Re: Indian Space Program: News & Discussion
Posted: 17 Oct 2024 09:54
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India will launch the European Space Agency's Proba-3 mission early next month from the spaceport at Sriharikota, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said here on Tuesday. Singh said the two satellites that are part of the Proba-3 mission to study the Sun were brought to Sriharikota on Tuesday morning for integration with ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
"Proba-3 mission of the European Space Agency will be launched by a PSLV rocket from Sriharikota in the first week of December," Singh said at the Indian Space Conclave organised by the Indian Space Association.
The mission is likely to be launched on December 4.
The two Proba-3 spacecraft will be launched together by the PSLV-XL launcher and placed in the highly elliptical orbit which will ascend to 60,000 km away from Earth before coming as low as just 600 km.
This high orbit is required because the pair of spacecraft will perform their active formation flying for a planned six hours at a time around their maximum altitude, where Earth's gravitational pull will be diminished, as will the amount of propellant needed to fine-tune their positions.
Proba-3's two satellites will enable sustained views of the Sun's faint surrounding atmosphere, or corona, that has previously only been visible for a few brief moments during solar eclipses viewed from the Earth.
To achieve this the shadow being cast between the spacecraft must remain in a precise position, which means they must fly autonomously in formation to an accuracy of a single millimetre - about the thickness of an average fingernail.
This is the first time that an ESA mission is being launched from India since the original Proba-1 Earth-observing mission in 2001.
Isro is working to make India’s own regional navigation system (NaVIC) easily accessible to civilians soon, as the accurate positioning system was till now confined to strategic use, said Pawan Goenka, chairman of space regulator and promoter INSPACe. He also said that “by 2025, Isro will target to launch a dozen satellites every year, including six GSLV launches”, to fulfil the growing demand of the space sector.
“We are introducing seven navigation satellites with the new L1 band that will make NaVIC signals accessible in civilians’ mobile phones with a compatible chipset. Of the seven, one satellite has already been launched, six more will be launched. Navigation satellites launched earlier worked on different bands (L5 and S),” Goenka informed during a media roundtable.
He also said that NaVIC (Navigation With Indian Constellation) is more accurate than other navigation systems in the world and govt is working to widen its reach. NaVIC provides positioning accuracy of better than 10 metre throughout India and better than 20 metre for the area surrounding India by 1,500 km.
Announcements of creation of INSPACe, space policy and FDI policy have given a much-needed boost to the sector, the chairman said, adding, “our next objective is to bring in Space Law, which the country doesn’t have”. “We have prepared the first draft within dept. We will now send it for consultation and then it will go to the ministry for clearance before the cabinet approval. The entire process will be completed by either end of this year or by the first quarter of next year,” he said.
To grab a lion’s share of the $5.2 billion global small satellite market, Isro is planning to focus on small launchers and satellites, Goenka said. Isro’s mini-launcher SSLV has, therefore, been developed for this purpose and its technology will be transferred to the private sector in the next two years. Kulasekarapattinam spaceport in Tamil Nadu, which is being developed especially for small launches, will be ready in two years and will coincide with SSLV tech transfer to the private sector, he said.
The SSLV, together with small rockets of Indian startups AgniKul and Skyroot, will try to fulfil the growing demand for small satellites within and outside the country. Isro and the Indian startups will aim to launch around 25 satellites every year, he said.
With growing interest of youth in the space sector, INSPACe is also collaborating with universities to carve out full-year degree courses in space to meet the talent demand in the growing sector, Goenka said.
“In its promoter’s role , a Standing Committee for Inter-ministerial Coordination (SCMIC) of INSPACe meets every month to do authorisation and set targets. We are trying to set up a single-window system to fast-track clearances for applications of private companies. We have till now 566 applications from the private sector, including 67 for launchers and subsystems, 173 for satellites and 28 for ground segments,” Goenka said.
