Indian Space Program Discussion

disha · Post by **disha** » 26 Jul 2013 05:17

ramana wrote:
disha wrote:I would consider the following statement as the high point of BRF:

"... The seventh flight, that of GSLV F-06 of December 25, 2010, was a failure due to the opening of a shroud in the Russian cryogenic stage, resulting in two connector sets getting disengaged, because of which signals from the equipment bay could not reach the control actuators of the strap-on stage. So the vehicle started losing control after 47 seconds of flight and we had to destroy the vehicle. The failure analysis committee’s [FAC] report was published. ..."

BRF more or less reached the same conclusion from public material.

Disha, Where did BRF come to this?

As a "crowd-sourced" event on BRF over several threads, I do remember we reached more or less the same conclusion and infact ventured further on what would have caused the shroud failure. We can search through the archive and collate the findings.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 26 Jul 2013 05:46

An Ariane 5 rocket launched Alphasat, Europe's largest telecommunications satellite, and Insat 3D, an Indian weather satellite, from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on July 25 ...

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 26 Jul 2013 07:20

http://www.firstpost.com/india/india-su ... 87739.html
successfully launched INSAT-3D from french guyana
congrats.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Jul 2013 11:52

India's Advanced Weather Satellite INSAT-3D Successfully Launched

India's Weather Satellite INSAT-3D, carrying advanced weather monitoring payloads, was launched successfully in the early hours of today (July 26, 2013) by Ariane-5 (VA214) launch vehicle from Kourou, French Guiana.

After a smooth countdown lasting 11 hours and 30 minutes, the Ariane-5 launch vehicle lifted off right on schedule at the opening of the launch window at 01:24 hours IST today. After a flight of 32 minutes and 48 seconds, INSAT-3D was placed in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), very close to the intended one. The orbital parameters of INSAT-3D, as recorded, are:

Parameter (Unit) Targeted Acheived
Perigee (km) 249.9 249.9
Apogee (km) 35880 35923
Orbital Inclination with respect to Equatorial plane (deg) 3.501 3.495

Soon after the separation of INSAT-3D from the Ariane-5's upper cryogenic stage, the satellite's solar panel automatically got deployed. ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka took over the control of INSAT-3D immediately. Preliminary health checks of all the subsystems of INSAT-3D bus were performed and the satellite's health is satisfactory.

In the coming days, orbit raising manoeuvres will be performed on INSAT-3D using the satellite's own propulsion system to place it in the 36,000 km high Geostationary Orbit.

After placing the satellite at 82 deg East orbital slot, it is planned to turn on the meteorological payloads of INSAT-3D in the second week of August 2013 and to extensively test them.

With a lift-off mass of 2060 kg, INSAT-3D carries four payloads - Imager, Sounder, Data Relay Transponder and Satellite Aided Search & Rescue payload. Among them, the six channel imager can take weather pictures of the Earth and has improved features compared to the payloads in KALPANA-1 and INSAT-3A, the two Indian Geostationary Satellites providing weather services for the past one decade.

The 19 channel sounder payload of INSAT-3D adds a new dimension to weather monitoring through its atmospheric sounding system, and provides vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone.

Data relay transponder, the third payload carried by INSAT-3D, receives the meteorological, hydrological, oceanographic parameters sent by Automatic Data Collection platforms located at remote uninhabited locations and relays them to a processing centre for generating accurate weather forecasts.

INSAT-3D is also equipped with a search and rescue payload that picks up and relays alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users and relays them to the mission control centre to facilitate speedy search and rescue operations.

ISRO has taken up the responsibility of end-to-end reception and processing of INSAT-3D data and the derivation of meteorological parameters with India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi. An indigenously designed and developed INSAT-3D Meteorological Data Processing System (IMDPS) is installed and commissioned at IMD, New Delhi with a mirror site at Space Applications Centre, Bopal, Ahmedabad.

vic · Post by **vic** » 26 Jul 2013 20:37

With Commercial satellites moving towards 6 tons to 10 tons, would GSLV-3 a bit too small for it's purpose?

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 26 Jul 2013 20:47

Countries who make satellites in this class already have launcher capabilities for the same. Why would they use ISRO facilities ? Frankly there is not much business except from other smaller nations in Asia or Africa to meet their needs, which in all likelihood is going to be in same weight class as ISRO satellites.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 27 Jul 2013 08:11

New Metsat to Add Edge to Reading Weather - The Hindu

Insat-3D, the country’s latest satellite put in orbit on a European rocket early on Friday, is expected to sharpen weather observation and forecasting and also enhance land and sea surface monitoring over the sub-continent and the Indian Ocean region.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said it plans to switch on the meteorology instruments on the satellite in the second week of August and test them extensively before starting the operations. The first routine checks showed the satellite to be performing well.

