Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

abhik · Post by **abhik** » 09 Jan 2018 21:03

^^^
That's really disappointing to hear

.
The entire launch could have been funded by the equivalent of a single endowment to an american university by one of our lalas.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 09 Jan 2018 21:33

^
Yah very, it would have been awesome to see two Indian moon missions within the span of 1-2 months. Man, a lot of people are going to be disappointed, if not dismayed. Let's hope the company can take it up at a future date!

shaun · Post by **shaun** » 09 Jan 2018 22:21

Zynda wrote:Team Indus has dropped out of Space Race to place a lander on Moon. Mentioned on NDTV...sad to see another niche private venture bite the dust. Was a long shot for them anyways but somehow up until recently, they managed to stay afloat. Ideally this project could have been sponsored by a few (or one) giant Indian Engineering firm with suitable agreements to share IP, know how, methodologies employed which could be transferred to other programs etc. Or even from academic institutions...ask them engineers to share their learnings via courses or whatever (still can happen if the institutes are enterprising enough...)

http://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-anal ... 94061.html

RonyKJ · Post by **RonyKJ** » 09 Jan 2018 23:00

Very disappointed to hear this. I think Team Indus did a terrible job of fund raising. At one time they had announced that they would be doing a round of public funding. I contacted them on their website expressing interest in being an investor but received no response. They had people dedicated to the fund raising aspect and outreach and so on, so I am surprised to hear this. If this is really true that the moonshot is over, I doubt they would have any success as an aerospace firm.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 10 Jan 2018 07:49

Yes, TeamIndus seems to have dropped out. What a shame after coming so close. So disappointing. Hope there is a last minute surprise somehow.

Is TeamIndus’s lunar bid off? - The Hindu

An Indian space startup’s dream of landing a rover on Moon in March may have got dashed. The launch contract of TeamIndus with ISRO’s business arm Antrix Corporation has reportedly been cancelled.

Officials of Antrix and TeamIndus declined to respond to queries about this mission. One ISRO person in the know said it looked like the deal and the launch on the PSLV were off.

Unnamed sum

TeamIndus had booked ISRO’s light lift rocket PSLV in December 2016 to launch its spacecraft and signed the deal with Antrix for an unnamed sum. The Bengaluru startup was the lone Indian bid for the $30 million Google Lunar XPrize contest, which stipulates that candidates should raise around 90% of their funds from non-government sources.

A report in news portal, The Ken, said the contract had been cancelled as TeamIndus was short of funds to pay for the launch.

A Japanese co-contestant, spacecraft Hakuto, was also slated to ride with TeamIndus’s spacecraft to Moon. Now, it would also be out of the race.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, one of the investors in the enterprise, said in a tweet: “Team Indus, the first Indian space startup, drops out of Moon race - most unfortunate but they say they will still try to reach out to launchers outside the country as a last effort.”

Official hint

In fact, the first official hint on the fate of the mission came from ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar a few weeks ago. He said on a television programme during a recent FICCI meet in Delhi, “There are a lot of challenges [for TeamIndus], both in terms of technology and their constraint in getting the funds they require for it. It is not easy to bridge the gap of building the technology capability needed for an activity such as this. They have much work ahead.”

In October, TeamIndus CEO Rahul Narayan said they were raising the second half of the funds needed to complete the mission. And that their lunar mission would cost around $65 million (around Rs. 450 crore). Part of it had come from early investors and promoters, including Nandan Nilekani, Ratan Tata, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon, ‘big bull’ Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Flipkart’s co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal.

He also said their spacecraft would have to be launched by March 6-8 “in the worst case.”

A person who asked not to be named said TeamIndus had paid one milestone instalment so far. Many approvals were also due from the Central government as the nations are accountable for space missions under the UN space law.

Space industry sources said it would take several months for TeamIndus if it wanted to go to a suitable international launcher for its 600 kg-plus spacecraft and 60 kg lander-rover, apart from matching the technical and procedural requirements.