“We have currently planned to provide funding to eight startups of up to Rs 1 crore and also set up a tech centre for this purpose,” the INSPACe chairman said, adding that “we are also encouraging private companies to set up their own constellation of small satellites in space”.
With multi-front growth in the space sector, India's space economy is expected to touch $44 billion by 2033.
SpaceX is set to launch its first-ever mission for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today (Nov. 18).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying ISRO's GSAT-N2 communications satellite is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a two-hour window that opens at 1:31 p.m. EST (1831 GMT). If it goes at the beginning of that window, it will be the third launch in 27 hours for Elon Musk's company.
SpaceX will livestream the action via its X account, beginning about 15 minutes before liftoff.
The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, will deploy the 10,360-pound (4,700 kilograms) GSAT-N2 in geosynchronous transfer orbit about 34 minutes after liftoff. The satellite — a project of New Space India Limited, ISRO's commercial arm — will then make its way to geostationary orbit, which lies 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above our planet.
No Indian rocket can carry such a heavy payload to such a distant destination, according to India Today, so ISRO went with the Falcon 9. This marks a departure for the Indian space agency, which has generally gone with rockets operated by the European company Arianespace to loft its heaviest satellites.
Once GSAT-N2 is up and running, it "will provide vital services across the country, including internet connectivity for remote areas and in-flight internet services — an area that has recently seen regulatory changes allowing such connectivity in Indian airspace," India Today wrote.
SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket early Tuesday lifted off smoothly from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and placed India’s Gsat-20 or Gsat-N2, a high-throughput satellite that is designed to elevate communication infrastructure into a desired orbit.
The launch happened at 12.01 as planned, the satellite separated some 34 minutes thereafter, and was then placed in the orbit.
Weighing 4,700kg and engineered for a 14-year mission, the Gsat-20 represents a significant leap in satellite communication technology and as per Isro, the cutting-edge Ka-band high-throughput satellite is designed to transform broadband and in-flight connectivity across the region.
TOI had reported in the first week of Jan that India’s Space PSU NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) will launch Gsat-20 on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket later this year.
This is NSIL’s second demand-driven communications satellite and is primarily aimed at meeting India’s growing broadband connectivity needs.
NSIL will fully own, operate and fund the satellite, which can provide up to 48Gbps of capacity across 32 beams covering all of India including the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands.
NSIL CMD Radhakrishnan D had told TOI earlier: “SpaceX was selected against an RFP we had floated last year. There were other bidders too. This marks a new beginning as we launch on a US rocket from their soil. The present agreement is only for this launch and we will look at future requirements as and when we need.”
This is the first time that NSIL used a US launcher. The PSU has earlier made use of the services of France’s Arianespace. NSIL looks for services abroad when the weight of the satellite is higher than the capacity of Indian launch vehicles.
As part of the Indian govt’s space sector reforms announced in 2020, NSIL is mandated to build, launch, own and operate satellites that address service needs on demand.
In June 2022, NSIL successfully launched its first demand-driven satellite mission, GSAT-24 (now called GSAT-N1), which is fully leased by TataPlay. “While this is also a dedicated satellite, it is not meant for a single company. There are multiple players in the fray,” an official told TOI.
India's Chandrayaan-2 moon orbiter maneuvered in September to avoid a close approach with South Korea's Danuri spacecraft, according to a recent report from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The report said the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter raised its orbit on Sept. 19 to prevent a close approach to Danuri, which was expected to occur two weeks later if Chandrayaan-2's trajectory went unchanged. The report noted that a subsequent maneuver, which took place on Oct. 1, also helped Chandrayaan-2 avoid potential collisions with other orbiters around the moon, including NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
Such collision-avoidance maneuvers are not uncommon around the moon. Chandrayaan-2, Danuri and LRO all share a nearly polar orbit, so the spacecraft come close to one another over the lunar poles, where the risk of collision is very high. In the last year and a half alone, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which operates Danuri, received 40 "red alarms" of potential collisions among LRO, Chandrayaan-2 and Danuri.