Manoeuvres

Before that, its scientists will start the first of four ‘orbit manoeuvres’ on Saturday from the Master Control Facility at Hassan, about 80 km from here. They will ‘push’ the spacecraft’s initial elliptical orbit into a circular one that will be nearly 36,000 km above the ground at 82 degrees East longitude. (It was first placed in a 249 km x 35,888 km ellipse.) Insat-3D will then have a period matching the Earth’s 24-hour rotation and will look fixed or geosynchronous over the sub-continent.

Post-launch, ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, K. Radhakrishnan, said in Bangalore, “We are looking forward to the excellent operational performance of Insat-3D for the next seven years, making a difference for the weather forecasting and disaster warning systems for the country.” At 1.24 a.m. IST, the European Ariane-5 launcher VA214 took off from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in South America carrying Insat-3D and the 6-tonne European telecommunication satellite Alphasat.

ISRO spent around Rs. 200 crore to build the satellite and around Rs. 350 crore on its launch and insurance costs, an official said.

ISRO Satellite Centre Director S.K. Shivakumar, Satellite Communication and Navigation Programme Director N. Prahlad Rao and Insat-3D project director R.S. Rastogi were at the launch along with about a dozen ISRO scientists who were monitoring the satellite in the run-up to the event.

In the making for over seven years, the metsat supplements the decade-old and fading Kalpana-1 and Insat-3A with four sophisticated payloads.

The six-channel imager takes weather pictures of the Earth with better resolution than its predecessors. The 19-channel sounder is the first such over the region and gives layered vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone.

The data relay transponder picks and relays met, moisture and sea related information from automatic data collection platforms placed at remote uninhabited locations on to a processing centre for generating accurate forecasts.

SAR device

A search and rescue device picks up and relays distress alert signals from users on sea, land and air to an ISRO centre in Bangalore and enables speedy detection and rescue of such people.

For launch company Arianespace which bags over half of the world’s satellite launch orders in a year, this was the 16th Indian spacecraft launched since 1981. “This is another milestone in the long-standing relationship between ISRO and Arianespace,” Dr. Radhakrishnan said.

It was the 214th Ariane vehicle to fly since 1979.

member_27444 · Post by **member_27444** » 27 Jul 2013 21:27

Bade wrote:Countries who make satellites in this class already have launcher capabilities for the same. Why would they use ISRO facilities ? Frankly there is not much business except from other smaller nations in Asia or Africa to meet their needs, which in all likelihood is going to be in same weight class as ISRO satellites.

Cost
those who mastered this weight class (other than India)focus on bigger payloads (BE point) vechicles
Time and availability for launch(schedule)
Transfer of know how

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Jul 2013 09:50

Saga of BRf following the GSLV connectors failure since Dec 2010

LINK

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 28 Jul 2013 10:29

CE-20 cryogenic engine to be launched on 19th aug

The specifications of the engine as listed on the LPSC handouts:[3]

Operating Cycle - Gas Generator
Propellant Combination - LOX / LH2
Thrust Nominal (Vacuum) - 200 kN
Operating Thrust Range - 180 kN to 220 kN (To be set at any fix values)
Chamber Pressure (Nom) - 6 MPa
Engine Mixture ratio (Oxidizer/Fuel by weight) - 5.05
Engine Specific Impulse - 443 ± 3 seconds
Engine Burn Duration (Nom) - 595 seconds
Total Flow rate - 462 kg/s
Nozzle Area ratio - 100
Mass - 588 kg

Arunkumar · Post by **Arunkumar** » 28 Jul 2013 20:11

Isro's mission to mars seems to have caused a lot of kujli to UK. Recent statements about UK planning to send a man to mars seems to imply a H&D taken a beating due the technological prowess of member of commonwealth.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/spac ... -team.html

geeth · Post by **geeth** » 28 Jul 2013 22:10

^^ Total flow rate of CE 20 is suspicious..almost half a ton per sec!

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 28 Jul 2013 23:03

Arianespace to launch another Indian satellite in a month.

European space consortium Arianespace, which orbited India's advanced weather spacecraft INSAT-3D early today, is getting ready to launch another satellite of the country, GSAT-7, in a month's time.

"As of now, the schedule for launch of GSAT-7 is August 30th early morning", Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation K Radhakrishnan told PTI here.
"The satellite is already in Kourou (Arianespace's spaceport in French Guiana) and testing is being done. It's a multi-band communication satellite", Radhakrishnan, also Secretary in the Department of Space, said.

