Methane...which is of biological origin or geological origin. So, we have a methane sensor plus a thermal infrared spectrometer. These two together should be able to give some information”, said Mr. Radhakrishnan, who is also Secretary in the Department of Space.

Critics of the Indian Mars mission wondered whether the country can afford huge costs for this space voyage.

The Mars satellite, which would be launched on board Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL), will carry compact science experiments, totalling a mass of 15 kg. There will be five instruments to study Martian surface, atmosphere and mineralogy.

After leaving earth orbit in November, the spacecraft will cruise in deep space for 10 months using its own propulsion system and will reach Mars (Martian transfer trajectory) in September 2014.

The 1350 kg spacecraft subsequently is planned to enter into a 372 km by 80,000 km elliptical orbit around Mars.

“We want to look at environment of Mars for various elements like Deuterium-Hydrogen ratio. We also want to look at other constituents — neutral constituents”, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

“There are several things which Mars will tells us, this is what the scientific community thinks about the life on Mars”, he said, adding that scientists started taking interest on Mars from the 18th century onwards.

“Our (Mars mission) experiments are planned in such a way that you can decide when you want to put on each of these systems”, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

“If we succeed (in the mission), it positions India into group of countries who will have the ability to look at Mars.

In future, certainly, there will be synergy between various countries in such exploration. That’s taking place. That time India will be a country to be counted”, he said.

ISRO is going to start the assembly of PSLV-C25, the rocket on board of which the Mars orbiter would be launched any day between October 21 and November 7, in the first week of August.

The mission would help ISRO understand the technological challenges of such an exploration, the possible existence of life and future colonisation of Mars, which is the planet that has most resemblance to earth.

The PSLV-XL (PSLV-C25) will inject the spacecraft from the spaceport of Sriharikota in the 250 x 23000 km orbit.

Mr. Radhakrishnan said a number of technological challenges need to be negotiated for a successful Mars mission.

“Most important thing is we must have the insertion of this spacecraft in the Martian orbit”, he said, noting that once the spacecraft leaves the earth orbit, propulsion system has to work after 300 days.

In the case of INSAT class of satellites and Chandrayaan-1, they reached orbital slots in one and two weeks, respectively. “This is the first time we have to operate the propulsion system after 300 days. There will be some performance deterioration”, he said but added that ISRO has undertaken the test and knows how it would operate. So, the robustness and reliability of propulsion system has been raised “one order higher”.

In Chandrayaan-1, ISRO had to deal with a distance of about four lakh km, while in the case of Mars it’s 4000 lakh km.

“One of the technological challenges is to realise related deep space mission planning and communication management at a distance of nearly 400 million km”, an ISRO official said.

The spacecraft has been provided with augmented radiation shielding for its prolonged exposure in the Van Allen belt.

Due to the long range from Earth to Mars, there is a communication delay of 20 minutes one way itself. For this reason, ISRO has built high level of onboard autonomy within Mars orbiter.

Capture of the Mars orbit or the Martian insertion is the critical event that would determine the success of this mission, ISRO officials say.

On the experiments side, Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP) is aimed at studying the escape processes of Mars upper atmosphere through Deuterium/Hydrogen, Methane Sensor for MARS (MSM) would look to detect presence of Methane while Martian Exospheric Composition Explorer (MENCA) would study the neutral composition of the Martian upper atmosphere.

MARS Colour Camera (MCC) would undertake optical imaging and TIR imaging spectrometer (TIS) is targeted to map surface composition and mineralogy during India’s first mission to a distant planet.