Globally, there is a big launch gap for boosters that can launch such small spacecraft; and they also need much expertise to put them on a trajectory to Moon. The PSLV flew ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 in 2008.

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 10 Jan 2018 13:59

They had not reached sufficient technical milestones let alone funding so I don't think that even of they got the launcher the payload would have been ready by March. The other teams are also floundering and it looks like no one is going to win.

marimuthu · Post by **marimuthu** » 10 Jan 2018 20:09

Dr.KSivan, Director of VSSC will be the next chairman of ISRO.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 10 Jan 2018 20:19

RonyKJ wrote:Very disappointed to hear this. I think Team Indus did a terrible job of fund raising. At one time they had announced that they would be doing a round of public funding. I contacted them on their website expressing interest in being an investor but received no response. They had people dedicated to the fund raising aspect and outreach and so on, so I am surprised to hear this. If this is really true that the moonshot is over, I doubt they would have any success as an aerospace firm.

Since Japanese team was going to piggyback, they too were unable to raise the funds either.

The whole Google X-prize has been a bust. Google has already written it off as no contestant has been able to make a launch. March 31, 2018 is the final deadline.

schinnas · Post by **schinnas** » 11 Jan 2018 00:06

Dont expect any last minute surprises. There are lot of people, technical and funding issues inside TeamIndus - from a very reliable source in touch with their top leadership. I was told 3 months ago that this would happen. I prayed for a miracle but it panned out as my source had predicted.

Indranil · Post by **Indranil** » 11 Jan 2018 01:41

^^^ That's true. My batchmate is part of TeamIndus.

PratikDas · Post by **PratikDas** » 11 Jan 2018 05:24

marimuthu wrote:Dr.KSivan, Director of VSSC will be the next chairman of ISRO.

Most deserving! I remember admiring the resolute confidence with which he spoke and the earnestness with which he thanked all the contributors for the successful launch of the GSLV.

Re: GSLV-Mk III launch program/post-launch analysis
Post by Singha » 05 Jun 2017 12:20 pm

Dr K Sivan director VSSC giving a short speech

"I am proud to be indian...."

Watch from 24:39

Ashokk · Post by **Ashokk** » 11 Jan 2018 15:31

Isro to again showcase multiple-burn tech

CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation began a 28-hour countdown for the launch of PSLV-C40/Cartosat 2 Series satellite mission+ at 5.29am on Thursday, according to an update on Isro's website.

On Friday, when PSLV-C40 takes off on its 42nd flight, it will once again demonstrate the multiple-burn technology where the fourth stage engine will be ignited and shut off four times to place 31 satellites, including small ones, in different orbits. Isro has demonstrated the technology in three previous missions.
The launch on Friday carries significance for two reasons. Isro is back in the game four months after the failure of its previous PSLV mission on August 31, 2017. The rocket will also place Isro's 100th satellite in orbit.
"This time, the rocket will have the same configuration as demonstrated during the previous missions," said R Hutton, mission director.
The fourth stage engine will ignite for the first time eight minutes into the mission and will be shut off eight minutes later. The rocket will then place 30 satellites including its main payload, Cartosat-2S series, seventh in the series, and 28 foreign satellites within a period of 42 minutes into polar sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 505km.
The engine will then restart and shut off twice as it manoeuvres to an altitude of 359km within an interval of nearly 45 minutesbefore itinjectsthelast satellite into orbit.

Vips · Post by **Vips** » 11 Jan 2018 21:55

Top Indian scientist to join UAE space agency advisory board.

A top Indian scientist is set to join the advisory board of the UAE Space Agency, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Singh Suri, said on Tuesday night.

Speaking at a function to celebrate the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (NRI Day) jointly organised by the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian consulate in Dubai, Suri said that he had recently had a meeting with Dr Mohammad Al Ahbabi, Director General of the UAE Space Agency.

Referring to a joint statement on collaboration in the space sector, he said: “I expect that in the next two weeks or so, a former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation [Isro] will come on the advisory board of the UAE space agency.”

