Indian Space Programme Discussion

[Bade]

What is the role of French or ESA in this espisode. They were the most to lose in increased capabilities of ISRO. Why are fingers not being pointed at them too. Is there any good reason, would like to learn.

[Austin]

Avatars of a space scientist | Of Kathakali, spiritualism, music and Mars

[negi]

What is the role of French or ESA in this espisode.They were the most to lose in increased capabilities of ISRO. Why are fingers not being pointed at them too. Is there any good reason, would like to learn.

Well sir then why would they even say yes to our working with the Viking engines ?

[gakakkad]

What is the role of French or ESA in this espisode. They were the most to lose in increased capabilities of ISRO. Why are fingers not being pointed at them too. Is there any good reason, would like to learn.

clinton's efforts in preventing russian transfer of to India are legendary....so they are the prime suspect...and isro spy scandal is a classic cia tactic..

posting in full some of the articles from that era

INDIA TODAY August 1993

For a mission meant to thwart the proliferation of powerful and precise missiles, there were just too many misguided ones flying around last fortnight.
First, there was Professor U.R. Rao, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), still claiming that Russia would not renege on its Rs.230-crore deal to supply cryogenic engine technology to India.
Then there was the US, which turned the heat on the deal declaring that such a technology transfer would enhance India's missile-making capability though many of its own experts disagreed. And finally, there was Russia capitulating to US pressure and all but scrapping the deal in the hope of future carrots from Western powers.
Yet, as a senior External Affairs Ministry official put it, the last missile on the subject has not yet been fired. For soon after Russian negotiators in Washington announced a drastic scaling down of the original deal, Glavkosmos, Russia's space agency, defiantly stated that it would go ahead and supply the technology to India.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao announced at a public meeting in Gorakhpur that India would build its own cryogenic engines - a projectile aimed at the US Government.(this reveals his statesmanship) And the Americans responded by indicating that the two-year ban on the sale of space components to ISRO may not be lifted.
Despite Glavkosmos' outburst, the bottom-line, as viewed by Indian space experts last fortnight, was: don't cry, just build the damn engines here. The country would, no doubt, have to pay a steep price for such a decision.
Both in terms of time lost (at least three years if not more) as well as cost escalation of more than Rs.300 crore in its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) programme for which the engines are a critical component. But, as Professor Rao observed: "In the long run it may prove more beneficial."

It is, however, going to be an uphill task. As it did with INSAT last week, currently ISRO has to buy expensive launch vehicle capacity from either the French or the Russians to thrust its indigenously built satellites into space.

Click here to Enlarge
The GSLV is meant to be a launch vehicle for the heavier two-tonne INSAT class satellites. And cryogenic engines, which use super-cooled liquid oxygen and hydrogen as propellants, are vital to give the rocket enough thrust in the later stages to put satellites into an orbit of around 36,000 km in space.

After it signed the deal with Russia in 1991, ISRO had almost abandoned its indigenous effort to build cryogenic engines.
It had then just about perfected the designs for a 12-tonne thrust engine but had not gained mastery in the key areas of cryogenic technology such as handling of such super-cooled propellants and building sophisticated turbo-pumps and combustion chambers required for the engine. Building such an engine would require a quantum leap in India's rocket building capability.

The Russian deal would not only have ensured that India gained the know-how but by supplying a few ready-made engines it would have resulted in the GSLV going up by 1995.
In the two years, Russia has transferred some technology but as a senior space scientist says: "It's like getting about 60 per cent of the pieces in a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. You still need the rest to get anywhere."

Yet India is not willing to close its options that easily. Having already parted with Rs.80 crore to Russia and knowing that the country was guilt-ridden by its actions, India is trying to get some kind of compensation.
Among the sweeteners the Russians were offering: sale of at least half a dozen cryogenic engines as long as it didn't involve transfer of technology (the original deal was for just two engines) and know-how in other space and defence projects.
The US too was trying to soften the blow by offering greater cooperation with India in both these areas. But space scientists assert that technology transfer was the key in the contract. Buying engines would mean that India's launch vehicle programme would be constantly subject to international pressure.
India has reasons to feel piqued with the US for coming down so heavily on the cryogenic deal. When ISRO had signed the deal with Glavkosmos in 1991, the US banned its companies from selling space components to these two space agencies for a period of two years.
It felt that the cryogenic sale violated the guidelines of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) formed in 1987 by seven nations to control the proliferation of nuclear capable missiles.
Though the membership has since grown to 23 and includes China, both India and Russia are not members. Just as in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, India has always viewed the MTCR as a discriminatory regime that is meant to deny missile capability to non-members but does nothing to prevent proliferation among its own ranks.
Russia has only now applied for what is called "adherent" status in the MTCR in a bid to enter the lucrative commercial space technology market.

What has upset Indian defence experts is that cryogenic engines, except in the early '60s, have never been used by countries to power their missiles. That's because of the complexities involved in both storing and loading liquid fuels into such missiles.
Instead of minutes, it would take days to get missiles with cryogenic engines ready for launch. An ad hoc group of 60 US experts on non-proliferation and arms control had even told the Clinton administration that the Russian deal would not enhance India's military capability.
But US officials argued that the propulsion technology involved is useful to India's missile programme. The officials explained that rather than India, the tough stand was to make Russia and other former communist bloc countries realise just how serious the US was about missile proliferation.
US military experts fear that with the break-up of the Soviet Union and increasing tensions in South Asia, a whole host of smaller nations may soon have nuclear missile capability. And in its new role as a global policeman, the US is keen on controlling the sale of such technology.

