Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

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

Post by prasannasimha »

https://www.business-standard.com/artic ... 300_1.html
Image

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Friday released the picture of a mysterious moon of Mars saying that the image was captured by India's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).

Mars Colour Camera (MCC) onboard Mars Orbiter Mission took the image of Phobos, the closest and biggest moon of Mars, on July 1 when MOM was about 7200 km from Mars and at 4200 km from Phobos. Spatial resolution of the image is 210 m. The image was a composite image generated from 6 MCC frames and had been colour corrected, said Isro.


Phobos is largely believed to be made up of carbonaceous chondrites. The violent phase that Phobos has seen is visible in the large section gouged out from a past collision. Stickney, the largest crater on Phobos, along with the other craters (Shklovsky, Roche & Grildrig) were also visible in the image, said Isro.

The Rs 450 crore mission, cheaper than the Hollywood space movie Gravity, was launched with the PSLV-C25 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on November 5, 2013. After crossing more than 66 crore kilometres in 300 days it entered into Mars orbit on September 24, 2014.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by A Nandy »

Cool. Phobos may be the initial target before Mars landings.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by idan »

Chandrayaan 3 work continues. Researchers in Jadavpur University modelling and running simulation of soft landing on lunar surface.

https://www.timesnownews.com/technology ... ets/611731
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

ISRO’s giant autoclave completes an almost year-long journey by road from Nasik to Thiruvananthapuram

A 70-ton industrial autoclave meant to be installed at ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Vattiyoorkavu finally reached its destination city on Saturday. It is expected to reach the space centre on Sunday. The vehicle has covered four states in almost a year. A staff member travelling with the cargo told ANI that they started the journey on 8th July 2019 from Maharashtra. They travelled across four states and have finally reached Thiruvananthapuram. (Next hindustan times article I have posted here says it started journey on September 1, 2019, though location not mentioned.) :?:

The cargo has a height and width of 7.5 metres and 6.65 metres respectively. Unique Chemoplant Equipments manufactured it at its Ambarnath factory. The company specializes in heavy-duty industrial machinery. ISRO has paid around nine crores for the equipment that includes transportation. This autoclave is going to be the largest one installed at ISRO’s facility at VSSC. The autoclave can’t be dismantled to be transported in pieces, and had to be transported in a single giant piece.

The difficult yet important journey
The sheer size of the cargo travelling on the 74-wheel Volvo FM heavy-duty truck has caused a lot of trouble while moving it from Nasik to Thiruvananthapuram. A team of 30 staff members comprising of engineers, electricians and other experts facilitated the journey. The vehicle moved at a pace of about 5 KM per day. The local authorities and experts with the cargo worked together to clear the path for the vehicle.
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Purpose of the autoclave
Industrial autoclaves are basically pressurized vessels that play a crucial role in the manufacturing of advanced composites, especially in the aerospace industry. This large cylindrical piece of machinery will enable ISRO to manufacture cost-effective, extensive and light-weight structure needed for satellites and launch vehicles.

Once it reaches ISRO’s facility, it will take another three months to install the autoclave. In this period the engineers at ISRO will integrate it with the electrical systems and controls.


https://www.opindia.com/2020/07/isro-au ... lvo-truck/
Last edited by Mollick.R on 20 Jul 2020 19:27, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

Another article on same subject.

74-wheel truck with 70 tonnes of cargo covers 1,700 km to reach Kerala in 10 months
INDIA Updated: Jul 18, 2020 17:50 IST

A juggernaut, carrying 70 tonnes of autoclave on 74 wheels, rolled on for 10 months, covering 1,700 kilometres from Nashik, Maharashtra, and finally reached its destination on Saturday -- Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the country’s premier space research institute, in Thiruvananthapuram.

Usually, a truck, covering a similar distance spanning five states, takes a maximum of seven days to reach its destination.
The mammoth journey that had started on September 1, 2019, (from where ?) ........

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-ne ... qbu0N.html
Last edited by Mollick.R on 20 Jul 2020 19:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

All images are from Twitter, ANI twitter handle.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/12847721 ... o-truck%2F


Image

Image

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

Post by Mollick.R »

Unbelievable & simply unacceptable.
Even considering lockdown due to ChinaVirus19 issue, still 1 year or say 10 months (whatever the exact travelling time we consider, taking ref from Opindia or HT quoted articles) to cover 1,700 km is too much........