Speaking to Gulf News later, Consul General of India in Dubai, Vipul, confirmed that the top space scientist in question is K. Radhakrishnan, who retired as chairman of the Indian space agency in 2014.

Ranked among the world’s top 10 scientists in 2014 by Nature journal, Radhakrishnan has held several key positions in Isro and other scientific agencies. He was one of the key people behind India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission.

The ambassador said more fascinating collaborations between the two countries in the space sector are in the pipeline.

Speaking about the growing cooperation in the defence sector, he revealed that India has signed a contract with the UAE related to supply of defence materials.

“I can only say that the first significant contract for supply of defence stuff has been signed, which again lends weight to the definition of our strategic partnership.”

The ambassador also highlighted the deepening political relationship between the UAE and India that has enhanced the countries’ partnerships in various fields and boosted the profile of India in the UAE.

“Our strategic partnerships have transformed the transactional relationships into more substantive relationships. We can expect more announcements regarding this in 2018,” he said.

His statement also comes in the wake of the upcoming UAE visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February.

On Tuesday, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, received a telephone call from Modi.

The two leaders discussed ways of enhancing the friendly relations and cooperation between the UAE and India to best serve the strategic interests of both nations and their people, WAM reported.

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 11 Jan 2018 23:31

Jan 11, 2018 PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series Mission - Propellant filling operations of Second Stage (PS2) are in progress
Jan 11, 2018 Mobile Service Tower (MST) withdrawal to parking end is completed. Preparations for propellant filling operation of Second Stage (PS2) are in progress.
Jan 11, 2018 Propellant filling operation of fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C40 is completed. Countdown operations are progressing normally.
Jan 11, 2018 Propellant filling operation of fourth stage (PS4) of PSLV-C40 is under progress
Jan 11, 2018 The 28hr countdown activity of PSLV-C40/Cartosat2 Series Satellite Mission has started at 05:29hr IST today, Thursday, January 11, 2018

James · Post by **James** » 12 Jan 2018 08:51

Any links for live feed of the launch?

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 12 Jan 2018 08:59

http://cdn.24fd.com/e18/01/isro/12/pslv-c40/index.html

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 12 Jan 2018 09:00

Propellant filling is complete feed will start at 9.26 IST

James · Post by **James** » 12 Jan 2018 09:03

Thanks Prasanna ji.

Prithwiraj · Post by **Prithwiraj** » 12 Jan 2018 09:30

Pathetic webcast... I don't get it why this commentary and live-streaming has to be so poor... it is not that millions of people are watching IPL --- only handful of hardcore enthusiasts access this webcast and production house 24 digital or whatever can't deliver it properly

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 12 Jan 2018 09:33

Everything narmal yet again.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 12 Jan 2018 09:55

Success, congrats ISRO.

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 12 Jan 2018 09:57

Most satellites are launched. Now refiring for orbital change and microsat will be done
As far as broadcast- We are like this onlee.
I could get good streaming but in between there was some feed error of doordarshan causing colour bars to appear.
Note how they never focus on actual on-board camera but always from far away.

raj-senthil · Post by **raj-senthil** » 12 Jan 2018 09:59

Gslv mk2 F08 next month as per Dr.Kiran Kumar chairman
Work progressing well to increase the number of pslv launches from launchpad1 to 15/year

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 12 Jan 2018 10:04

Congratulations ISRO.

manjgu · Post by **manjgu** » 12 Jan 2018 10:50

so whats the res of the latest cartosat2?

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 12 Jan 2018 10:52

Glorious to watch another success by ISRO.What amused me though was when the ISRO chief was speaking announcing the success of the flight,the two podium mikes were not synchronised and there was feedback,just after this massive launch success! "We are like this wonlee".But hats off to our dedicated boffins.I remember the day when SLV-3 was launched and a foreign friend who was with me remarked ,"you now have your ballistic missile delivery system.."The ability to launch so many micro and nano sats will spur more and more ed. institutions in the country to want their own sat in space.I'm going to say this to an institution to which I'm a consultant,that "we must have our own".This will spur a massive scientific bent to Indian education as the final frontier is space itself for the human race,.