With MCC, Mr. Radhakrishnan said, it would also be possible to take pictures of two satellites of Mars —Phobos and Deimos.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 24 Jul 2013 03:32

India's Mars mission makes US headlines:

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/india-pl ... 6C10714150

I'm telling ya, this thing is gonna get some serious attention from everybody.

bharats · Post by **bharats** » 24 Jul 2013 06:48

ISRO to flight-test GSLV with indigenous cryo on August 19
BY:PTI
From: The Economic Times
23 Jul, 2013, 07.28PM IST
Link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... ttarget=no

GSLV-D5 is now slated for launch, with GSAT-14 satellite on board from Sriharikota spaceport.
BANGALORE: More than three years after the heart-breaking failure on flight testing of the indigenous cryogenic stage in GSLV-D3 mission, Indian Space Research Organisation announced today it's ready to undertake the high-stakes venture again on August 19. A national team of experts today gave the go-ahead to ISRO after the Bangalore-headquartered space agency presented it the preparations that it had made after rectifications and qualifications. The team included Prof U R Rao and Prof Roddam Narasimha and academics associated with ISRO's rocket programme.

"The moment we are talking about is August 19th as a tentative schedule and the time is around 5 PM," ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan told PTI here. "Vehicle (GSLV or rocket) is already assembled and we have done electrical checks on the vehicle", he said. "We have done nearly 35 ground tests since we had the April 2010 failure, on sub-systems, on the engine and on a similar engine in high altitude conditions". ISRO designed and developed some components itself and not sourced from outside. GSLV-D5 is now slated for launch, with GSAT-14 satellite on board from Sriharikota spaceport.

India's other operational rocket, PSLV, has limitations up to what mass it can handle, making the success of GSLV with indigenous cryogenic engine extremely important as this rocket can carry heavier communication satellites to a much higher orbit. "Cryogenic route has to be there for the future of the larger communication satellites", Radhakrishnan,also Secretary in the Department of Space, explained, noting that ISRO took up indigenous cryogenic engine programme in 1992. It was noted that 50 per cent of velocity is provided by the upper cryogenic stage.

He said the August 19 mission is technically and emotionally important as the previous venture was a failure. "We have to see through. Stakes are very high, seriousness is very high. Entire organisation feels for it. For the last three years, we have been at it". The failure analysis committee concluded after the unsuccessful April 15, 2010, mission that the thrust build up did not progress as expected due to non-availability of liquid hydrogen supply to the thrust chamber of the main engine. This failure was attributed to the anomalous stopping of Fuel Booster Turbo Pump (FBTP).

In the last three years, ISRO conducted extensive failure analysis studies and reviews. Cryo stage FBTP was modified as per GSLV-D3 failure analysis committee recommendations and qualification tests carried out,ISRO officials said.

vic · Post by **vic** » 24 Jul 2013 16:37

ravar wrote:^^ Without taking away any credit due to Indian scientists in the semi-cryo project, ISRO has a tie-up with Ukraine on the same.

Good, one must obtain knowledge where-ever available. ISRO has always been able to internalize and further develop any imported technology.

prashanth · Post by **prashanth** » 24 Jul 2013 17:20

Mars mission is a publicity stunt: Isro ex-chief Madhavan Nair

The country was facing an acute shortage of communication transporters, noted Nair during whose tenure of six years as Isro chairman and secretary in the department of space, 25 successful space missions were accomplished, including India's maiden moon venture Chandrayaan-I.

According to him, GSLV was the vehicle identified because it could take a respectable satellite of nearly 1,800 kg. This could have provided more than a dozen instruments on board and the spacecraft would have been placed in a near circular orbit for a meaningful remote sensing mission of Mars.

"But what is the fate of the much hyped Mars Orbiter Mission (Isro's mars mission as conceived now) - there were delays in solving the problems of GSLV so a study was undertaken see what can be done with PSLV. Nearly 1,500 kg satellite can be taken to Mars, but due to fuel limitation it could at best be placed in an elliptical orbit of 380km perigee and 80,000 km apogee. No one would attempt a resource survey or mapping mission with such widely varying altitudes", Nair said.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 24 Jul 2013 19:27

Why did the FBTP fail? Has the root cause been precisely identified? And if so has it ever been mentioned publicly?

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 24 Jul 2013 19:52

merlin wrote:Why did the FBTP fail? Has the root cause been precisely identified? And if so has it ever been mentioned publicly?