Indian experts, however, dismiss US explanations as "Armageddon-hogwash". They point out that US and French companies had bid for the cryogenic deal. And only when Russia undercut them by offering technology at half the price, did the American government start turning nasty.
Russia caved in only because President Boris Yeltsin is desperate for Western aid to bail out his nation from the economic mess it is in. And the US had also threatened that it would stop all future space contracts with Russia including joint launches. So Yeltsin, who had pledged to uphold the deal when he visited India in January, instructed his negotiators to yield.

There is, however, growing concern too about India acquiring Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capability. The US' main worry is the successful launching of Agni, an intermediate missile with a range of 3,000 km and capability of carrying a one-tonne payload. India has maintained that it would go ahead with Agni which it describes as "a purely technology demonstration mission".

Meanwhile, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), capable of hurling a one-tonne satellite into a polar-synchronous orbit, is scheduled for launch in late August.
If successful, it would not only enable ISRO to get into the commercial launching business but also technically give India ICBM capability. Of course, to convert it into a missile, sophisticated guidance and re-entry technology still needs to be mastered.

Yet, if the US carps about India's missile capabilities, it has done precious little to stop China from exporting them to countries such as Pakistan. Only now is it sending a senior state official to China to "lower the boom on its export programme", as a diplomat put it.
China is going to be a tough customer because not only does it have a strong economic lobby in the US but also the US needs its support to carry along many other issues.

Indian diplomats now advocate taking a leaf from China's book: build up powerful business lobbies in the US which would oppose moves by the Goverment to impose sanctions. Right now, with India contributing barely $50 million in sales to the $5 billion US space industry, it's not enough money for lobbyists to raise a cry.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/us-b ... 02683.html

from the christian science monitor 1993

http://www.csmonitor.com/1993/0727/27072.html/(page)/2

Russians Up in Arms About Cancellation of Rocket Deal

AFTER months of tough negotiations with the United States, a Russian government delegation announced in Washington last week their decision to join international controls on missile technology and to halt an ongoing transfer of missile know-how to India.

The deal was hailed in Washington as yet another sign of Russia's growing partnership with the West. But back home it is being assailed as one more case of Russia yielding its national interests to American domination.

"If the contract is scrapped, it will be a national disgrace for Russia," parliament chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov, a rival of President Boris Yeltsin, told deputies on July 21.

"This issue ... has become a criterion for the independence of Russian foreign policy," declared a July 16 statement of Civic Union, a bloc of opposition parties. "The interests of the country are exchanged by those in power for the political support of the USA," the group charged.




there was evidently a lot of noise in Russia about the whole issue...


the isro spy scandal shows that indigenous efforts almost succeeded ...and vindictive US wanted it to stop at all cost..what did we ever do to them ?

[Rahul M]

Bade saar, even with russian cryo tech Indian launchers would have taken time to come online and nobody expected ISRO to be a threat in international launch business. remember PSLV was still unproven back then.
france still would have had a large market even if it lost the Indian market eventually. US however had immediate losses, they lost out on a very very lucrative sale by general dynamics and stood to lose out on the Indian launch market, which they had started cornering (with INSAT-1 sats and launches), one of the few ones where they could be a main player.

[Pratyush]

^^^
When things become a prestige issue for small minds. Then they start looking for the people who will do their bidding. The ISRO spy case is a perfect example of this.

We can ill afford another such screw up. In addition to this, we need to create a system, which penalises such shody work from police.

[negi]

More than anything else we see a precedent when it comes to US scuttling hi-tech R&D in countries which it deems do not deserve to have it . As of today I am not aware of French doing this to anyone else and their association and collaboration with ISRO has been very close in fact I would say closer than even Ru. US has on the contrary let Pakistan acquire and build up it's nuke and missile arsenal just to keep India busy. In any case NGOs are a very accessible route for US to create problems for India's strategic programs Kdudankulam is one such shining example.

[chaanakya]

^^^
When things become a prestige issue for small minds. Then they start looking for the people who will do their bidding. The ISRO spy case is a perfect example of this.

We can ill afford another such screw up. In addition to this, we need to create a system, which penalises such shody work from police.

If this has to be prevented again from happening those who are responsible for it have to be thrown into Jail.

[Bade]

What is the role of French or ESA in this espisode.They were the most to lose in increased capabilities of ISRO. Why are fingers not being pointed at them too. Is there any good reason, would like to learn.

Well sir then why would they even say yes to our working with the Viking engines ?

This may not be true in this particular case, but a general strategy to weaken any targeted program is to hollow out the human resources out of that country. US does this regularly, one openly mentioned program was to hire Russian scientists in all fields within the US in the early 90s. So helping with Viking engines can be construed as along similar lines, and their need for cheap manpower. I could be wrong on this, but the angle is a possibility.

US did have commercial interests for sure, but it would be hard for them to predict that India would be able to under-cut them in the future in the commercial launch market. It was again a case of US-Russia adversarial play affecting the Indian program. In any case 20+ years is long enough to develop any indigenous technology.

[AdityaM]

This goes with the discussion
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/pmo ... ist-deaths

[Vipul]

When people have a passion for work, impossible becomes possible: K Radhakrishnan.

K Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), seemed at ease as his brainchild, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), flies towards Mars on a 300-day journey. From his office that faces a lush green garden, he shares with T E.

You are still celebrating the successful launch of the Mars orbiter mission (MOM). What next?

We had launched the spacecraft PSLVC25 on November 5 and we placed the Mars Orbiter spacecraft very precisely into an elliptical orbit around Earth. The perigee (closest point to Earth) was 247 km and apogee (farthest point in the orbit of the Earth) was 23,563 km. The operations going on now are for raising the apogee from 23,563 km to nearly 192,000 km and that should happen by November 16. We have this trans-Mars injection in the early hours of December 1. We have more operations planned.