Sri · Post by **Sri** » 12 Jan 2018 11:37

Prithwiraj wrote:Pathetic webcast... I don't get it why this commentary and live-streaming has to be so poor... it is not that millions of people are watching IPL --- only handful of hardcore enthusiasts access this webcast and production house 24 digital or whatever can't deliver it properly

All things NARMAL wonlee!

Well Done ISRO

juvva · Post by **juvva** » 12 Jan 2018 11:59

manjgu wrote:so whats the res of the latest cartosat2?

I remember some one mentioning 64cm in the post launch speech.....

ashish raval · Post by **ashish raval** » 12 Jan 2018 13:17

Ranked among the world’s top 10 scientists in 2014 by Nature journal, Radhakrishnan has held several key positions in Isro and other scientific agencies. He was one of the key people behind India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission.

I had privilege of attending number of seminars by this unassuming scientist that I believe was the finest brain in the country back in 2002 at IISc Bangalore. This was confirmed by Nature in 2014 which is fairly correct. You come out of those seminars thinking really drenched with knowledge and there was rarely a question that he could not answer and i wondered if he cannot answer do we have anyone on planet who knows as about it!! Perhaps not. I am one of the biggest fan of Radhakrishnan.

Haridas · Post by **Haridas** » 12 Jan 2018 13:39

juvva wrote:
manjgu wrote:so whats the res of the latest cartosat2?
I remember some one mentioning 64cm in the post launch speech.....

Has got to be better than the resolution of the first experimental reconnaissance sat (65cm), the TES

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 12 Jan 2018 16:02

Speaking of Dr. Radhakrishnan taking a major role in the UAE space agency, here is the gentleman in question at his own kacheri at Guruvayoor Temple:

https://youtu.be/nYcmjuf1w-c?t=63

krishGo · Post by **krishGo** » 12 Jan 2018 16:53

RonyKJ wrote:Very disappointed to hear this. I think Team Indus did a terrible job of fund raising. At one time they had announced that they would be doing a round of public funding. I contacted them on their website expressing interest in being an investor but received no response. They had people dedicated to the fund raising aspect and outreach and so on, so I am surprised to hear this. If this is really true that the moonshot is over, I doubt they would have any success as an aerospace firm.

There has been no confirmation from ISRO or Team Indus on this matter. But it could be true as they were reportedly looking at fund raising to cover launch costs. It could be argued that the prize money they would have got on successful landing and navigation on the moon, wouldn't even have been half of their total outlay for the mission, but it would have helped them gain a lot of recognition internationally.

One good outcome from dropping out could be that they can actually approach ISRO and Government of India for funding to launch their spacecraft (XPrize doesn't allow for state funding or subsidies for competitors). For them to survive going further, they need to be made a part of ISRO's privatization plans.

Vips · Post by **Vips** » 12 Jan 2018 16:59

Isro’s PSLV-C40 places Cartosat-2 Series, 30 other satellites in two different orbits.

After a lull of over four months, the Indian Space Research Organisation is back in the game as its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) successfully placed 31 satellites in two different orbits in one of the longest missions.

The launch was also significant for another reason -- Isro demonstrated multiple-burn technology that it tested in three previous launches.

After the ejection of the 30th satellite, the fourth stage earth storable liquid engine was restarted for the first time 30 minutes later and was shut off within five seconds. For the next nearly 45 minutes of coasting period, the rocket moved from 505km to 359km altitude before the engine was restarted again for the second time for another five seconds.

Roughly around one and 45 minutes later, the rocket ejected its 31st satellite - Isro's Microsat -- in the second orbit at an altitude of 359km. Fifteen minutes later, the engine was again ignited for the last time and shut off in 13 seconds.

