Bharat Rakshak

https://twitter.com/isro/status/1152632797556723712

Launch rehearsal of #GSLVMkIII-M1 / #Chandrayaan2 mission completed, performance normal

A detailed picture of Vikram and Pragyan from testing:

A detailed picture of the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter:

First time I am seeing such attention to detail and finish in desh creations. Need brings out the best I guess. Now if that culture can be spread into all other things... Maybe the other advance is bright LED lights and top-class cameras, to make dingy aerospace facilities look as spic as Japanese chip-manufacturing plants. The paint scheme on the support structure, for example. The mirror polish on the cover of the big pin. The mirror finish on the thruster nozzles. Even the little numbered stickers where before one would have expected chalk marks.
The white paint on the walls is shiny which means polymer-binding paint, impervious to water and dust. Makes sense.
But you look high up and the frayed room wiring is recognizable as old desh guvrmand quality onlee. Shows the struggles that the engineers and managers must face every day.

Latest Update

July 21, 2019

The launch countdown of GSLV MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 commenced today at 1843 Hrs IST. The launch is scheduled at 1443 Hrs IST on July 22, 2019.

https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-latest-updates

Mort Walker wrote:

This is actually a nice timeline comparison between earlier attempt and planned attempt tomorrow.

^^^Note earlier it indicated the S200 would launch from 240 meters, which has now been corrected to 24 meters. I assume it's all ASL.

That is a nice catch Mort. 24 Meters ( 0.024 ) is the right value

The solar panels on the Vikram lander seem to fixed ( non tracking). Does this mean that Vikram must land in a particular orientation ( roll orientation ) to enable optimum power generation from the solar panels?

UH25 (fuel) filling of liquid core stage (L110) of #GSLVMkIII-M1 completed
Updates to continue...

juvva wrote:The solar panels on the Vikram lander seem to fixed ( non tracking). Does this mean that Vikram must land in a particular orientation ( roll orientation ) to enable optimum power generation from the solar panels?

In the earlier picture it is folded down. When deployed it swings open, but is not steerable. Most likely Pragyan will rotate around to keep sunlight perpendicular to the PV panel.

juvva wrote:The solar panels on the Vikram lander seem to fixed ( non tracking). Does this mean that Vikram must land in a particular orientation ( roll orientation ) to enable optimum power generation from the solar panels?

Yes, the lander will re-orient itself and land with solar panel face facing the Sun. And if you notice, Pragyan also is tucked away in such a way that when it rolls out and raises and locks its solar panel, the panel will also face the Sun.

Also the Sun will be low on the moon pole, hence it will put several of Pragyan's instrument box under the panel's shadow. In essence, the panel will block sensitive instruments from Sun's harsh radiation.

I am thinking that the orbiter and the lander itself are re-oriented optimally to face the sun while in lunar orbit itself and the lander is ejected already reoriented appropriately.

Mort Walker wrote:

juvva wrote:The solar panels on the Vikram lander seem to fixed ( non tracking). Does this mean that Vikram must land in a particular orientation ( roll orientation ) to enable optimum power generation from the solar panels?

In the earlier picture it is folded down. When deployed it swings open, but is not steerable. Most likely Pragyan will rotate around to keep sunlight perpendicular to the PV panel.

Mort'ji in your second photo of both the lander and rover, just see where the solar panel will face once it is opened up. It will be in the same plane as the lander's solar panel. And the lander can land with its panel facing the sun. It is basically a square pyramid (with top chopped off). So it can reorient itself to Sun facing in orbit or while landing.

disha wrote:
Mort'ji in your second photo of both the lander and rover, just see where the solar panel will face once it is opened up. It will be in the same plane as the lander's solar panel. And the lander can land with its panel facing the sun. It is basically a square pyramid (with top chopped off). So it can reorient itself to Sun facing in orbit or while landing.

Right. If the Pragyan and Vikram rover can hold a charge, then there is no reason why it can't endure longer than 1 lunar day.

That would be so exciting. Right now though we need to hear "performance narmal". Go C-2 - Godspeed!