What challenges did you face?

This is India’s first interplanetary probe and these are very complex; and this is the most complex space mission we have undertaken. Two, we are of course learning from the earlier missions.

The project was approved by the Cabinet, and the prime minister announced it in August 2012. The requirements for the mission were that we had to execute it on D-Day i.e. November 30 or the early morning of December 1, when the spacecraft needs to leave the Earth orbit. The cushion available for us was only one or two weeks for the launch because we needed to have the launch of the satellite in the first orbit by the middle of November, so that we could do the orbit raising and then ready it to move towards Mars.

What were the technical challenges?

One was in terms of the complexities that needed to be addressed of the spacecraft in terms of autonomy of the craft, and in terms of the restart capability that had to be verified. The engine has to operate from the time the PSLV is put in orbit, to the time the spacecraft is put in the orbit of Mars. For the second part, we had to build the level of autonomy in the spacecraft so that despite the communication delay (because the distance between the Earth and Mars will cause communication delays of four minutes or longer, between the spacecraft and engineers on the Earth) the spacecraft is able to manage contingencies by itself.


What do you think would be most complex part of the mission?
The third part of it is when you have the spacecraft of this nature reaching the orbit of Mars. That is when we turn on the instruments on the spacecraft.

How did you augment the infrastructure on the ground?
The entire ground station needed to gear up for this. The first augmentation was made for Chandrayaan where the distance was 400,000 km. But here, it was 400 million km. Secondly, you require much more power to manage precious ranging. We required ground stations but those ground stations were on land. Hence, we needed to deploy, for the first time, ship-bound ground stations and we approached the Shipping Corporation of India and got two vessels. But as these could not reach on time, we postponed the launch by one week to November 5. These ships’ performances were critical because only these would tell us about the ignition of the fourth stage, the injection of the satellite and the separation of the satellite. People worked almost round the clock and we had to do additional tests on the spacecraft.

Was 15 months justifiable for such a mission?
We did not start from zero. There were a lot of things known to us (thanks to Chandrayaan, the moon mission). If you look at the normal way of working, it was an impossible schedule; but when you are determined to do it and the teams are giving their best for their project, then you can say nothing is impossible and you can do it.

How did you manage the lower cost (compared with other agencies’)?
If you take India’s space programme in general, the budget is small. Our budget is 7.5 per cent of NASA’s.

What is the secret then? If you look at India from the time of SLV III, and Aryabhata in the ’70s, we have been following the modular approach (one project feeding into the next), which is one of our secrets.

You seem obsessed with the schedules.
When it comes to cost, we are obsessed with schedules. For example, we could have done the Mars Mission in 2016 or 2018. But we decided to do it in the first opportunity and then we worked towards that.

How do you control costs?

When you are obsessed with the schedule and there are not many schedule overruns, costs will come down. Working culture, novel method, modularity, optimisation of test, obsession with quality and salary, all these help to make the missions cheaper compared with other space organisations’ missions.

What is Isro’s work culture like?

We have a different working style, and people put in 18-hour days. During launches, people take just four hours of rest. They give their blood to the programme and organisation. People don’t worry about annual vacation, casual leave, events, etc. Many launches have come during festivals. But people work. They have a passion for the work. This is how the impossible becomes possible.

How many launches are planned in the future?

We have 18 missions lined up till March 2015.

Is there any convention yet on Mars exploration? What has ISRO done?

We should not create pollution there. There’s no convention yet with regards to Mars as there is with moon. As of now, there are few exploring it. In future, we see such a convention coming, just like the moon treaty.

In case of Mars, we can have a geo-satellite. But, this is a different class. We can have an inter-planetary fly-by (like the Voyager of NASA).

Where do we go from here?

The next one is the orbiter. This will help us take a closer look at the planet. The third is to land there. It can be a soft or hard landing. In case of Chandrayaan, it came down by itself. If the landing is precise, it will be a soft landing. The next is that of sample returns. The spacecraft can take samples and bring them back. But, it needs the mechanism to store it and bring it back. That’s the next level of complexity. The next is human flight to Mars.

What are the kind of collaborations could ISRO consider?

There could be collaboration in the area of lunar exploration, and for exploring the sun and Mars. We can have a larger mission. The next one has to be a more complex mission. We did a joint project of building a satellite with the French a while ago. We had worked with the French on developing two landers. We have now done a joint study with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

What's the joint study with JPL all about?

With the JPL, the study is on microwave remote sensing. It's about the study of pulse and know what is not normally visible cloudy conditions, for instance If cloud is there. In remote sensing, depending on the frequency one can identify what's there by depending on frequency characteristic change. For instance, the 'L' band studies vegetation. Another one, the S band gives another study. Or, the X band gives another feel. We have done studies with the C Band. In the project with JPL, we look at both L and S band.

The spacecraft will be made by us. There's a very large antenna required which will be a 12 metre diameter antenna. This will be launched by 2019-20. In the second phase, we do the project report preparation. Then, we work on satellite together.

On the Chandrayaan. NASA brought instruments. In this case it will be a collaboration. Both agencies will work together.

Please describe the benefits derived for people from the findings of ISRO.

The Madras School of Economics did a study 2000-03 study that studied the tangible and intangible benefits from ISRO's work. How communication is structured, and how disaster management reports are studied. It has direct and indirect economic benefits and also intangible benefits are derived. It is cost-effective, if it is made in that. On the application side, it has gone into many areas. A few more areas are to be done. If you look at fishermen, using the surface temperature data we give daily forecasting on the right place to find food catch. The information is displayed on the notice board in fishing harbours. You find many fishermen using GPS now for a good catch based on the information we provide.