Other than infrastructure issues (weight or cargo, bridge, culvert en route, width of roads, sharp bends, fouling of utility lines etc etc) something is not right.
I have first hand experience (involvement) in of monitoring of 250 ton cargo of equal or more in dimensions traversing similar distance in much lower time period.

Unable to understand the whole scenario here.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

Mollick.R wrote:Unbelievable & simply unacceptable.
Even considering lockdown due to ChinaVirus19 issue, still 1 year or say 10 months (whatever the exact travelling time we consider, taking ref from Opindia or HT quoted articles) to cover 1,700 km is too much........

Other than infrastructure issues (weight or cargo, bridge, culvert en route, width of roads, sharp bends, fouling of utility lines etc etc) something is not right.
I have first hand experience (involvement) in of monitoring of 250 ton cargo of equal or more in dimensions traversing similar distance in much lower time period.

Unable to understand the whole scenario here.
indeed .. Mumbai harbour to Thiruvananthapuram by ship would have been better, but no infrastructure at the ports to handle this colossus...did someone say china ?! :mrgreen:
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Cain Marko »

Hmm... The ancient Egyptians are supposed to have moved millions of tons of rock, some above 50 tons each from a quarry 500 miles away to the Giza pyramid site, all in 20 years. :shock: :D
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by chola »

Mollick.R wrote:Unbelievable & simply unacceptable.
Even considering lockdown due to ChinaVirus19 issue, still 1 year or say 10 months (whatever the exact travelling time we consider, taking ref from Opindia or HT quoted articles) to cover 1,700 km is too much........

Other than infrastructure issues (weight or cargo, bridge, culvert en route, width of roads, sharp bends, fouling of utility lines etc etc) something is not right.
I have first hand experience (involvement) in of monitoring of 250 ton cargo of equal or more in dimensions traversing similar distance in much lower time period.

Unable to understand the whole scenario here.
Not unbelievable or unacceptable, Saar. There are things that simply take a long time to move because of size and/or fragility. There are large infrastructure segments like bridge components that can take months to move. In this case, it is not just large equipment but a sensitive one too. No one would want their product on the road for a year unless absolutely necessary!
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by nandakumar »

chola wrote:
Mollick.R wrote:Unbelievable & simply unacceptable.
Even considering lockdown due to ChinaVirus19 issue, still 1 year or say 10 months (whatever the exact travelling time we consider, taking ref from Opindia or HT quoted articles) to cover 1,700 km is too much........

Other than infrastructure issues (weight or cargo, bridge, culvert en route, width of roads, sharp bends, fouling of utility lines etc etc) something is not right.
I have first hand experience (involvement) in of monitoring of 250 ton cargo of equal or more in dimensions traversing similar distance in much lower time period.

Unable to understand the whole scenario here.
Not unbelievable or unacceptable, Saar. There are things that simply take a long time to move because of size and/or fragility. There are large infrastructure segments like bridge components that can take months to move. In this case, it is not just large equipment but a sensitive one too. No one would want their product on the road for a year unless absolutely necessary!
Agree. Recall seeing a movie at the Film Institute in Pune in the 70s. It was called the "wages of fear". It is about transporting blasting chemicals to an exploratory well in some South American country. The wages are high but carries the risk of death. The story is about the journey. A link to the trailer of the movie.
https://youtu.be/0KwQ9ZXG6ko
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

chola wrote:
Mollick.R wrote:Unbelievable & simply unacceptable.
Even considering lockdown due to ChinaVirus19 issue, still 1 year or say 10 months (whatever the exact travelling time we consider, taking ref from Opindia or HT quoted articles) to cover 1,700 km is too much........

Other than infrastructure issues (weight or cargo, bridge, culvert en route, width of roads, sharp bends, fouling of utility lines etc etc) something is not right.
I have first hand experience (involvement) in of monitoring of 250 ton cargo of equal or more in dimensions traversing similar distance in much lower time period.

Unable to understand the whole scenario here.
Not unbelievable or unacceptable, Saar. There are things that simply take a long time to move because of size and/or fragility. There are large infrastructure segments like bridge components that can take months to move. In this case, it is not just large equipment but a sensitive one too. No one would want their product on the road for a year unless absolutely necessary!
@ Chola saar, no saar for me. I'm just a nanha abdul among you gurus here.