Vivek K wrote:That would be so exciting. Right now though we need to hear "performance narmal". Go C-2 - Godspeed!

Indeed. Godspeed Chandrayaan 2. India is already there because "We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard!".

I do not want to jinx it but perforrmance is going to be naaarmal only.

Confused. The prior countdown says LOX filling was completed about 1hour+ b4 launch. What about hydrogen filling? Is it done b4 LOX, or does it take such a short time?

Where is BR anti-jinx army of one? Why is he AOWL at this critical stage?
Gautam

Gone underground since he correctly predicted India-NZ

Here are some key dates for Chandrayaan 2 if the launch goes as planned for today:

Period Date (IST) Phase
Day 23 Aug 13 Trans Lunar Injection (TLI)
Day 23-30 Aug 13-20 Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT)
Day 30 Aug 20 Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI)
Day 30-42 Aug 20-Sep 1 Lunar Bound Phase (LBN)
Day 43 Sep 2 Lander-Orbiter Separation
Day 44 Sep 3 Deboosting
Day 48 Sep 7 Powered Descent and Landing

From what I understand, Republic TV will carry it live with their own broadcast.

Cloudy and 30C; raining? Is ice buildup on the cryogenic tanks a concern, or chalta hain? Considering that the launch window is in monsoon season I suspect that it should be OK?

^^^No. Cloudy and hazy skies from the news broadcast from Shriharikota as currently seen on TV. No rain as of a few minutes ago, but we're still 5 hours away.

What channel pls?

Chandrayan-2 will fail onlee.

For those on the move - PIB Youtube channel will cover it live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtASNGj4Lao

disha wrote:

juvva wrote:The solar panels on the Vikram lander seem to fixed ( non tracking). Does this mean that Vikram must land in a particular orientation ( roll orientation ) to enable optimum power generation from the solar panels?

Yes, the lander will re-orient itself and land with solar panel face facing the Sun. And if you notice, Pragyan also is tucked away in such a way that when it rolls out and raises and locks its solar panel, the panel will also face the Sun.

Also the Sun will be low on the moon pole, hence it will put several of Pragyan's instrument box under the panel's shadow. In essence, the panel will block sensitive instruments from Sun's harsh radiation.

I am thinking that the orbiter and the lander itself are re-oriented optimally to face the sun while in lunar orbit itself and the lander is ejected already reoriented appropriately.

Yes. At near the pole, the sun will be low , and will appear to traverse the horizon in a circular path. Therefore the solar panel on vikram will be at a optimum angle, only for a part of the lunar day (?).

UlanBatori wrote:What channel pls?

Republic TV live..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc2xYzCZEHg

The orbiter picture given above seems to show a rotating stage mounted to the white circular base. No chance that the thing is designed to rotate with the sun to keep the panels aligned? Otherwise if the sun goes round the horizon there is not much hope of getting a lot of light, hain?

For the first time in a long time I am actually excited by an ISRO space launch.

I have grown so accustomed to boring text book launch.

Still at the mercy of DDM.. reporting interspersed with the usual politics, mass murders etc. ISRO needs a high-bandwidth channel showing live countdown with a big clock running along the bottom and vapor rising off the rocket etc for us nerds to fixate on.
OK, countdown has gone under 1 hour...
From Republic TV it appears that the reporter only has a B&W TV screen behind him actually showing the stack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFBbQsHqS

This says: Live broadcast.

Dilbu wrote:Chandrayan-2 will fail onlee.

Chandrayan-2 will fail onlee.

23 minutes - and still go.
T- 18 minutes. Mishun director gives authorization to vehicle director.
T-16 minutes: Vehical director to authorize automated sequence.
(To their credit, the view has now shifted to panorama of the launch site. Fabulous!
Allo! 11 minutes. What happened to vehical director?
Automatic launch sequence shuru hua hain.

16 mins to go ...

Around 10 mins to go ...

juvva wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFBbQsHqS

This says: Live broadcast.

grrr error with playback server

Try this one ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtASNGj4Lao

9 minutes.. 8 minutes