These are areas where fish is in plenty. Some days you get a good catch. We carry the announcements in each language in the coastal areas, such as in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Konkani, Oriya, Bangla and any other language spoken in the respective areas. In Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadeep too we provide the information. It gives direct benefit to millions of people. There are about 100,000 fishing vessels. If fishing vessels can get precise data, then savings on vessel diesel is huge.

Now it's an active season for agriculture. In agriculture, we use remote sensing to estimate crop production. We use technology and put it in a model. The Mahalanobis Centre for Crop Forecast in New Delhi uses ISRO's data. We also look at water resources. The GSI uses it for information on land area. One can get large-scale mop, for instance 1: 10,000. Planners use it to see what is it they need to do to optimise the impact their work. It helps in Informed decision-making. The budget on this is Rs 50,000-60,000 crore.

In case of ground water, using conventional method, one may derive only about 50% of the water that once can get. Features like faults for example can be found. In this method, the success rate is 90%. Maps help people to locate wells in right place. If a farmer spends Rs 1 lakh and gets water, that's a direct benefit.

Also, in the '70s, thousands of people died in cyclones. Now it is reduced because ISRO is able to provide timely information.

[member_23832]

Isro lines up 18 missions over the next 15 months

http://idrw.org/?p=29327

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has lined up 18missions over the next 15 months. The upcoming launches include Chandrayaan-2, GAGAN (which will improve accuracy of GPS), Astrosat and others. Isro is also planning to launch a spacecraft to study microwave remote sensing along with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
K Radhakrishnan, chairman, Isro said, “No mission in the previous years or the missions in the future were affected because of the accelerated way of working (on MOM). In fact, we have had the accelerated way of working everywhere”.

He was responding to a question, on whether Isro has diluted its new launches, because of Mars Oribiter Mission (MOM), which was launched on November 5, after 15 months of preparation.

Isro has 18 missions lined up to March 2015, in 15 months, and there is a clear future direction till 2020. (Refer table below for the launches)

“There’s been a quantum jump in other programmes in the last 3-4 years,” said Radhakrishnan. Isro has had 82 launches in 35 years, but in the last four years alone there were 27 launches.

“We have not compromised. Each programme will have its own problems like technology or project issue,” he said.

Tie-up with NASA

Isro along with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is planning to launch a spacecraft to study microwave remote sensing.

Radhakrishnan said the project is about the study of pulse to know what is not normally visible in cloudy conditions. In remote sensing, depending on the frequency one can identify what’s there by depending on the frequency characteristic change. For instance, the ‘L’ band studies vegetation. Another one, the S band gives another study. Or, the X band gives another feel, he said.

“We have done studies with the C Band. In the project with JPL, we will look at both L and S band,” he said.

“The spacecraft will be made by us. There’s a very large antenna required which will be a 12 metre diameter antenna. This will be launched by 2019-20. In the second phase, we do the project report preparation. Then, we work on the satellite together, ” he said.

He said that in case of Chandrayaan, NASA brought the instruments. In this case, it will be a collaboration and both the agencies will work together. There could be also be collaborations in the areas of lunar exploration, and for exploring the sun and Mars explorations.

“We can have a larger mission. We are able to do that. The next one has to be a more complex mission. We did a joint project of building a satellite with the French called Meghatropique a while ago. We had worked with the French on developing two landers. We have now done a joint study with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL),” said Radhakrishnan.

Isro projects from 2012-2020
Portfolio 2012-14 2014-17 2017-20
Launch Vehicles * Production of PSLV
* Reliable GSLV
* Cryogenic Stage * GSLV Mk III development
* PRoduction
* Semi-cryogenics
* Re-usability
* Air-breathing
Satellite Communications Augment capacity of Transponders in C, Ext-C and Ku band * Multi-beam- Data communication
* Digital Multi-media * 6 ton-class, high power 12 kW Satellite (Ka band)
* Higher Frequency bands

Satellite Navigation * GAGAN (improved accuracy of GPS signals over India) Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) Augment IRNSS coverage (11 Satellites)
Satellite Remote Sensing * C-band Radar
* Sounder
* High Resolution-0.6 m * X-Band Imaging
* Hyper-spectral
* Geo-Imaging * S and L Bands Imaging
* Very High Resolution – (0.25m)


Space Science and Exploration * Mars Orbiter
* ASTROSAT * Mars Observation
* Chandrayaan-2
* ADITYA * Astrobiology
* Space Habitat Studies
* Near-Earth Objects


Space Applications * Natural Resources
* Disaster management
* Dev Commn * Climate & Environment
* Navigation Service
* Strategic applications * Sensor-web Access
* Adaptive Imaging

[member_23832]

Isro, Nasa in talks to develop radar satellite

http://idrw.org/?p=29327

While India’s Mars Mission has set off on its maiden journey, here’s another space project on the cards. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) are in talks to jointly develop a dual frequency radar satellite.

The project will augment remote sensing technology infrastructure, say senior Isro officials. “In what will be a first-of-its-kind endeavour, the satellite will be able to operate in two frequencies, both in bands lower than KU-Band or AA-Band,” a senior scientist at the space agency said.
Stating that Isro has already conducted preliminary talks with Nasa’s space communications and navigation program office for the project, another scientist said that Isro will provide the spacecraft for the project. While the US will supply the L-band, India will take care of the S-band.

Commenting on the project, expected to see the light of day sometime in 2020 or later, Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said: “It’ll be a synthetic aperture radar. It’ll change the way things are done.”