I'm as said in my original post I'm aware about the logistical challenges faced in such sophisticated, high lead time, heavy weight , high value consignments. In very starting of my career we were dealing with shipment of brand new TFTA GE frame 9FA 250 MW gas turbine (imported from Uncle land, unloaded at a port in Gujarat, which was to be transported safely to approx 1300 km distance). Our organisation does handles such transportations quite regularly.

Thus I found 10 month/ 1 year transportation time very high.

Anyway all’s well that ends well.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

& we had our share of Big Epic Failures too.
If you are interested & i have mercy of Mods I may post links or even photos from personal collection.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by hnair »

Mollick.R wrote:& we had our share of Big Epic Failures too.
If you are interested & i have mercy of Mods I may post links or even photos from personal collection.
Not on this thread. Maybe transportation


This package's journey has some curious reasons. The easiest would be have been to load it into a coastal barge at Mumbai and unload it at a wharf in the VSSC facility (which has a long shoreline) and install in a building on campus. Granted, this autoclave is for the materials facility at Vattiyoorkav (a suburb to east of Trivandrum), it would still have worked as distance between these two facilities is not great. But then there is no wharf build or planned to be build

THis is despite so much demand for moving engines, large diameter segments, tanks and other parts of launchers, to SHAR or Mahendragiri. But everything is via road still and has huge security costs. Reason is simple: there is a crazy cabal of environmentalists seen only in Trivandrum, who inflate any coastal project as "affecting the livelihood of thousands of fishermen". Even the mega-port project of Vizhinjam, to south of city, which will give numerous jobs and change the face of the coastal regions, is facing a concerted campaign by these folks and gets blamed for everything from coastal sea erosion during monsoons to lower 10th grade scores among students. Every month, there is a mopey article or TV segment about how Friend of Modi, The Evil Adanis and their port are the reason why some Silvester D'cruz and his liver disintegrated, leaving behind a Clara Margaret in tears. Forget the fact that the project is a State govt-Adani joint venture.

So in a nutshell, a cargo dock at VSSC will remain a pipedream, despite some real demand for it.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by kit »

hnair wrote: So in a nutshell, a cargo dock at VSSC will remain a pipedream, despite some real demand for it.
the alternative would be Mumbai to Mangalore by ship and then by road., assuming both ports can handle it !
Last edited by hnair on 21 Jul 2020 03:17, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Don’t quote full posts if possible. Just the point
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by hnair »

Kit, please don’t quote a long post for one liner replies. It adds lots of stress to most who has a phone to read

To answer your question there are capable ports far closer than Mangalore, including Kochi and Kollam. But best solution is a cargo dock right at the center.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by chetak »

hnair wrote:
Mollick.R wrote:& we had our share of Big Epic Failures too.
If you are interested & i have mercy of Mods I may post links or even photos from personal collection.
Not on this thread. Maybe transportation


This package's journey has some curious reasons. The easiest would be have been to load it into a coastal barge at Mumbai and unload it at a wharf in the VSSC facility (which has a long shoreline) and install in a building on campus. Granted, this autoclave is for the materials facility at Vattiyoorkav (a suburb to east of Trivandrum), it would still have worked as distance between these two facilities is not great. But then there is no wharf build or planned to be build

THis is despite so much demand for moving engines, large diameter segments, tanks and other parts of launchers, to SHAR or Mahendragiri. But everything is via road still and has huge security costs. Reason is simple: there is a crazy cabal of environmentalists seen only in Trivandrum, who inflate any coastal project as "affecting the livelihood of thousands of fishermen". Even the mega-port project of Vizhinjam, to south of city, which will give numerous jobs and change the face of the coastal regions, is facing a concerted campaign by these folks and gets blamed for everything from coastal sea erosion during monsoons to lower 10th grade scores among students. Every month, there is a mopey article or TV segment about how Friend of Modi, The Evil Adanis and their port are the reason why some Silvester D'cruz and his liver disintegrated, leaving behind a Clara Margaret in tears. Forget the fact that the project is a State govt-Adani joint venture.

So in a nutshell, a cargo dock at VSSC will remain a pipedream, despite some real demand for it.