According to officials of the Bangalore-headquartered space agency, GSAT-7 would carry payloads in Ultra High Frequency (UHF), S-band, C-band and Ku-band.
The satellite employs the standard 2.5 ton bus platform with the power handling capability of around 2600 Watts and lift off mass of 2,550 kg, they said.

Arianespace, the commercial space transportation company, said the Ariane Flight VA215 will orbit dual-passenger payloads -- the Eutelsat 25B/Es?hail-1 and GSAT-7.After being deployed by Ariane 5 rocket, GSAT-7 will operate from an orbital position of 74 deg. East.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 28 Jul 2013 23:11

Touching the Skies: 25 years of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite System.

Taking the daring step of breaking into the elitist league of space programmes 25 years ago, with a purely development-based agenda, India is firmly at the forefront of earth observation today. Let’s take a look at the remarkable journey:

On April 26, 2012 PSLV C-19 roared into the skies from SHAR on the eastern shores of India carrying RISAT-1, the biggest of the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Series (IRS) weighing in at nearly 2 tonnes and carrying a state-of-the-art Synthetic Aperture Radar. It represented a major milestone in the overall Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Programme. Planning for the IRS Programme had begun in the late 1970s and the first satellite of the IRS series, IRS 1A, a 1-tonne satellite carrying two CCD cameras, was launched from Baikanur, onboard a Russian Vostok launcher on March 17, 1988. As the Programme completes 25 years, it is worthwhile to recount the IRS Story, the story of one of the most successful programmes of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The genesis

The story begins in 1969. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Space Technology and Applications in India, clearly saw the need for a remote sensing programme for an agricultural society like India. This is what he said in his presentation of the “summary of the conference and recommendation for initiatives” at the First UN Conference on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at Vienna in 1969:

“When we came to Vienna, we thought that the areas of most immediate practical applications would be communications, meteorology and navigation, in that order. But one of the most striking things to emerge has been appreciation of the great potentiality of remote sensing devices, capable of providing large-scale practical benefits. One of the group discussions considered the cost effectiveness of these techniques, and it was pointed out that there is a high cost benefit ratio, which, for example, in cartography, can be as much as 18:1. The time has come to interest meteorologists, hydrologists, surveyors, agricultural specialists and other groups in such programmes. The chairman of the thematic session summarised the consensus that aircraft could initially be used because of their comparatively low cost. There is need, to begin with, to understand problems of interpretation. Remote sensing cannot replace man on ground, but can direct man’s efforts on ground to be more efficient.”

Sarabhai sowed the seed but did not live long enough to see the fruits as he passed away in 1971. His successors in the Indian Space Research Organisation took the idea forward through a series of steps which were to lead to the IRS Programme. These steps can be summarised into three categories.

The first was a strategy to utilise opportunities that presented themselves which could add to capacity building. In remote sensing, these included an opportunity to develop a thermal scanner with CNES, launch opportunities for the Bhaskara series of satellites offered by the erstwhile Soviet Space Agency and the offer to become a Principal Investigator in the Landsat Programme.

The second strategy was to pace technology by applications. Thus, right from the first aerial remote sensing surveys and Landsat data analysis, ISRO always had end users as equal collaborative partners.

This led to a third strategy in the form of specific utilisation programmes for its satellites – first Bhaskara and then IRS. This strategy gave a focus to technology developers and opportunity to the user community to own the programme by providing a forum where they could voice their needs.

Following a series of experimental satellites like the Bhaskara launch on Vostok and RS-D1 and RS-D2 launched as experimental payloads on ISROs nascent SLV launcher programme, a committee was formed by the late Satish Dhawan, the then Chairman ISRO, under the Chairmanship of the late Dr T.A. Hariharan, a senior scientist handpicked by Dr Sarabhai from the Woods Hole Research Laboratory, to come up with a blueprint for an operational Indian Remote Sensing satellite series. It included, among others, scientists like George Joseph, O.P.N. Calla, P.S. Goel and Y.S. Rajan who have since then become familiar names in the Space community. This committee, in its 1976 report ‘Future Indian Earth Resources Satellites’, recommended that ISRO should build a remote sensing satellite that could be launched with an Indian rocket. They felt that an optical Multi-spectral Scanner (MSS) similar to that carried by Landsat with a resolution of 100 metres would suffice for many Indian application needs. The committee also said an experimental optical sensor using the newly emerging Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) technology should also be flown as a back up to the MSS payload. Microwave payloads were also considered as important in view of the cloud cover problems during the major crop-growing season. The committee made a strong recommendation that those critical technology activities in the area
of sensors, spacecraft subsystems, data processing and data products are undertaken expeditiously for a possible 1982 launch.