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/script ... Jul09_2010

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 24 Jul 2013 23:51

^^^

Two plausible scenarios have been identified for the failure of FBTP, namely, (a) gripping at one of the seal location and seizure of rotor and (b) rupture of turbine casing caused probably due to excessive pressure rise and thermal stresses. A series of confirmatory ground tests are planned.

So which was it ? a) or b)

Most likely a) due to debris in the seal?

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 25 Jul 2013 03:29

http://www.frontline.in/science-and-tec ... 945199.ece

More detail from the latest Frontline. Talks about GSLV, IRNSS and Mars mission.

disha · Post by **disha** » 25 Jul 2013 04:07

ramana wrote:^^^

Two plausible scenarios have been identified for the failure of FBTP, namely, (a) gripping at one of the seal location and seizure of rotor and (b) rupture of turbine casing caused probably due to excessive pressure rise and thermal stresses. A series of confirmatory ground tests are planned.

So which was it ? a) or b)

Most likely a) due to debris in the seal?

b) could also lead to a). Or both could be independent - that is two causes - only one would have occurred though. Hence for testing/design they need to shore up both a) and b).

disha · Post by **disha** » 25 Jul 2013 04:21

I would consider the following statement as the high point of BRF:

"... The seventh flight, that of GSLV F-06 of December 25, 2010, was a failure due to the opening of a shroud in the Russian cryogenic stage, resulting in two connector sets getting disengaged, because of which signals from the equipment bay could not reach the control actuators of the strap-on stage. So the vehicle started losing control after 47 seconds of flight and we had to destroy the vehicle. The failure analysis committee’s [FAC] report was published. ..."

BRF more or less reached the same conclusion from public material.

member_23694 · Post by **member_23694** » 25 Jul 2013 13:59

early 90's effort of ISRO and first part of this decade seems very much similar

,

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/aslv ... 93347.html

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/laun ... 94411.html

with two failures of ASLV then success.
Now with two failure of GSLV we will have a success

and then moving to GSLV III, to be the new workhorse like the PSLV

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 25 Jul 2013 16:24

"with two failures of ASLV then success.
Now with two failure of GSLV we will have a success

and then moving to GSLV III, to be the new workhorse like the PSLV

"

Yes, but it is disheartening to know that the Mark 3 will be launched only in 2017, 4 years from now. Though I realise that the vehicle is very complex, and many developmental hurdles have been crossed. In the meantime, we can hope for many successes of GSLV Mark 2, as well as the PSLV.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Jul 2013 02:24

disha wrote:I would consider the following statement as the high point of BRF:

"... The seventh flight, that of GSLV F-06 of December 25, 2010, was a failure due to the opening of a shroud in the Russian cryogenic stage, resulting in two connector sets getting disengaged, because of which signals from the equipment bay could not reach the control actuators of the strap-on stage. So the vehicle started losing control after 47 seconds of flight and we had to destroy the vehicle. The failure analysis committee’s [FAC] report was published. ..."

BRF more or less reached the same conclusion from public material.

Disha, Where did BRF come to this?

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 26 Jul 2013 03:06

Ariane 5 ECA successfully deploys Insat-3D.

Arianespace have launched another two satellites - Alphasat and Insat-3D – via their Ariane 5 ECA rocket. Launch from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana was on schedule at the opening of its 79 minute window at 19:54 UTC on Thursday.

INSAT-3D was developed by India’s Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) space agency and its ISRO Space Applications Centre, designed to provide meteorological observation and monitoring of land/ocean surfaces.

The satellite – which is adapted from India’s I-2K spacecraft bus – is equipped with a six-channel imager and 19-channel sounder, as well as a data relay transponder and a payload for satellite-aided search and rescue operations.

Once fueled, INSAT-3D had an estimated lift-off mass of 2,090 kg, and features eight new-generation digital signal processors and an 11-meter antenna reflector.

It also is configured with four technology demonstration payloads for ESA.