The EJs and their backers are behind most, if not all these agitations and are united in the efforts to prevent "outsiders" from controlling ports and any other coastal related infrastructure

The entire coastal area is being gradually subsumed into an exclusion zone with monocratic considerations and this zone seems to be stretching all along the coastline into TN and AP too

this is a matter of security, considering the porosity of the coastline and the various inimical forces arrayed against India that are in active play from SL, and the drug routes for the stuff coming from AFPAK via punjab, transiting India and entering SL on their way to western markets.

This is also the main reason that so many Indian "fishermen" come into very frequent and violent conflict with the SL navy

a majority of "fishing" boats in this region are owned by TN politicos who are mainly of the dravidian ilk
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Amber G. »

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Former Chairman, Space Commission, will deliver a lecture on "Vikram Sarabhai and Beyond: India into the New Space Age" on July 29, 2020. Register at https://tinyurl.com/y4bmeb8a to receive further updates.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mort Walker »

Not exactly Indian Space Program, but relevant Indian space news.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/28/india/in ... -scli-scn/
https://twitter.com/Spacian/status/1286949426783645696

DISCOVERY ALERT!
We are proud to announce VAIDEHI VEKARIYA SANJAYBHAI and RADHIKA LAKHANI PRAFULBHAI, two students of P.P. SAVANI CHAITANYA VIDYA SANKUL (CBSE) from Surat with the help of SPACE-AIASC discovered a new Asteroid which is a Near-Earth Object named HLV2514.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

https://zeenews.india.com/india/pragyan ... 00023.html

Shanmugan Subramanian, who found the Vikram lander's debris, speculates that Pragyan may have escaped undamaged.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by suryag »

May be we should send our OSINT agents on duty at the LAC to check the moon images out
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by csaurabh »

ISRO does not hire media/PR people. They don't take it too seriously, from what I know the job is palmed off to jr. engineers.

So don't expect a lot of updates regarding Chandrayaan, etc. It is a very hush hush organization, which only releases info now and then. Which is strange because 99% of what they do is nothing special, just normal aerospace industry. The secrecy in my opinion is primarily to hide their own incompetence and massive technological dependency on the West ( they are far less indigenous than most people think ).
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Ashokk »

Indian cosmonauts feel well and continue training
The Indian cosmonauts are undergoing training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) following the courses of the general space training program and of the systems of the Soyuz MS crewed spacecraft. The completion of their training at GCTC is scheduled for the first quarter of 2021.

The contract for the Indian candidates’ training for a spaceflight was signed between Gavkosmos and the Human Spaceflight Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation on June 27, 2019. On February 10, 2020, GCTC started training of the four Indian cosmonauts.

The entire process of preparation and training takes place in Russia. It includes a number of courses necessary for prospective Indian cosmonauts. The regular courses comprise medical and physical training, learning Russian (as one of the main international languages of communication in space), and studying the configuration, structure and systems of the Soyuz crewed spacecraft.

Their health status is monitored on a daily basis, and once every three months, highly professional GCTC doctors conduct their thorough medical examination.

To date, Indian cosmonauts have completed training on crew actions in the event of an abnormal descent module landing: in wooded and marshy areas in winter (completed in February 2020), on the water surface (completed in June 2020), in the steppe in summer (completed in July 2020).

In June 2020, all Indian astronauts-elect passed training in short-term weightlessness mode aboard the IL-76MDK special laboratory aircraft, and in July, they were trained to lift aboard a helicopter while evacuating from the descent module landing point.

The program for Indian cosmonauts also includes training in a centrifuge and in a hyperbaric chamber to prepare their organisms for sustaining spaceflight factors, such as G-force, hypoxia and pressure drops. These trainings are to be held in the near future.

The GCTC instructors praise the effort and high motivation of the Indian cosmonauts. They also note their extremely serious and very professional attitude to the training process.

All of the Indian cosmonauts are in good health and are determined to continue their training.
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by vera_k »

Posting here as it is an important indicator of the way things are shaping up. Hopefully plans are being made to transfer launcher technology to private industry.