In 2021, Chandrayaan-2 shifted its orbit to avoid a predicted close approach to LRO over the moon's north pole. Without the maneuver, the two spacecraft would have crossed by one another at only 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) apart, ISRO said.
Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) on Thursday successfully launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission aboard the PSLV-C59 rocket, which lifted off from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
In its 61st launch, the PSLV lifted off a little after 4pm as per a revised schedule — the mission was initially planned for Wednesday but postponed due to a propulsion system glitch in the satellite — and placed the satellite in the desired orbit more than 18 minutes thereafter.
The first acquisition of signal was expected by the flight control team at ESA’s ESEC establishment in Redu, Belgium, around a quarter of an hour after separation.
The latest member of ESA’s family of in-orbit demonstration missions, Proba-3 is, in fact, two spacecraft launched together in a dedicated commercial mission implemented by Space PSU NewSpace India Limited (Nsil).
Nsil CMD Radhakrishnan D told TOI from Sriharikota: "We’re delighted to have successfully accomplished the dedicated launch for ESA. This is the first time ever that the PSLV has placed a satellite in such a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of nearly 60,500km. PSLV has again demonstrated its reliability and versatility in undertaking customer satellite missions in varied orbits."
The satellites will, in orbit, separate to begin performing precise formation flying, precise to a single millimetre, about the thickness of an average fingernail.
“To prove their performance, Proba-3 has been devoted to an ambitious scientific goal. The pair will line up precisely with the Sun 150 m apart so that one casts a precisely controlled shadow onto the other,” ESA said.
By blocking out the fiery disc of the Sun, Proba-3’s ‘Occulter’ spacecraft will mimic a terrestrial total solar eclipse, to open up views of the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, or ‘corona’, which is a million times fainter than its parent star. Proba-3’s second ‘Coronagraph’ spacecraft hosts the optical instrument that will observe the solar corona.
“On Earth, total solar eclipses only occur every 18 months on average, and last just for a few minutes. Solar scientists have to travel all over the world to take advantage of them. Proba-3 will be able to create solar eclipses on demand, observing closer to the edge of the Sun than any previous Earth- or space-based instrument, down to just 1.1 solar radii. And it will do so for six hours per 19-hour 36-minute orbit,” as per ESA.
Proba-3 will also perform general formation flying experiments including rendezvous, resizing the distance between the pair and joint retargeting. The aim is to achieve performance equivalent to a single virtual spacecraft measuring about 150 m across, demonstrating a novel method of operating missions in space, where instruments can be shared between multiple platforms.
CHENNAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to conduct the much-awaited Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) on December 26, sources said on Thursday. ISRO Chairman S Somanath, soon after the successful launch of European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission on Thursday, said the next launch would be PSLV-C60 which will demonstrate SPADEX.
“The rocket is ready now and we are waiting for the final phase of testing and activities,” he said. The mission is to demonstrate India’s capability to autonomously dock two spacecraft in orbit, a complex procedure mastered by only a few nations, including the United States, Russia, and China. This experiment is crucial for ISRO’s ambitions in interplanetary missions, human spaceflight, and the establishment of the space station.
It will involve two 400-kg satellites, named Chaser and Target, developed in collaboration with a private firm. These satellites will be launched aboard a PSLV rocket and are designed to dock at an altitude of about 700 kilometers. According to KV Sriram, Director of ISRO Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), the satellites will execute a series of maneuvers to achieve docking autonomously. The experiment will validate key technologies required for future missions, such as refuelling, repair, and crew exchange in orbit.
SPADEX will also carry several scientific payloads, further enriching the mission’s objectives. Mastering space docking is essential for complex operations like interplanetary exploration, sample collection from celestial bodies, and the maintenance of space habitats. Meanwhile, Thursday’s Proba-3 launch had increased the reliability of India’s workhorse PSLV rocket in front of global client base as this was for the first time it had placed a satellite in such a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of nearly 60,500 km.