Nasa, while confirming that its office has had “…initial discussions on a potential deep space communication programme,” maintained that the talks are in too preliminary a stage for the US agency to comment further.

Sources in Isro said the satellite will help enhance remote sensing by improving the resolution of images. Isro also plans to develop remote sensing satellites with more autonomy, enabling them to identify areas of focus. “Today, satellites send us an array of images and we have to pick areas of importance. In future, we would like to have smart satellites,” a senior official said. The exact application of the L-Band is being worked out, the official added.

The space agencies are also exploring possible co-operation in the fields of heliophysics (physics of the Sun). Isro has Aditya-1, a proposed scientific mission designed to study the solar corona, in the pipeline. “The objective of the project is to achieve a fundamental understanding of the physical processes that heat the corona, accelerate the solar wind and produce coronal mass ejections,” Isro said.

Once cleared, Aditya-1 will be launched into an 800-km polar orbit, and the agency will again use the trusted Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) platform, given the designated orbit.

[SSridhar]

Indian Rockets Aim for Space Market - Penelope Macrae, Japan Times

India’s bid to become the first Asian nation to reach Mars sets a new benchmark for frugal interplanetary travel and puts it in a perfect position to grab more of the $300 billion global space market, experts say.

“Everyone wants to do low-cost missions nowadays,” Indian science author Pallava Bagla said. “Don’t underestimate it because it is a low-cost mission.”

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) staged a flawless launch on Nov. 5 of its Mars-bound spacecraft, loaded with a camera, an imaging spectrometer and a methane sensor to probe for life on the red planet.

The mission’s price, a record-low $73 million, “has been an eye-opener” for the world, said Susmita Mohanty, co-founder and chief executive of Mumbai’s Earth2Orbit, India’s first private space enterprise startup.

That is not only because of the mission’s meager price when compared with its U.S. counterpart, NASA’s Maven, which is due to launch Nov. 18 and costs 10 more, but also because “the world was largely ignorant about the advanced nature of India’s space program,” Mohanty said.

India already ranks among the top six space-faring nations in technological capabilities, the others being the U.S., Russia, China, France and Japan, Mohanty said.

India’s successful lunar orbiter mission in 2008 — Chandrayaan-1 — which cost $89 million, got the ball rolling in showing how to carry out space exploration on a minimal budget, and the Mars mission enhances its low-cost reputation.

“India’s space program has always given the biggest bang for the buck,” said Mohanty.

The secret to the Indian space program’s trailblazing affordability — ISRO has an annual budget of $1.1 billion, one-seventeenth of NASA’s — has been “indigenization of the program, which has helped keep costs low,” ISRO spokesman Deviprasad Karnik said. “The launch vehicle — the PSLV (the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), which is a workhorse — and spacecraft are Indian,” Karnik said. Also, the pay scales of its scientists are far lower than in the West.

Western sanctions that were slapped on India after the nation staged a nuclear weapons test in 1974 gave a major thrust to the space program, and five years ago, the Indian rocket Chandrayaan-1 found signs of water on the moon.

India has come a long way since it began its space program half a century ago when it set up the first rocket launchpad in a coconut plantation in southern Kerala state. A church was the main office, the bishop’s house was converted into a workshop and a cattle shed became the research lab.

Now 21 Indian satellites circle Earth, giving support to telephone operators, broadcast outlets, weather forecasters and providing remote education and health care.

ISRO also earns money from launches through its commercial arm, Antrix, and since 1999 has launched 35 satellites for other nations, including France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, South Korea, Indonesia, Argentina, Israel, Canada, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands.

But it wants to do more to exploit the global space market, whose 2012 revenues totaled $304.31 billion, according to the Space Foundation, a U.S.-based advocacy and research group, the latest figure available.

Indian ingenuity in cutting costs and “frugal engineering” were on display with the Mangalyaan (Hindi for “Mars craft”) mission.

Lacking a rocket large enough to fire the satellite directly out of Earth’s atmosphere, ISRO had to rely on the famed Indian skill of “jugaad” — creating a cheap alternative solution.

Instead of flying directly to Mars, the 350-ton vehicle will orbit Earth for nearly a month, building up the speed to “slingshot” its way out of Earth’s gravitational pull to embark on its 400-million-km journey.

Even without a major scientific discovery from the mission, getting a spacecraft into orbit around Mars would highlight Indian technology.

“India is sitting on a space gold mine. Indian companies can leverage the impressive portfolio of space products and services that ISRO has developed,” said Mohanty.

Satellite launch industry revenues totaled $2.2 billion in 2012, while worldwide satellite industry revenues were $189 billion, according to the U.S. Satellite Industry Association.

With foreign space agencies increasingly looking to outsource space missions to rein in spending, ISRO could compete for multibillion-dollar contracts, experts say.

Success of the Mars mission is by no means assured, as recent attempts by both China and Japan have failed.

ISRO Chairman Koppillil Radhakrishnan said before the launch that he was unfazed at the mission’s complexity. “If it is a failure, then learn. Failure is a steppingstone for success.”

[member_23694]

Kulasekarapattinam’s ideal launch pad
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131113/n ... launch-pad

option looks enticing

[Hitesh]

Why is it taking so long for ISRO to get the GSLV Mark III operational? Is there not a sense of urgency to the mission?

[Lilo]

^ In December they are testing the older version with indigenous cryo stage ( do they call it Mark 2 or Mark 1) .

A "suborbital developmental" flight without upper cryo stage was originally scheduled for Mk3 in Jan 2014 (in 2013 April ISRO roadmap) - but I personally guess it will take place many months from now ( considering the slippage current missions had - and the domino effect on future missions) .