"Three consecutive launches are planned from second launch pad in addition to those in the first launch pad. The construction of the second assembly centre is in its final phase of completion. A project is underway to increase capability of first launch pad to 15 launches a year," said Kunhikrishnan.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 12 Jan 2018 17:02

The live streaming was available on one of the wall-mounted screens, but DD never showed it.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 13 Jan 2018 10:42

ashish raval wrote:
Ranked among the world’s top 10 scientists in 2014 by Nature journal, Radhakrishnan has held several key positions in Isro and other scientific agencies. He was one of the key people behind India’s Chandrayaan-1 moon mission.
I had privilege of attending number of seminars by this unassuming scientist that I believe was the finest brain in the country back in 2002 at IISc Bangalore. This was confirmed by Nature in 2014 which is fairly correct. You come out of those seminars thinking really drenched with knowledge and there was rarely a question that he could not answer and i wondered if he cannot answer do we have anyone on planet who knows as about it!! Perhaps not. I am one of the biggest fan of Radhakrishnan.

"Top Indian scientist to join UAE space mission"

there are any number of pakis and hans puttering around in the UAE.

Did he really need to do this??

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 13 Jan 2018 12:05

https://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/f ... avideo.mp4

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 13 Jan 2018 12:20

^^^Fantastic video! Thanks!

ashish raval · Post by **ashish raval** » 13 Jan 2018 13:25

chetak wrote:
ashish raval wrote:
I had privilege of attending number of seminars by this unassuming scientist that I believe was the finest brain in the country back in 2002 at IISc Bangalore. This was confirmed by Nature in 2014 which is fairly correct. You come out of those seminars thinking really drenched with knowledge and there was rarely a question that he could not answer and i wondered if he cannot answer do we have anyone on planet who knows as about it!! Perhaps not. I am one of the biggest fan of Radhakrishnan.

"Top Indian scientist to join UAE space mission"

there are any number of pakis and hans puttering around in the UAE.

Did he really need to do this??

No but really he might be a key witness to the progress of both competition and quality of manpower and who is collaborating with UAE. If not for us they will splash money for good ex-NASA or ex-Russian or ex-Ukranian who shall be happy to oblige and join. I think ISRO has moved since his days so only have incomplete picture in terms of what ISRO is doing and also will help keep a tab with eyes and ears on the program.

UAE and Oman are good partners in the region whereas Qatar and Sauds are rogue ones. Indian forms backbone of middle Eastern accounting, construction and IT industry and UAE has always acknowledged that. Atleast my UAE Arab acquaintances does. Certainly don't hold very favourable views of pukes but have to sometimes nod the head in name of ummah but get away by doing minimal on that front and cut loose.

prasannasimha · Post by **prasannasimha** » 13 Jan 2018 14:57

In the PSLV-C40 mission, the commands were given from Navic constellation developed for India's own GPS.

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/science ... agiri.html

disha · Post by **disha** » 14 Jan 2018 09:40

DoorDarshan has remarkable ability to turn a joyful mission into a sorrowful viewing (dukhdarshan).

Inspite of being conditioned by dukhdarshan (sorrowful viewing) over 3-decades of watching various xSLV launches, I with trepidation again watched the launch live on DD. I now have PTSD. I mean who wants to see the faces of the goras behind the glass wall when "CLG init" happens? Does dukhdarshan anchors even know what is the importance of CLG init? A failure of the CLG algorithm led to this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7S79fOgikc but not as joyful. You see I am still trying to come out of PTSD after watching dukhdarshan. Of course to balance it out, a successful application of CLG algorithm led to this failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-Term ... Management

Congratulations are in order to ISRO for overcoming the variable that bedeviled the last launch. Who would have thought that such a simple variable of HSS (heat shield separation) would cause an entire launcher to fail. The bulbous heat shield was demonstrated and perfected in ASLV. A human generation life time (23 years) of launches happened after that and then one day the HSS failed.

Just to continue on the failure of the last launch (PSLV-C39), if a rocketeer has been asked - "If this PSLV fails, where do you think it will fail?", anybody who would have brought up HSS would be laughed out. HSS failure was truly a black swan event.

Goes on to prove that just because it looks easy does not mean it is easy. If it was easy, many nations would have built their own SLVs in the last 40 years, like Brazil. But none after India did.