Indian Space Program: News & Discussion

[Ashokk]

ISRO successfully conducts long-duration hot tests of Additive Manufactured Liquid Engine.

ISRO achieved a major milestone with the successful hot testing of liquid rocket engine manufactured through Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology for a duration of 665 s on May 9, 2024. The engine used is the PS4 engine of PSLV upper stage.

The PS4 engine manufactured in the conventional machining and welding route has been in use for the fourth stage of PSLV which has a thrust of 7.33 kN in vacuum condition. The same engine is also used in the Reaction Control System (RCS) of the first stage (PS1) of PSLV. The engine uses the earth-storable bipropellant combinations of Nitrogen Tetroxide as oxidizer and Mono Methyl Hydrazine as fuel in pressure-fed mode and was developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), ISRO.

LPSC redesigned the engine making it amenable to the Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) concept thereby gaining considerable advantages. The Laser Powder Bed Fusion technique employed has brought down the number of parts from 14 to a single-piece, and eliminated 19 weld joints, saving significantly on the raw material usage per engine (13.7 kg of metal powder compared to the 565 kg of forgings and sheets for conventional manufacturing process) and reduced 60% in the overall production time. The manufacturing of the engine was done in the Indian industry (M/s WIPRO 3D), and the engine was hot tested at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri.

As part of the development programme, the injector head of the engine was realised and successfully hot tested earlier. Detailed flow and thermal modelling, structural simulation, and cold flow characterisation of the proto hardware were carried out to gain confidence for the hot test. Consequently, four successful developmental hot tests of integrated engine were conducted for a cumulative duration of 74 s which validated the engine performance parameters. Furthermore, the engine was successfully tested for the full qualification duration of 665 s and observed that all the performance parameters were as expected. It is planned to induct this AM PS4 engine into the regular PSLV program.

The performance of the engine during the long-duration test is shown in the following graph.

[Vayutuvan]

ISRO successfully conducts long-duration hot tests of Additive Manufactured Liquid Engine.
...

What are its physical dimensions? Anybody know?

[sanman]

ISRO successfully conducts long-duration hot tests of Additive Manufactured Liquid Engine.
...

While the laser powder bed sintering is a powerful technique, I wish India could learn even more powerful techniques like Electron Beam Melting (which itself has been around for a few decades).

Electroforming is a much older and more traditional form of additive fabrication which I suspect could produce stronger metal parts than all other methods, if only it could be as precisely controlled as the others are.

What are its physical dimensions? Anybody know?

Presumably the same dimensions as traditional PS4 engine. Couldn't find those details on google, though.

[Amber G.]

Blue Origin: Gopichand Thotakura becomes first Indian space

Excerpts:

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | May 19, 2024, 03.41 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Blue Origin's tourism rocket is set to carry passengers to the edge of space for the first time in nearly two years, following a hiatus caused by an unsuccessful uncrewed test flight. The New Shepard rocket and capsule are scheduled to launch during a window opening at 8.30 am CT (9.30 am ET) from Blue Origin's facilities in West Texas. The company's website will livestream the mission, called NS-25, starting at approximately 7.50 am CT (8.50 am ET), according to a report from CNN.
NS-25, marking Blue Origin's seventh crewed flight, will transport six customers in the capsule: Mason Angel, a venture capitalist; Sylvain Chiron, founder of the French craft brewery Brasserie Mont-Blanc; Kenneth L Hess, a software engineer and entrepreneur; Carol Schaller, a retired accountant; Gopi Thotakura, an aviator; and Ed Dwight, a retired US Air Force captain chosen by President John F Kennedy in 1961 to be the nation's first Black astronaut candidate.
...
At 90 years old, Dwight will become the oldest person to reach the edge of space, according to a Blue Origin spokesperson.


Gopichand Thotakura, an accomplished pilot and co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a holistic wellness center in Atlanta, is set to become the first Indian to travel to space as a tourist. With an extensive aviation background, including commercial jet piloting, bush flying, aerobatics, seaplane, glider, and hot air balloon piloting..
... other crew members

The other crew members include Ed Dwight, who was selected by President Kennedy in 1961 to train at the Aerospace Research Pilot School but was not chosen for Nasa's astronaut team despite completing the program; Mason Angel, who runs Industrious Ventures and supports STEM education through his family's foundation; Sylvain Chiron, founder of Brasserie Mont Blanc and a lifelong pilot and skier; Kenneth L Hess, a software engineer and entrepreneur who created Family Tree Maker; and Carol Schaller, a retired CPA who has embraced adventure despite the possibility of going blind.