The new gold rush in space
“In terms of managerial effectiveness,” he says, “using private business for space is like Queen Elizabeth I’s hiring of Francis Drake in the 16th century. These are buccaneers in space.” Drake created a multigun ship, “which was the greatest achievement of science and technology of that time.” He leaps ahead to the 17th century: “With the help of the East India Co., the British Empire was built in the East. This laid the economic foundation for victory over Napoleonic France and the Pax Britannica in the 19th century.” Mr. Kokorich says private companies like SpaceX—and, yes, his own—“will be the main driver of centuries of Pax Americana in space.”
America is regenerating its space ambitions as Russia falls ever lower in the space-tech pecking order. “The U.S. is definitely No. 1, then the European Union, then China,” Mr. Kokorich says. “Next, I think India is now comparable with Russia, and maybe even more advanced than Russia in a wider sense.”
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

From Twitter

Skyroot Aerospace @SkyrootA· 10h

No better day than Dr. Vikram Sarabhai's birthday to announce our successful test firing of our Vikram-1 Launch vehicle's upper stage Engine-Raman.

Four Raman engines with multi-start capability produce a thrust of 3.4kN and inserts multiple satellites into orbit.


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

Post by Mollick.R »

Posting Full Report from Economic Times

Skyroot India’s first private company to test upper-stage rocket engine
By CR Sukumar, ET Bureau Last Updated: Aug 12, 2020, 10:30 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Aerospace startup Skyroot Aerospace has successfully test fired an upper-stage rocket engine, becoming the first Indian private company to demonstrate the capability to build a homegrown rocket engine.

The 3-D printed rocket engine – Raman, named after Nobel laureate CV Raman – has fewer moving parts and weighs less than half of conventional rocket engines with a similar capacity.

The Hyderabad-headquartered firm, backed by CureFit founders Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, and Solar Industries, claimed that the engine was capable of multiple restarts, enabling the launch vehicle to insert various satellites into multiple orbits in a single mission. It will conduct more tests of the Raman engine over the next six months.

Founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, both former scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Skyroot plans to build a family of rockets. The first rocket, which can hurl satellites of 250-700 kgs into a lower earth orbit, is expected to be launched by end-2021.

“We demonstrated India’s first 100% 3D-printed bi-propellant liquid rocket engine injector. Compared to traditional manufacturing, this reduced the overall mass by 50%, reduced the total number of components and lead time by 80%,” Chandana said.

The company has designed in-house software for launch vehicle guidance, navigation, and control functions, and is testing onboard its avionics modules.

Skyroot had so far raised 31.5 crore from investors to develop a family of rockets named after Vikram Sarabhai, the founder of India’s space programme, with the capability to launch 250-700 kg satellites into low-earth orbit. The space startup is now in talks to raise 90 crore by mid-2021.

Over the years, India has emerged a global hub to launch small satellites using the polar satellite launch vehicles (Pslv).

As the country opens its space sector to private players, startups such as Skyroot, Agnikul and Bellatrix are building small launchers, with 3-D printed engines, hoping to bring down the cost of launching satellites and capturing a bigger pie of the global small satellite launch market.

Research firm Frost & Sullivan expects more than 10,000 small satellites to be launched globally in the next decade.

V Gnanagandhi, another former Isro scientist and a senior vice president at Skyroot, who is leading its liquid-propulsion team, said: “This test has qualified a unique monolithic design of injector with complex internal channels and demonstrated high performance for hypergolic rocket propellants.”


https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/sm ... 496420.cms
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Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion - Sept 2016

Post by Mollick.R »

Vikram Sarabhai birth anniversary: Remembering Father of the Indian Space Program and ISRO’s founder on his 101st birthday
Updated: Aug 12, 2020 13:57 IST

https://www.hindustantimes.com/more-lif ... jXOrO.html


From Twitter

Biplab Kumar Deb@BjpBiplab. 10h
Humble tributes to Father of Indian Space Program, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan Shri Vikram Sarabhai on his birth anniversary.
He will always be remembered for his pioneering contribution to India's space and nuclear programs.


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

Post by Vips »

PSLV's Vikas engine: Veteran ISRO scientist’s tribute to Vikram Sarabhai.

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, is undoubtedly among the most successful and consistent rockets in the world among the sub-1.5ton payload to Low-earth orbit or polar orbits. But one lesser-known facet beyond the enviable success rate of this rocket, is its second-stage engine - Vikas. While ‘Vikas’ translates to development or progress in Sanskrit, the Scientist, Padma Bhushan Nambi Narayanan, who led a team to build the engine had secretly kept in mind that this name would be a tribute to ISRO’s founder, visionary scientist and industrialist Dr Vikram A Sarabhai. It was his way of offering a tribute to Dr Sarabhai, whom he considers his guru and biggest influence in his life. August 12, 2020 also marks the 101st Anniversary of this legendary son of the soil - Dr Vikram A Sarabhai.