Somanath said India also has a special interest in Proba-3 since it was a mission which is looking at heliophysics and there is a strong science group within India who are working closely with ESA. He said ISRO’s Aditya-L1 satellite and Proba-3 combined can give wonderful science results in days to come. Europe’s Proba-3 will produce artificial solar eclipses by casting a controlled shadow from the Occulter onto the Coronagraph, the two precision flying satellites placed in the orbit by PSLV rocket. This setup will allow six-hour-long studies of the Sun’s corona, filling critical observational gaps and enabling the study of phenomena like Coronal Mass Ejections and the solar wind’s outward acceleration.
Any idea if both the satellites are in the same orbit or (slightly) different orbits? It is a highly eccentric orbit suggesting that they are in the same orbit (150 m apart). Vibrations in the space craft must be pretty low to achieve milimeter-level precision. a lot of good data (unprecedented) is going to come out of this. In one particular solar eclipse in the US, NASA flew 2 planes in sequence for 2 or 3 hours at near supersonic speed to capture the eclipse for an extended period of time. Here they can have a solar eclipse every single day (~ 20 hours) with no atmosphere to obfuscate. I suppose ISRO already has several pictures and videos (assuming the alignment is done). And not sure if they can get a full 360 degree picture. The thing/rod holding the shadow-casting disc will probably cover the solar corona.SSridhar wrote: ↑05 Dec 2024 16:51 “On Earth, total solar eclipses only occur every 18 months on average, and last just for a few minutes. Solar scientists have to travel all over the world to take advantage of them. Proba-3 will be able to create solar eclipses on demand, observing closer to the edge of the Sun than any previous Earth- or space-based instrument, down to just 1.1 solar radii. And it will do so for six hours per 19-hour 36-minute orbit,” as per ESA.
Proba-3 will also perform general formation flying experiments including rendezvous, resizing the distance between the pair and joint retargeting. The aim is to achieve performance equivalent to a single virtual spacecraft measuring about 150 m across, demonstrating a novel method of operating missions in space, where instruments can be shared between multiple platforms.
THanks. For a precise shadow to be cast, the sun, occulter craft and the camera-craft have to be in a straight line with high precision. I suppose the two crafts are of the exact same mass, and placed in the exact same orbit and fine corrections to the occulter to cast a precise shadow on the camera is probably done by thrusters on the occulter. If not, the orbits themselves have to provide precise alignment.Amber G. wrote: ↑08 Dec 2024 04:32
Up around the top of their orbits Occulter spacecraft will cast a precisely controlled shadow onto the Coronagraph spacecraft around 150 m away, to produce solar eclipses on demand for six hours at a time. Reaching the optical performance by having its occulting disc fly on a separate, carefully controlled spacecraft,
At present we can can image the Sun in extreme ultraviolet to image the solar disc and the low corona, while using Earth- and space-based coronagraphs to monitor the high corona. But now a significant observing gap - from about three solar radii down to 1.1 solar radii, that Proba-3 will be able to fill.-- . This will make it possible, for example, to study colossal solar explosions called Coronal Mass Ejections as they rise from the solar surface and the outward acceleration of the solar wind...
Your are welcome. Adding some more relevant and interesting information to add to your points and some background...SriKumar wrote: ↑08 Dec 2024 21:01THanks. For a precise shadow to be cast, the sun, occulter craft and the camera-craft have to be in a straight line with high precision. I suppose the two crafts are of the exact same mass, and placed in the exact same orbit and fine corrections to the occulter to cast a precise shadow on the camera is probably done by thrusters on the occulter. If not, the orbits themselves have to provide precise alignment.
Indian Navy and ISRO geared up for Gaganyaan recovery operations by carrying out “Well Deck” recovery trials on Friday Dec 06th, 2024. The trials were carried out Eastern Naval Command using welldeck ship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam. Well deck in a ship can be flooded with water so that boats, landing crafts, recovered spacecrafts can be taken inside to dock within the ship.