[ramana]

In the ISRO road-map

...
(IRNSS) Augment IRNSS coverage (11 Satellites)
Satellite Remote Sensing * C-band Radar
* Sounder
* High Resolution-0.6 m * X-Band Imaging
* Hyper-spectral
* Geo-Imaging * S and L Bands Imaging
* Very High Resolution – (0.25m)

Looks like ved's ideas are being finally implemented.

[SSridhar]

Fire Destroys Equipment at SHAR - The Hindu

The fire mishap in the Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC SHAR) at Sriharikota in Nellore district on Thursday was attributed to a short circuit by sources. The destroyed equipment belongs to the Hyderabad-based Premier Explosives Ltd which was carrying out the works in the affected room.

Meanwhile, SHAR Director M.Y.S. Prasad visited the spot and enquired about the nature of damage. A probe panel has been constituted to look into the matter.

Sriharikota Sub-Inspector P. Vijaya Srinivas said a complaint was received stating that Rs. 1.23 crore worth property was destroyed in the fire mishap which took place at 5.30 a.m. The destroyed property included machinery worth Rs. 86 lakh, spares worth Rs. 36 lakh, uniforms worth Rs. 2 lakh etc..

This is the second reported accident at SPROB. In the earlier one, a few engineers died, IIRC, about 7 or 8 years back. Lucky, that this time no precious lives were lost.

[chackojoseph]

India selects Aranespace to launch GSAT 15 and GSAT 16 telecommunication satellites

The two satellites are targeted for launch during 2014-16 timeframe.

[Hitesh]

Marten

India selects Aranespace to launch GSAT 15 and GSAT 16 telecommunication satellites

The two satellites are targeted for launch during 2014-16 timeframe.

This is what I am talking about. If ISRO could get the GLSV to work, we can launch those satellites and further, we could catch up with China and be able to put a man in space sooner than later.

[suryag]

Ramana garu ved=?

[Austin]

This is what I am talking about. If ISRO could get the GLSV to work, we can launch those satellites and further, we could catch up with China and be able to put a man in space sooner than later.

They are trying hard no one ever wants to see its rocket fail but there is a rocket science behind it and they need to perfect that and it needs time 2-3 successfully launch to make it ready for commercial use.

I am sure ISRO does not like paying hefty sum to ESA for expensive Ariane launch but right now they have to do with what they have and we all wish GSLV will be successful as soon as its possible.

[member_23832]

After Mars, Isro now plans a mission to the Sun

http://idrw.org/?p=29477

Solar physicists to meet in Bangalore next week to prepare for Aditya 1, which will carry equipment to study solar corona. After successfully launching the Mars Orbiter Mission, India is now gearing up for its next expedition, to the Sun.

Solar physicists from all over the country will meet in Bangalore next week to prepare for the mission, Aditya 1, which will carry equipment to study solar corona.

The three-day meeting to be held at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) between November 18 and 20 will focus on the scientific objectives and technical developments of the facilities planned for Aditya-1, which is expected to be launched in 2015-16.

The IIA has designed the space-based solar coronagraph, basically a telescopic attachment which will black out the glare of the Sun in order to study, which will be launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) into an 800 km polar orbit.

The major scientific objectives of the proposed space solar coronagraph are to achieve a fundamental understanding of the physical processes that heat the solar corona, the extended out atmosphere of the Sun, accelerate the solar wind and produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Aditya-1 mission was originally scheduled to be launched during the high solar activity period (2012-13), but the launch was delayed as Isro prioritised the Mars Orbiter Mission, as the mission to Red Planet had to be expedited for the first available launch window.

The available launch windows to launch the Mars mission in this decade are 2013, 2016 and 2018.

However, with the successful launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission, the focus is now on Aditya-1.
“Aditya 1 has recently been reconfigured as a L1 mission and several payloads are expected to fly together. Aditya will work as a space observatory with multi-wavelength capabilities. Different modes of observational requirements will be discussed at length,” states IIA agenda for the meeting.

Isro and other agencies involved in the programme have completed the Preliminary Design Review of Optics and Detector systems.
They are currently working on the payload structural design and thermal design of the mirrors. The Mission is expected to be launched in 2015-16.

[member_23832]

ISRO to celebrate 50 years of rocketry

http://idrw.org/?p=29461

After watching with bated breath the lift-off of the PSLV C 25 that marked India’s first interplanetary foray, the news that the launch of a now-commonplace, sounding rocket has been scheduled next week would seem tame.

However, the RH-200 sounding rocket set to be launched at 18:25 hours from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) coming Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of a very important event – India’s entry into the space arena.

It was on November 21, 1963, at 18:25 IST that the American made Nike-Apache rocket was launched from Thumba, the first rocket to be launched from Indian soil for scientific purposes.

Describing the event in their book on ISRO’s rocketry history, retired space scientists P V Manoranjan Rao and P Radhakrishnan writes, “The city woke from its usual languor to the thunderous roar preceded by a fiery arrow piercing the atmosphere upward. Shortly afterwards, a huge cloud took shape, orange-yellow and luminescent, against the dark background of the twilight sky. This was visible all over Kerala and in parts of Tamil Nadu.”

Former president A P J Abdul Kalam, who was in charge of rocket integration and safety for this project, too has reminisced in his autobiography about how the rocket had been “assembled in an old abandoned church building” and how “the only equipment available to transport it were a truck and a manually operated hydraulic crane”.

It is to celebrate this event, which also effectively put the TERLS on the map, that the sounding rocket launch has been scheduled at a time identical to that of original launch.