Detailed consultations among the scientific and technical professionals in ISRO and outside including the user community followed. The experience from Bhaskara and RS-D satellites and other ISRO programmes like the Apple Communications Satellite proved valuable in the configuration of what was to become IRS-1. To get the end users involved in the process, a programme called the Joint Experiments Programme was launched in 1977 to develop a strong user community who could contribute to the programme by way of appplications development and inputs for the payload selection and design. Using Landsat imagery and imagery from ISRO’s airborne multispectral scanner (an indigenous offshoot of the thermal scanner developed with CNES), applications were developed for various areas like agriculture, hydrology, geology, geomorphology, land use, soil mapping and so on.

The launch

The IRS Programme was launched in late 1981 and its first project IRS was firmed up as a three axis stabilised, sun synchronous satellite carrying two CCD cameras with resolutions of 70 m and 35 m in four spectral bands covering the visible and near IR parts of the spectrum. In 1982, the project was cleared by the government and India made an announcement at the second United Nations Conference on the availability of IRS data to the world community, especially the developing countries. Dr K. Kasturirangan was designated the project director and Dr George Joseph was the director for the development of the two CCD payloads. There would be two satellites IRS-1A and 1B and an engineering model 1E. IRS-1A would carry three Linear Imaging Self Scanning Sensors; one was LISS 1 with a resolution of 72.5 m and two others were LISS-2A and B with resolution of 36.25 m. The decision to drop the multispectral scanner and commit to a new technology, the Charge Coupled Device, for the sensors was path breaking. The only other satellite to opt for this technology was the French SPOT satellite launched in 1986. IRS-1A and SPOT-1 were thus contemporaneous, both leading the switch to this new technology.

In 1983, the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) was set up by the Departments of Space and Science and Technology. The NNRMS was the brainchild of Prof Satish Dhawan and Prof M.G.K. Menon to prepare various government departments as well as educational institutions to make the fullest use of the IRS system. As part of this, three major efforts were launched in the areas of forestry, groundwater exploration and wasteland mapping. On March
17, 1988 IRS-1A took to the skies from Baikanur atop a Vostok rocket. Early on the morning of March 18, the excitement of waiting for IRS-1A to ‘open its eyes’ was palpable at the Shadnagar earth station of the National Remote Sensing Agency. The satellite was controlled from the ISRO Tracking and Telemetry Station in Bangalore. Each event was relayed by voice from Bangalore to Shadnagar; acquisition of the spacecraft as it rose above the southern horizon and the series of operational commands followed by ‘payload on’. A big cheer went up as the first images of the southern peninsula of India came into view on the quick look display monitor. India had stepped into the age of operational remote sensing from space.

IRS-1B, incorporating improvements arising from the analysis of the performance of 1A, was launched on August 29, 1991 again onboard Vostok from Baikanur. By this time, the PSLV launcher was ready for its first developmental flight. It was decided to make IRS-1E flight-worthy and launch it on the first developmental flight, PSLV-D1 from SHAR. The LISS 2 cameras were replaced by an experimental payload from the German Space Agency DLR, called the Monocular
Electro-Optic Stereo Scanner. Unfortunately, the only PSLV flight to fail happened to be the D1 and IRS-1E failed to orbit. Two remaining developmental flights of PSLV were used to launch experimental IRS satellites. PSLV-D2 put IRS-P2, carrying two LISS-2 cameras, into orbit on October 15, 1994.

On March 21, 1996, PSLV-D3 launched IRS-P3 which carried a Wide Field Sensor, WIFS. A two-band version of this was already launched on IRS-1C. The version on P3 had an additional shortwave IR band. WIFS was a low-resolution sensor with a very wide coverage resulting in repeat coverage every five days. This trade-off between and resolution and coverage was dictated by the need for enhanced repeat coverage to monitor situations like drought and flood and to be able to monitor crops over their growth stages. P3 also carried an experimental sensor called Modular Opto-electronic Scanner, MOS from DLR for remote sensing of the oceans.
Thus while D2 established confidence in the PSLV launcher D3 was useful to try out experimental sensors. A word on the ISRO satellite naming convention: the P designation was applied to prototypes. Successful prototypes were renamed and started a new series like Oceansat, Cartosat and Resourcesat. Meanwhile, the operational series continued with the design of IRS-1C and 1D. LISS-1 was replaced with a two-band WIFS while LISS-2 was replaced by LISS-3 having a resolution of 23m. LISS-3 also added a shortwave IR sensor at 70m. A new sensor called PAN was a steerable panchromatic high resolution sensor providing a resolution of 6m. An onboard recorder was added to provide global data. These changes were the result of feedback from the Indian user community as well as the need to be competitive in the global market. Although not explicitly stated, IRS 1C was designed to be a global player. Its WIF camera was unique
and later copied by SPOT in its SPOT 4 and 5 satellites. The LISS 3 was slotted between the Thematic Mapper of Landsat (30m) and XSHRV of SPOT (20m). It lacked the second shortwave IR band and thermal IR bands of the TM but scored over the three bands of XS-HRV. The LISS-3 is a versatile sensor and the workhorse for most applications. PAN was, till the launch of IKONOS in 1999, the highest resolution civilian camera.