Once Crew Module touches down in the sea at the end of the mission, crew have to be recovered in the minimum possible time and with the least discomfort. One of the preferred options is to tow the Crew Module along with the crew inside the well deck of the ship where the crew can come out of the Crew Module comfortably.
The trials for carrying out well deck recovery were carried out using a mass and shape simulated Crew Module Mock-up.The sequence of operations for welldeck recovery of Crew Module was carried out by Indian Navy and ISRO during the trials. The sequence include the attachment of the recovery buoy, towing, entering into the well deck ship, positioning of CM on the fixture and draining of the well-deck.
This trial validated the overall sequence of operations, ground fixtures and will help in fine tuning Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This trial is part of the series of recovery trials being carried out by Indian Navy and ISRO to finalise the SOPs for recovery operations for nominal as well as off-nominal conditions.
The launch vehicle of India's SpaDeX mission has been integrated and moved to the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, ISRO said on Saturday. This mission is intended to develop and demonstrate a technology needed to dock and undock spacecraft in space, apart from other things.
"The launch vehicle has been integrated and now moved to the First Launch Pad, for further integration of satellites and launch preparations," ISRO said in a post on the social media X.
SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of 'in-space docking' using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV, ISRO said in an explainer on the subject.
This technology is essential for India's space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), ISRO stated in an explainer.
In-space docking technology is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve common mission objectives. Through this mission, India is marching towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology, it added.
After the successful launch of the PSLV-C59/Probas-3 mission on December 9, ISRO chairman and secretary of the Department of Space, S Somanath said a similar mission was coming up with the launch of PSLV-C60 in December itself.
"It (The PSLV-C60 mission) is going to demonstrate the space docking experiment called SpaDex. The rocket is ready now and we are getting ready for the final stage of activities leading to the launch, possibly in December itself," Somanath had said.
According to the ISRO, SpaDeX mission consists of two small spacecraft (about 220 kg each) to be launched by PSLV-C60, independently and simultaneously, into a 470 km circular orbit at 55 ° inclination, with a local time cycle of about 66 days.
SpaDeX mission was floated to develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft (SDX01, which is the Chaser, and SDX02, the Target, nominally) in a low-Earth circular orbit, the explainer added.
After much delays, Nasa has announced that the world’s most advanced and expensive earth observation satellite NISAR, jointly developed by India and the US for over a decade, is “likely to be launched in March” next year. It was earlier scheduled for launch in 2024.
In a statement, the US space agency said, “Nasa and Isro are looking at a likely launch date in March 2025. Short for Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR will scan nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days to measure changes in the planet’s ecosystems, its land and sea ice, and its solid Earth. The NISAR satellite will launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on India’s southeastern coast.”
The 2.8-tonne Nisar satellite, whose development started after India and the US signed an agreement in 2014, is designed to monitor planetary changes with unmatched precision. The over Rs 5,800-crore imaging satellite is first of its kind in the world as it features dual-frequency radar—Nasa’s L-band (1.25 GHz) and Isro’s S-band (3.20 GHz), which will deliver unparalleled data accuracy. Its critical components were transported from the US to India in Oct 2024, marking a significant logistical feat. However, the mission faced delays due to technical complexities with its 12-metre radar antenna reflector.
NISAR's data can help people worldwide better manage natural resources and hazards, as well as provide information for scientists to better understand the effects and pace of climate change. It will also add to the scientists’ understanding of the Earth's hard outer layer, its crust.
Observations from NISAR will benefit humanity by helping researchers around the world better understand changes in the Earth’s surface, including its ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice. It will also capture changes in its forest and wetland ecosystems as well as movement and deformation of the Earth’s crust such as earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity, Nasa said.
The global and rapid coverage from NISAR will provide unprecedented opportunities for disaster response, producing data to assist in mitigating and assessing damage, with observations before and after disasters in short time frames. Its data will also help scientists understand solid Earth movements and their implications, it said.