<snip>

(Small tidbit: One of the crew member is my close family relative -- so many of us were at launch site and very excited )

[Vayutuvan]

Thotakura in Telugu means Amaranth greens. Is of Indian Telugu origin? I am just curious as to his life journey to have to such a pinnacle.

[Amber G.]

Met Gopichand Thotakura's father .... seems to be a vary nice family, yes he is from Andhra .. (BTW there were two members who had quite a bit of people from India supporting them..(this flight was canceled quite a few times in last few months at the last moment)

[sanman]

Interview with ISRO Chief

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/scien ... 175702.ece

Major points from the interview

NISAR satellite:

• This is a joint mission between ISRO and NASA.

• It will be launched this year (2024) but there may be a slight delay to October-November.

• It carries two radars - S-band by ISRO and L-band by NASA.

• It can map the entire Earth in 14-15 days at high resolution.
  
  Applications include:

• Monitoring tectonic plate movements (up to centimeter accuracy)

• Measuring water bodies and water stress

• Monitoring vegetation cover, snow cover, and desertification

• Studying climate change

Chandrayaan missions:

• Chandrayaan-4 is a mission concept to retrieve samples from the Moon.

• It is in the design phase and approval is needed from the government.

• ISRO is proposing a series of missions leading up to a manned lunar landing by 2040.

• Somanath did not comment on China's recent lunar mission.

Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX):

• This is a mission to test autonomous docking of satellites in space.

• Targeted for launch this year (2024).

• Considered a precursor technology for building a space station.

Gaganyaan mission:

• To send Indian astronauts to space.

• One of the four astronaut candidates will be selected to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) this year (2024).

• Various tests are underway including helicopter drop tests and unmanned mission preparations.

Other projects:

• Sending a probe to Venus (Shukrayaan) - under consideration, awaiting government approval.

• Bharatiya Antariksha Station (Indian Space Station) - design work in progress, targeting first module launch by 2028.

• New Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) named Surya - design complete, awaiting government approval.

• Quantum Key Distribution Satellite - approved for launch.

• Software-Defined Radio Constellation for air traffic management - under development.

• Oceansat, Resourcesat, Cartosat satellite missions - ongoing.

• Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) for communication with Gaganyaan and for data transmission to Antarctica - under assembly.

• Technology Development Satellite (TDS-01) to demonstrate electric propulsion for communication satellites - launch this year (2024).

[sanman]

Here's another interesting NASA idea which might be useful for ISRO and BARC to jointly look at in the future

Thorium space-propulsion

https://www.nasa.gov/general/thin-film- ... ne-rocket/


Thorium-228 isotope can be used to propel small spacecraft through deep space, helping them to reach very high velocities

from the article:

• Cascading isotope decay chains (Thorium cycle) increases performance by ~500%

So in the image above, the spacecraft itself is shown in red, the beige panels are the Thorium engine, and on the left-hand side is a close-up view of a panel. It's a radically different geometry than what we're used to imagining for rockets.

[srin]

Chennai space startup Agnikul Cosmos successfully launches Agnibaan rocket with 3D-printed engine, ISRO hails ‘milestone’

Space startup Agnikul Cosmos on May 30 successfully launched its SOrTeD mission, a single-stage launch vehicle demonstration powered by a semi-cryogenic 3D-printed engine.

[Pratyush]

Congratulations to the team behind the rocket.

[sanman]

Good interviews with Agnikul and its partners


https://youtu.be/pCpRQS82Yn8

https://youtu.be/VKdeo_Dnxh0

https://youtu.be/BPtxccWwVqg

[akashganga]

Congratulations Agnikul team. Agnikul beat ISRO by launching semi-cryo before ISRO. They have done great. Agnikul is more creative compared to other upcoming private launchers in India. Looking forward to the day they launch their first launch to the orbit all using semi-cryo.

[akashganga]

I hope ISRO resumes launches. The stopped launching more than 3 months back which I believe was due to elections. The BJP led government has always supported ISRO and space activities.

[sanman]

I hope ISRO resumes launches. The stopped launching more than 3 months back which I believe was due to elections. The BJP led government has always supported ISRO and space activities.

I don't think ISRO's launch schedule has anything to do with elections. If they've paused any launching, it's for other reasons.

[Cyrano]

Nice summary of the launch in Hindi:

[ramana]

Description of Chandraayaan- 3 with video

https://x.com/Astro_Neel/status/1802242 ... 4G6_g&s=19