The Story of Vikas (Vikram A Sarabhai) engine
In its nascent stage, during the 1960s and 70s, ISRO’s scientists had a difference of opinion on technical grounds - whether to develop solid-fueled engines or liquid-fueled engines. A vast majority of the then Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) believed in focussing their energies and resources towards solid engines as the technologies linked to it were relatively more achievable. Whereas the pursuit of liquid-fueled engines was considered akin to chasing a chimaera.

Technically speaking, liquid-fueled engines are more fuel-efficient as they can be switched on and off, they can lift heavier payloads/satellites. Liquid engines also have lesser vibration and can burn for longer durations when compared to their solid counterparts. While a solid engine burns out after use, the liquid engine can be tested, re-used after cleaning and re-assembly. Most advanced rockets in the world are primarily dependent on liquid-fueled engines. If and when solids are used, they are only for the initial thrust (using boosters) at lift-off.

Eventually, it was Princeton-postgraduate ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan(now regarded as the Father of Liquid Propulsion engine technology in India), who impressed upon the organization to consider diverting resources to urgently develop liquid-fueled engines, given how they were the future of rocketry and how advanced nations were achieving more with these engines.

Sarabhai had not only permitted the deputation of the young Nambi to Princeton while he was working at ISRO but also ensured that the bureaucratic rigmarole was cleared smoothly before he left. After Nambi Narayanan completed his course in record-time, when the Americans tried to poach Nambi, by coaxing and showing him the high-end American facilities, it was Sarabhai who advised Nambi. “Leave the nasty guys and take the next flight” Nambi recalls the Father of India’s Space programme having told him.

It was in 1973 that ISRO had launched an experimental rocket(LP-006) using a 600kg thrust liquid engine. The 600kg thrust engine was minuscule compared to the giant 60ton engines(clustered in four to obtain 240ton thrust) that the Americans and Russians were using. However, the success of this liquid engine in its test flight did steer ISRO in the right direction and led to a deal with the French to co-develop a 60-ton liquid-fuel engine(a 100-time jump when compared to ISRO’s 600kg engine). While the engine was not an all-new model, it was an improvised version of a smaller French engine in the Viking series.

The French had named their engine Viking, but the Indian-side, led by Nambi Narayanan, that negotiated the contract had decided on an Indian name - Vikas. Vikas means a development in Sanskrit, but Nambi saw an adapted anagram - Vikram A Sarabhai. This secret was known only to the late TN Seshan, a top bureaucrat who had later served as the Chief Election Commissioner of India. Nambi kept the real-intended meaning of Vikas a secret, owing to the bureaucratic procedures and approvals that ISRO followed when naming a project or a facility.

From 1974 to 1980, a team of 100 Indian scientists(in different batches) had learnt to jointly develop the 60-ton thrust Viking-3 Engine, after which they returned to India. But that was just half the story. While the team had learnt how to make an engine, they didn’t have the approval for one such project. And the engine alone doesn’t make the rocket what it is! Hence, on their own, the team had to master several other components, sub-components that went into a rocket. It would be 1982 before ISRO developed these engines and later got the approval for incorporating the engine into a project - the PSLV.

During the development of the PSLV in the late 80s, it was decided that the 60-ton thrust engine developed with the French would fit into the second stage. PSLV is a 4-stage rocket that is powered by solid-liquid-solid-liquid configuration.

Finally, it was in 1993 that the PSLV lifted off for the first time, but the mission was a failure after it encountered an error mid-flight. However, most of the critical systems on-board the rocket were validated despite the failed mission. However, nearly a year later in October 1994, the PSLV lifted off majestically and had proven the rocket’s capability to lift 1000kgs to orbit.

Since then, the PSLV has flown 50 times. With only 2 missions failing. However, the ‘obstinate Vikas Engine’, which was developed by Nambi Narayanan and his team had flown flawlessly in all 50 flights. A fitting tribute to the great Indian visionary, scientist and industrialist it was named after!
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