[SaiK]

How much H3 from Moon is possible to be Earthed? Is that a fancy thought by many scientists who go behind vouching for such programs?

[venkat_r]

With India sending and planning more missions to outer bodies, it is time to introduce these space concepts in a more clear way into the text books for the kids to understand and begin the curious journey of understanding the space and also to get an idea on what has India achieved and also what is being done.

This is pretty good stuff and needs to be educated to the kids and ofcourse grownups too.

[Kanson]

Kulasekarapattinam’s ideal launch pad
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131113/n ... launch-pad

option looks enticing

Sivasubramanian, who held the office in Mahendragiri and Va­l­l­imala among other vital Isro establishme­nts, told DC that the rocket, which put Ma­n­galyaan into orbit, co­uld have carried 1,750 kg to 1,800kg of equipment instead of 1,350 kg if it were la­un­ched from Kulase­kara­pattinam.
....
A PSLV rocket launched from Kulaseka­rapatti­nam could be put in orbit without a Yaw ma­neuver and even a GSLV rocket launched from there would re­quire only a 8 degree Yaw maneuver, while the same would requi­re 14 degree Yaw man­euver if launched fr­om Sriharikota, Siva­sub­ramanian reaso­ned, pointing out that instead of 300kg of ad­ditional fuel re­qui­red for the Yaw mane­uver, equipment like trans­p­onders or cameras of equal weight could be sent if launched from Kulasekarapattinam.

Code: Select all

The illustration shows the advantages of launching from Kulasekarapattinam. The GSLV launch vehicle could put on orbit with an eight-degree ‘Yaw’ maneuver, whereas the launch from Sriharikota would require 14 degree Yaw maneuver. PSLV launch from Kulasekarapattinam would directly avoid Sri Lanka, whereas the same if done from Sriharikota would require a deviation to avoid Sri Lanka. — Illustration taken from report of Mahendragiri LPSC staff association. The report was sent to PMO.

Isro top brass would have some serious answering to do, for a seven-member committee constituted last year to identify the id­eal location for the 3rd rocket launch centre, has not tabled its re­po­rt as yet.

In his Dec­em­ber 20, 2012, or­der Isro chairman K. Radha­kr­i­shnan set Fe­bruary 28, 2013, as deadline for professor K. Na­ra­yana led committee to table the report. Isro sources in the know of things revealed that the committee, had met just once since its constitution was divi­ded. While the chairman suggested some part of Krishna district, another important member wanted it in Sriharikota, sources revealed.

Well, the way this is proceeding doesn't give the impression of professional conduct. And lately things like regionalism and nepotism are in the play as it seems.

Previous discussion on this topic. BTW Kulasekarapattinam is in Tuticorin district
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 0#p1165420

Pls spread the message.

[Hiten]

ISRO's Oceansat-2 Helped Predict Cyclone Haiyan

Utilising data collected from 1 of the satellite's payloads to determine the intensity of the calamity, providing advance warning.

Meteorologists have described Cyclone Haiyan as one of the severest manifestation of this destructive natural phenomena. Striking the archipelago nation of Philippines last weekend, where it is referred to as Typhoon Yolanda, it left in its wake a massive trail of death & devastation. To help the nation get up on its feet, India has dispatched its recently inducted C-130J transporter, filled with essential materials, with the promise of more.



India's role in facilitating relief & rescue efforts, in fact, commenced even before Haiyan hit the country. Seen above is the pictorial representation of the data acquired from ISRO's Oceansat-2 satellite on November 6, two days before landfall. This colour-coded illustration indicates the wind speeds generated by the Typhoon & arrows denote the direction of its motion. Processing the data, Scientists at NASA's JPL arrived at a speed of around 206 kmph [~57.2 m/s]. It was one among multiple earth observation satellites that confirmed the severity of the phenomena.

Ku-Band-Scatterometer-Oceansat-2-ISRO

The particular payload in focus is a Ku-band Pencil Beam Radar Scatterometer. It is one of the 3 payloads the Oceansat-2 carries, the other two being,

an Ocean Colour Monitor [OCM]
an Italian Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmospheric Studies [ROSA]

Launched aboard PSLV's C-14 mission, on the 23rd of September in 2009, the Launch Vehicle also placed 6 other satellites in orbit for international customers, the 2nd highest number of satellites it has launched in 1 mission, up till now. News reports in July 2012 revealed how this ISRO-built satellite helped Scientists discover that Greenland was experiencing significant loss in its snow cover, at an accelerated rate.

Ku-Ban-Pencil-Beam-Scatterometer

Interestingly, the Scatterometer evaluated Haiyan, not by studying the cyclone itself, but by the effect it had on its surroundings. As understood from the name, it is a Radar, [mounted on the satellite's Bus - an I-1000 (I-1K) platform]. The electromagnetic waves emitted by it [details above] hits the water surface & is reflected back on to the payload's receiver. Therefore, if the oceans are turbulent, caused by Cyclonic disturbance, it receives the reflected waves accordingly. Using this co-relation, that is codified in a highly computation-intensive, geo-specific numerical model, Meteorologists were able to determine the strength of the Typhoon. ISRO offers access to some of the processed data from Oceansat-2 via a dedicated, be it archaic-looking, portal. Having witnessed the proof of its utility in Ocean studies & monitoring, Australia is reported to have approached ISRO for access to the satellite's data for their own use. In fact, it was a similar data sharing agreement between India & America, signed in 2012, that made possible for NASA to use Oceansat-2 for studying Yolanda.