Going global

The failure of Landsat 6 and the upheaval in the international remote sensing scene caused by premature commercialisation of remote sensing data acquisition resulted in a situation where the global user community was left with very few options. They could depend on an ageing Landsat 5 satellite or an expensive French SPOT satellite. The commercial wing of the Department of Space, Antrix Corporation, addressed this vacuum and floated enquiries for global partners
to receive and redistribute IRS data worldwide. An agreement with EOSAT was signed in 1994 and consultations began between EOSAT and ISRO engineers on the nitty gritty of data reception. The first international IRS reception system was inaugurated in 1995 at Norman, Oklahoma in the US. Reception began with IRS-1B data and preparations were started for the simultaneous commissioning of IRS-1C data reception at NRSA Hyderabad station and the EOSAT station at Norman. On December 28, 1995 IRS-1C took to the skies from Baikanur onboard the Molniya launcher. IRS-1D was launched on September 27, 1997 on board the first commercial flight of PSLV, PSLV-C1. From now on PSLV would be the workhorse launcher for IRS.

Ocean sensing

The IRS series, operational and experimental, concentrated more on land-based applications.
This is to be expected as the major driving force for remote sensing applications were land applications such as crop forecasting, forest management, land management and mineral exploration. A Department of Ocean Development was created in 1981 and soon attention turned to ocean sensing, perhaps catalysed by Dr A.E. Muthunayagam, Director of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, who took over as the Secretary of the Department of Ocean Development in 1994. The IRS programme responded with IRS-P4 which carried a new sensor called the Ocean Colour Monitor, OCM and a microwave sensor called the Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer, MSMR. The OCM was used for studying the ocean colour to track ocean features like temperature, chlorophyll and pollution. The microwave sensors made a comeback at long last after the Satellite Microwave Radiometers, SAMIR on board Bhaskara 1 and 2; a hiatus of nearly 15 years. Also it is important to note that though the Hariharan Committee mentioned these sensors, it took time before an operational sensor emerged. IRS-P4 was launched on May 26, 1999. It was renamed Oceansat-1 and was followed by Oceansat-2 in September 23, 2009.

Tracing the terrain

The next area to be addressed by the IRS Programme was the third dimension in geography — the terrain. IRS-1C and D carried steerable PAN cameras which could be used to image an area from different directions to create a stereo pair, which could then be used by a photogrammetric workstation to create a Digital Elevation Model of the terrain. However, these were not dedicated for this purpose. To meet this requirement, IRS-P5, renamed Cartosat-1, carried two 2.5m resolution PAN cameras pointed fore and aft along the flight track. This ensured a complete stereo coverage of the country enabling users to create 3D models of any part of India or even the world.

Another area covered by IRS is that of agile imaging at very high resolution. These are requirements of the security establishment as well as agencies like infrastructure and urban planning departments. This technology was first tried out on a Technology Evaluation Satellite (TES), which had 1m resolution and could be commanded to image a specific area. TES was launched on October 22, 1999. TES was followed by Cartosat-2 in January 10, 2007, Cartosat 2A on April 28, 2008 and Cartosat 2B on July 12, 2010.

The successors Meanwhile, IRS-1D was aging and required a replacement. This came in the form of Resourcesat. Resourcesat-1 was launched on October 17, 2003 and was a vast improvement beyond IRS-1C and D. In keeping with the ISRO naming policy, the first satellite was designated in the P category as IRS-P6. It carried an Advanced WIFS (AWIFS), which had a 740-km swath, 70m resolution and three bands, effectively bringing back LISS-1 resolution of IRS-1A and B with a very wide swath and therefore higher revisit. The workhorse sensor continued to be the LISS-3. Another new sensor was LISS-4, a multispectral upgrade of the PAN. Resourcesat-2 followed on April 20, 2011. The latest in the series of IRS satellites is RISAT-1 which in a sense completes the programme envisaged by the Hariharan Committee in 1976 by adding a Synthetic Aperture Radar to the constellation of sensors in space on board IRS satellites.