The satellite’s key capabilities include generating high-resolution images using radio signals, functioning effectively in darkness and adverse weather, detecting surface changes as small as one inch, and penetrating dense vegetation for comprehensive mapping.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is set to launch its highly anticipated Space Docking Experiment (SpaDEX) mission on December 30, 2024.
The Polar Satellite Launch vehicle (PSLV-C60) will lift-off at 21:58 IST from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.
India's share of space activity is slipping in the face of exponential expansion by private companies like SpaceX.SSridhar wrote: ↑24 Dec 2024 08:18 As the need to exploit space grows for the well-being of Earth-inhabitants, India is also involved in it as the above huge list of experiments shows as well as our signing up for Artemis and collaboration with JAXA, CNES et al. It is no longer only communications, weather-prediction, and remote sensing which have for long remained our bread-and-butter space activities so far. We are also into understanding the Sun, the planets and our Moon as well as space weaponization and protection of our space assets.
Way to go ISRO for working out a large gamut of proof-of-concept payloads such as docking, robotic arm which are all necessitated by the profiles of upcoming missions. One of the most interesting, IMO, is the precise on-board orbital determination (OOD) using PNT signals of IRNSS. Another, as a responsible space-faring nation, is space debris removal.
The SpaDeX satellites have been integrated and tested out by a private company in Bengaluru. A CA version of PSLV is set to be launched on December 30 at 21:58 IST.
Sanman ji, sadly, I see India not making much progress in this sphere compared to US, and China. Both of them have revamped their science, and private tech eco system in the last 2 decades and now they are at the cusp of reaping benefits. We seem to have made little progress in these two areas compared to them and are being left behind. If this path continues for 5 more years, then ISRO will 100% lose it's launch margins to US, and Chinese companies and it will be cheaper for India to use their launch capabilities for our satellites and missions.sanman wrote: ↑25 Dec 2024 10:59 India's share of space activity is slipping in the face of exponential expansion by private companies like SpaceX.
Even Chinese companies are also quickly expanding and evolving.
I hope that Indian companies manage to get a foothold in the launch market, to do the same, otherwise we will be left well behind.
Once SpaceX's new Starship rocket achieves reusability, it will capture the entire payload launch market .
Let me provide an interesting counterpoint. I think a bigger threat to ISRO than foreign players is the setup of the Defense space agency (DSA) in India.Jay wrote: ↑03 Jan 2025 00:22Sanman ji, sadly, I see India not making much progress in this sphere compared to US, and China. Both of them have revamped their science, and private tech eco system in the last 2 decades and now they are at the cusp of reaping benefits. We seem to have made little progress in these two areas compared to them and are being left behind. If this path continues for 5 more years, then ISRO will 100% lose it's launch margins to US, and Chinese companies and it will be cheaper for India to use their launch capabilities for our satellites and missions.sanman wrote: ↑25 Dec 2024 10:59 India's share of space activity is slipping in the face of exponential expansion by private companies like SpaceX.
Even Chinese companies are also quickly expanding and evolving.
I hope that Indian companies manage to get a foothold in the launch market, to do the same, otherwise we will be left well behind.
Once SpaceX's new Starship rocket achieves reusability, it will capture the entire payload launch market .
Is this the best option for providing broadband to underserved area? Probably placing high powered cell phone towers in those areas would be lot more economical. They will be more reliable, accessible, and maintainable. They also would provide employment to local construction workers and service and maintenance technicians.Amber G. wrote: ↑03 Jan 2025 00:05 India's space agency, ISRO, is set to launch a historic US satellite, Bluebird, developed by AST SpaceMobile, which will enable direct smartphone calls from space without requiring any extra equipment. This marks a significant milestone in India's growing space industry, as it's the first time an American company is using an Indian rocket to launch a satellite of this size and capacity. The Bluebird satellite, weighing 6,000 kg, will be launched into low Earth orbit using India's GSLV rocket and aims to provide affordable 5G broadband services to underserved areas, bridging the global connectivity gap and transforming space-to-phone communication.