Emergencies like these validate ISRO's mandate of leveraging the use of Space Technology in the alleviation of socio-economic situations, that is accomplished at a fraction of the cost. Gestation period of missions undertaken, for its benefits to be reflected on the common masses, would vary. Therefore, it would be erroneous to suggest that, just because the benefits of a mission do not become apparent immediately, it is an unnecessary burden on the State's exchequer. Foresight & farsightedness demands that one undertake activities of this nature.

Godspeed

Also Read: Pan-African e-Network - Indian Space & Information Technology [I.T]-enabled initiative for Africa

via http://www.aame.in/2013/11/isro-oceansa ... aiyan.html

[symontk]

As a person who has visited Sriharikota's almost every facility in the past, I wouldn't say its an easy task to create another launch station for space vehicle launches. Lets not bash ISRO where it is not needed. May be in future, when India needs to have a launch every week, we can consider that. Otherwise Sriharikota will be cost effective

Any idea anyone has on the cost before its said, "lets create another launch center"? In the article its mentioned as weight gain would be around 500kg for PSLV. How many launches of PSLV / GSLV would be needed to recover the costs of another launch site?

The committee which is referred is to look at the 3rd launch pad in Sriharikota. There is enough space for that. Also there are plans to have multiple VAB (Vehicle Assembly building) for the 3rd pad from the start so that every month there can be a launch from that pad itself

[gakakkad]

imho , we need private players in commercial launch business...like spacex and orbital sciences in unkil...


ISRO can concentrate on deep space,meteorology,strategic stuff,manned flights and other space research...while private entities can do the communication ,resource exploration and recreational LEO 'space fights' business..ISRO controlled antrix can be allowed to do these..along with any private player willing to try their hand...production licenses to launch vehicles can be given to wholly Indian owned entities..and tech transfer can be auctioned...just like nasa transferred a lot of launch tech to gen dynamics ,spacex and orbital...

for military applications a separate launch site ,handled by the IAF can be arranged...launch vehicles can be provided by ISRO or the technology be transferred to DRDO/HAL ...

This is of course long term planning for the next decade or 2...

[chetak]

imho , we need private players in commercial launch business...like spacex and orbital sciences in unkil...


ISRO can concentrate on deep space,meteorology,strategic stuff,manned flights and other space research...while private entities can do the communication ,resource exploration and recreational LEO 'space fights' business..ISRO controlled antrix can be allowed to do these..along with any private player willing to try their hand...production licenses to launch vehicles can be given to wholly Indian owned entities..and tech transfer can be auctioned...just like nasa transferred a lot of launch tech to gen dynamics ,spacex and orbital...

for military applications a separate launch site ,handled by the IAF can be arranged...launch vehicles can be provided by ISRO or the technology be transferred to DRDO/HAL ...

This is of course long term planning for the next decade or 2...

Why IAF??

Why not the others??

[symontk]

Yes private players can have their own launch site, but I would say under control of ISRO so that it is not used for any other purpose

[Bade]

If there ever will be another SHAR like launch facility planned, then it has to be on the west coast. The monsoons and even more importantly the frequent cyclones that impact the east coast need to be taken into account.

Sri Lanka is right smack there to the right even for GTO launches from Kanyakumari area. I would pick any place on the west coast, preferably Gujarat for a backup Polar launch facility. Polar launches for earth centric missions are going to be more frequent than the GTO launches. SHAR can then specialize for the GTO launches.

[gakakkad]

Whatever it is has to be planned early.and with a lot of foresight .becuae when demand for commercial launch increases we don't want lack of launch sites to be a limiting factor. Building of the facility,from land acquisition to construction and operationalization could take up to a decade in India. Good reasons to start already.

[srin]

If there ever will be another SHAR like launch facility planned, then it has to be on the west coast. The monsoons and even more importantly the frequent cyclones that impact the east coast need to be taken into account.

Sri Lanka is right smack there to the right even for GTO launches from Kanyakumari area. I would pick any place on the west coast, preferably Gujarat for a backup Polar launch facility. Polar launches for earth centric missions are going to be more frequent than the GTO launches. SHAR can then specialize for the GTO launches.

Even if you take the southern tip of Gujarat (say near Diu), you'd still have some of the GSLV stages going right over landmass, possibly even Mumbai.

How about somewhere in Nicobar or some southern island in lakshadweep cluster ? Ideal for both PSLV and GSLV.

[Bade]

One would probably want to launch closer to Dwarka more west, but around Porbandar would do too. Land availability and low population in those areas was one of the reasons I mentioned Gujarat.

Lakshwadeep is good for polar with some caution, due to Maldives being downstream and India being to the east would perhaps not be ideal for GTO either.

[vina]

Lakshwadeep is good for polar with some caution, due to Maldives being downstream and India being to the east would perhaps not be ideal for GTO either.

Bade Mian. We had already discussed this before. Best, is to take an island in the Maldives chain on lease , bang on or near the equator. You can kill two birds with one stone. Launch both Polar and GTO missions.

The other alternative is to have a "Sea Launch" kind of system. The launch vehicle is integrated onshore at VSSC (which anyway gets shipped to SHAR by road for integration), rolled out to a Sea Launch barge, gets towed to the equator around Maldives and then goes Woosh!

[Bade]

But would they give one of the islands to us .. or why not as for Diego Garcia itself British Indian territory that needs liberation.

[vina]

But would they give one of the islands to us .. or why not as for Diego Garcia itself British Indian territory that needs liberation.

Why not ? Seychelles is another great option (large Indian origin population). Sea Launch kind of thing de-risks everything, including keeping all jobs at home, rather than spending it on foreign infra. But this question is 20 years out in the future. Not an immediate necessity.