Providing all-weather, day and night capability, RISAT-1 represents the acme of technological achievement. No other country in the world has such a huge constellation of operational satellites carrying a wide variety of sensors from the visible to microwaves and from 1m to 70m resolution.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 29 Jul 2013 08:39

August Launch of ISRO's First Defence Satellite - Madhumitha, The Hindu

In about a month, yet another but far more important Indian satellite for military communication network will be launched from the South American spaceport at Kourou.

GSAT-7 or INSAT-4F is slated for launch on August 30 and is exclusively meant for the armed forces, primarily Indian Navy. From its slot over 74 degrees East longitude, it is said to boost the naval arm’s strategic communication strengths across warships in Indian waters and their commands — but that is about all we may know for now about the first Indian military-only communication spacecraft.

“With GSAT-7 you will see a sea change in communication over the region,” an official recently told The Hindu , playing on the word.

The spacecraft was earlier meant to be launched on the indigenous GSLV but that programme is not fully ready: the first resumed GSLV using the Indian cryogenic stage is slated to fly on August 19 after nearly three years.

Blocking capacity

Traditionally, the INSAT communication satellites met the needs of the defence forces by blocking a small part of their transponder capacity for secure communications. In recent years, the armed forces have been demanding special satellites and a larger share of space for themselves as part of national defence.

ISRO on its own PSLVs has put in orbit three earth observation satellites. Its remote sensing satellites RISAT-1 of 2012, TecSAR of 2009 and TES of 2001 have carried extremely sharp view cameras to spot people and objects from heights of around 700 km.

The agency has never admitted the military functions, merely describing these satellites as multi-purpose.

The 2,550-kg GSAT-7 is undergoing preliminary checks at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou. It carries multiple bands in ultra high frequency, S band, C band and the higher Ku band, says ISRO’s website.

GSAT-7 will be flown on Arianespace’s Ariane 5 launcher VA215, according to the European company that has rolled out its next campaign after Friday’s launch. Arianespace said it has got the 10-tonne lifter ready to take in GSAT-7 and its co-passenger, the 6-tonne broadcast satellite Eutelsat 25B/Es’hail 1 for Qatar Satellite Company.

As for ISRO, the GSAT-7 launch will briefly bring the curtains down on two unprecedented and hectic months of having launched four diverse satellites. Come October, it will have to hoist its milestone Mars Orbiter Mission all the way across 400 million km over nine months.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 29 Jul 2013 08:46

ISRO Steps in After Red Flag over Thai Satellite for Crime Tracking System - Sandeep Joshi, The Hindu

Warned by intelligence agencies that using a foreign satellite in the proposed nationwide Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) could make critical databases vulnerable to eavesdropping by other countries, the Union Home Ministry has decided to take the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to make the project fully indigenous.

When fully operational, the much-delayed CCTNS project will connect 14,000 police stations across all the 28 States and seven Union Territories, thus creating a nationwide networking infrastructure for the evolution of an IT-enabled, state-of-the-art tracking system for crime investigation and detection of criminals.

The CCTNS is a group of some 820 VSATs (two-way ground satellite systems) that will be networked by a satellite.

BSNL was the original agency in charge of providing ground services. Since, the intelligence agencies raised objections to the proposed use of the IPSTAR satellite managed by Thaicomm in the project, the BSNL diverted to this project some 400 VSATs that it had for other services.

The remaining VSATs are to be installed by the BSNL working with the ISRO, and the satellite would be provided by the ISRO.

A recent note exchanged between the Home Ministry and the Department of Telecom says: “For the implementation of CCTNS project, a Memorandum of Agreement between the BSNL and the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau under the Home Ministry) was signed for the countrywide connectivity on October 24, 2011.”

A recent note exchanged between the Home Ministry and the Department of Telecom says: “On subsequent deliberations within the Ministry on the concerns and security risks involved in using a foreign satellite for the premier and highly secured CCTNS network in consultation with IB and NTRO, later BSNL was asked by the (Home) Ministry to deploy the CCTNS network on an Indian satellite.”

Citing the objections raised by these agencies, the official document says: “If the CCTNS data is routed/transmitted through a foreign satellite manufactured in Thailand, all the critical database(s) would be exposed to all the nations falling in the satellite footprint. Hence, transporting sensitive data through the same may have ramifications on the national security environment.”

