Indian Space Program: News & Discussion

[bala]

The launch of SSLV-D3 developmental flight

[SSridhar]

SSLV Successfully launched & payloads placed in precise orbits.
This culminates the development stage and moves into operational stage with private industries that can fabricate & launch in the future.
Congrats, ISRO

[sanman]

I don't know how the hell ISRO Chairman is appearing on this guy's show. I guess it must be purely due to his audience reach.

[SSridhar]

Happy Space Day.

[sanman]

Can somebody explain to me why these people have done this on Space Day?

They're claiming to have launched "suborbital satellites" on their new "hybrid rocket" (no explanation provided on what that is)

[sanman]

[disha]

Can somebody explain to me why these people have done this on Space Day?

They're claiming to have launched "suborbital satellites" on their new "hybrid rocket" (no explanation provided on what that is)

Nonsense and garbage. Lot of PR nonsense and their launch was just garbage. Those are model rockets with fuel canisters that can be replugged and flown again. Search for High Power Rocketry and L3 (or Level 3) certifications and you will get several hits on you tube. I myself (on my own) was aiming for L1 to L3 certification. Now that hobby has been put on back burner until I retire from the rat race.

[SSridhar]

India to launch Gaganyaan crew capsule test flight by end of 2024 - Space.com

"Today, we are working on the first mission of the Gaganyaan, called G1. The first unmanned mission. The status today is the rocket, the S200 stage, the L1, [and] C32 stage are all at Satish Dhawan Space Centre," Somanath said, as reported by the Economic Times.

That rocket is the Launch Vehicle Mark-3, or LVM3 for short. Meanwhile, the crew module and service module for the uncrewed flight are undergoing integration at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and U R Rao Satellite Centre, respectively.

"All systems will reach Sriharikota in one and a half months, and the launch will be in December," Somanath said, according to the Times of India.

[SSridhar]

India and Brunei have signed an agreement to establish an ISRO Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TTC) centre in Brunei.

[Ashokk]

GNSS-Reflectometry: A Novel Remote Sensing Initiated by EOS-08

The GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) instrument on the EOS-08 satellite commenced operations on August 18, 2024. The raw data is being processed at the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC-ISRO) in Shadnagar, Hyderabad, using algorithms and data processing software developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC-ISRO), Ahmedabad. Multiple levels of data products have been successfully generated.

GNSS-Reflectometry represents a new mode of remote sensing. Signals from Global and Regional Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS/RNSS), such as GPS and NavIC, are reflected off various Earth surfaces, including oceans, agricultural lands, and river bodies. These reflected signals are collected by a precision receiver onboard the satellite (Fig. 1) as it orbits the Earth at an altitude of 475 km. This measurement system operates without dedicated transmitters and is shallow in resource consumption—requiring minimal size, weight, and power. Additionally, it can scale up as a constellation of receivers for faster coverage, making this innovative remote-sensing mode highly useful.
The GNSS-R instrument, developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC-ISRO), is India’s first space-borne precision receiver. It collects ground-reflected GNSS signals and measures their power and other signal characteristics. These measurements are used to derive scientific information about the regions covered by the receiver, including soil moisture, surface inundation, and ocean surface wind and wave measurements. The instrument provides a resolution of 15 km x 15 km over oceans and better than 1 km x 1 km over land. Delay-Doppler Maps (DDMs) are the primary outputs from GNSS-R raw data processing (Fig 2). These DDMs are used to derive parameters such as reflectivity and Normalized Bistatic Radar Cross-Section (NBRCS), which are then used for the retrieval of various scientific parameters.

All the science products are generated at SAC-ISRO using in-house developed algorithms. The first land data was collected over the Sahara Desert (North Africa) using a high-resolution mode of 1 km, which is significantly better than that of contemporary CYGNSS sensors. This data was processed to retrieve soil moisture (Fig. 3) at high resolution, and the results were found to be within the expected range. Another high-resolution land dataset was acquired over the Amazon Rainforest on August 21. This data has been used to generate surface inundation masks along the specular reflection track, showing sensitivity even towards sub-kilometer river widths (Fig. 3). The first ocean data was collected on August 19, over a region of the Pacific Ocean. This data was processed for the retrieval of wind speed and significant wave height (Fig. 4), with all obtained values falling within the expected ranges.

[SSridhar]

Nuclear power plant on moon? India may join China, Russia in this mission - ToI

Call it lunar diplomacy or what you may. Two arch rivals, India and China, are likely to team up with Russia for setting up a nuclear power plant on the moon, according to a recent report in EurAsian Times referring to Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass, saying this was highlighted by Rosatom chief, Alexey Likhachev.

Rosatom is Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation having ties with India

Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum recently at Vladivostok in Russia, Likhachev said: “… with the involvement of the international community, our Chinese and Indian partners are very interested in this,’’ he said.

India’s interest in the project assumes significance in the context of the country planning a manned mission to the moon by 2040 and setting up a base.

According to Tass, the lunar power project, led by Rosatom, aims to build a small nuclear power plant capable of generating up to half a megawatt of energy, providing the necessary power for the base.

Likhachev reiterated that China and India are eager to be involved in creating this ground-breaking lunar energy solution.

Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, had previously declared in May that work on this nuclear power plant was underway, intending to deploy it to the moon.

The reactor will provide energy for a proposed lunar base, which Russia and China are jointly working on. India’s desire for a lunar base coincides with its possible participation in the lunar power project.

The construction of this lunar nuclear power plant will be complex. Russia previously revealed that it would likely be carried out autonomously without the direct involvement of humans.

In 2021, Russia and China announced plans to build a joint lunar base called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) which could be commissioned in phases between 2035 and 2045.

Experts said India is playing its diplomatic cards carefully with the US and Russia. While it is sending Shubhanshu Shukla of the Gaganyaan mission to the International Space Station in the US, it is now exploring the possibility of joining hands with China on the Russian lunar power project.