Using a foreign satellite increases the “risk of eavesdropping either by the service provider or through off-the-air monitoring by any target countries which may have footprint of the satellite,” the note adds. Notably, through IPSTAR, Thaicomm provides services in almost a dozen nations, including Pakistan and China.

A senior Home Ministry official, who is closely associated with the project, says when this issue was raised by intelligence agencies, the Ministry was in a fix as the CCTNS needed connectivity to be useful.

“Though states are putting up the infrastructure required for the project at their police stations and interconnecting them within states, a nationwide grid is still missing and it would take months before ISRO and BSNL comes up with the required infrastructure of a satellite-based communication network on the ground,” he noted.

Conceived in 2009 by the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the CCTNS should have been fully operation by March 2012, but now due to various delays, including the satellite connectivity issue, it is expected to be ready by 2015. Though Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde formally launched the project in January this year, it would not be able to realise its potential till all the police stations are interconnected through a satellite-based communication network.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 29 Jul 2013 13:51

http://www.iuac.res.in/reres/cryo/icc/L ... df/LMF.pdf

According to ISRO , the two cryogenic stages that we have are:
- CUS -one with 75KN thrust ( also called CE7.5 and CE15)
- CE20 - one with 200kn thrust

Why can't they standardize naming convention. The ppt above also is confusing - and it comes from someone from LPSC!

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 29 Jul 2013 18:11

Neela, one is an engine and the other is a stage.

CE7.5, CE15 & CE20 are engines that generate a thrust of 7.5T, 15T & 20T. CUS is a stage. BTW, this is an old presentation.
Stage names do not have the 'E'. Nowadays, the stages are referred to as C15 etc. The C15 stage uses a propellant loading of 15 tonnes and uses a CE7.5 engine to develop 75 kN thrust.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 29 Jul 2013 19:13

SS-ayya,
Thanks.

The reasons for going through this was to find out which parts of the GSLV -D3 CUS went wrong.
The failure analysis report from GSLV D3 mentioned that the CUS failed because of one of the turbo pumps failed. Now , the CUS has 2 turbo pumps - one for L02 and one for LH2.

Using information from another presentation ( http://www.iuac.res.in/reres/cryo/icc/NKGupta.pdf 1 ) , I think it could be the turbo pump from LH2.

Reasons:
- Failure analysis report from here: http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/script ... Jul09_2010 - mentions that turbo pump reached max rpm of 34800 and then failed.
- From this( http://www.braeunig.us/space/comb-OH.htm ) you can see LO2/LH2 ratio is 1:5 or 1:6 . So LH2 turbo pump must feed 5 times volume of L02 pump
- From 1, you can see that turbo pump for LH2 runs @38K rpm ( See slide titles Specifications of Engine and Stage) and L02 runs @ 15K rpm.
( I think there is type on the same page: L02 and LH2 flow rates are mixed up )

Based on the above, LH2 turbo pump failed in April ,2010.
What do you think?

Edit:
Really nervous about the Aug 19th launch !

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 29 Jul 2013 19:48

Just paranoid but wish they would'nt announce the launch schedule to the hour.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 29 Jul 2013 19:51

Neela good conjecture.And accurate too! BTW the Failure report had two causes:Shaft seizure and pump casing. I think its the shaft seizure. Could be the LH2 leaked and froze the bearings leading to seizure.

Meanwhile PIT reports:

NASA, ISRO in talks for developing satellite jointly
Bangalore, July 29 (PTI)

US space agency NASA and India's premier space agency ISRO are in talks for jointly building a satellite for the first time.

"Now, there is a feasibility study going on whether we can jointly make a satellite, with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payloads working on two frequency bands - L-band and S-band", Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K Radhakrishnan told PTI here.

Charles F Bolden Jr.

Not a good idea to collobarate on important missions for it will lead to future charges of technology leaking and other nonsense.

US is notorious about that. They can have the pictures if they want to process for their own reasons.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 29 Jul 2013 19:57

ISRO has been pushing for joint building for some time now, and I am surprised it has moved even this far considering general reluctance of NASA to so joint missions. Yes, it will get all tied up in eye-tar constraints making it all unfeasible. If they call pull it through it will be something and indicative of new openess on part of the US. But I really doubt it.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 29 Jul 2013 20:26

can someone explain the link posted by breaper SS, how criminal data hacking to benefit thais?

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 30 Jul 2013 06:25

August launch for ISRO’s first defence satellite

:
:
:
GSAT-7 or INSAT-4F is slated for launch on August 30 and is exclusively meant for the armed forces, primarily Indian Navy. From its slot over 74 degrees East longitude, it is said to boost the naval arm’s strategic communication strengths across warships in Indian waters and their commands — but that is about all we may know for now about the first Indian military-only communication spacecraft.

“With GSAT-7 you will see a sea change in communication over the region,” an official recently told The Hindu, playing on the word.
:
:
:

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 31 Jul 2013 20:27

Sridhar: "CE7.5, CE15 & CE20 are engines that generate a thrust of 7.5T, 15T & 20T. CUS is a stage"

Which one will be used for the GSLV launch? The larger, more powerful CE-20? But the first Indian made cryo was the CE-7.5. Wasn't it the CE-7.5 that failed in the April, 2010 launch? So which of the 3 engines is it? Yes, also nervous, and excited about the August launch!

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 31 Jul 2013 21:18

Varoon Shekhar wrote:Sridhar: "CE7.5, CE15 & CE20 are engines that generate a thrust of 7.5T, 15T & 20T. CUS is a stage"

Which one will be used for the GSLV launch? The larger, more powerful CE-20? But the first Indian made cryo was the CE-7.5. Wasn't it the CE-7.5 that failed in the April, 2010 launch? So which of the 3 engines is it? Yes, also nervous, and excited about the August launch!

Varoon,
( SS-ji please correct if needed )
There are only two engines - one is the CE7.5 developing 75kN thrust.
The other is CE20 developing 200kN thrust.

CE7.5 is planned for GSLV mkII ( planned for Aug 19 2013 )
CE20 is planned for GSLV mkIII

As far as I know there is no other engine with a different thrust setting.

member_24808 · Post by **member_24808** » 01 Aug 2013 10:08

As Neela above said there are two cryogenic engines and two cryogenic stages. A cryogenic stage is what holds engine together, it contains fuel tanks and other hardware. ISRO has 2 cryogenic stages - C-12.5 and C-25. C-12.5 is the cryogenic stage for the GSLV MK-2's upper stage. C-25 is the cryo stage for GSLV MK-3. The C-12.5 stage is powered by a CE-7.5 engine while C-25 is powered by a CE-20 engine.

The upcoming flight on august 19th will use a C12.5 stage with CE-7.5 engine, If the C12.5 stage performs well for two flights in a row it's propellant loading will be increased to 15 tons and the thrust of CE7.5 will be increased to 93kn. This would result in a upgraded GSLV MK-2 rocket with C-15 upper stage, it would be able to put an additional 200-300 kg into GTO. ISRO needs this upgraded version of the GSLV MK-2 to launch Chandraayan-2 in a couple of years.

Basically the C-15 stage is an upgraded form of the C-12.5 stage that is going to be used by GSLV D-5.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 01 Aug 2013 12:25

KrishC
That is an even better explanation.
The nomenclature can be explained as follows ( based on Krish's and SS-ji posts. )

Cryogenic Stage:
C-12.5 Stage - refers to 12.5 Tonnes of propellant loading
C-25 Stage - 25 Tonnes of propellant loading

Cryogenic engine :
CE7.5 - develops 75kN thrust
CE20 - develops 200kN thrust

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 01 Aug 2013 12:26

KrischC
do you have any links for the C-15 stage?

member_24808 · Post by **member_24808** » 01 Aug 2013 16:56

There's some info about the C-15 stage on wikipedia, other than that you won't find any other info about it unless you look at ISRO's annual reports or budget papers. These are made publicly available every year and shouldn't be too hard to track down with a google search.

member_24808 · Post by **member_24808** » 01 Aug 2013 17:01

Heres some info about the C-12.5 stage: http://www.isro.org/gslv-d3/pdf/GSLV-D3 ... ochure.pdf

wilson_th · Post by **wilson_th** » 01 Aug 2013 18:42

http://www.ptinews.com/news/3853680_Ind ... an-2-stuck

India's second mission to Moon appears headed for a prolonged delay following uncertainty over availability of lander from Russia even as the 'desi' rocket to launch the space odyssey would take time to become operational.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 01 Aug 2013 19:57

^^ It is not just waiting for lander but a reliable GSLV. Naturally, it has to be delayed. Dunno what Madhavan Nair was getting worked up about with no reason.
India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 stuck in limbo

ISRO also has to build a GSLV (rocket) with four diameter heat-shield to accommodate the Russian lander but says it needs two successful launches of GSLV before it embarks on the Chandrayaan-2 launch.

ISRO suffered twin setback in 2010 with the failure of GSLV - one with indigenous cryogenic engine and another with the imported Russian one - and is attempting to flight-test GSLV with indigenous cryogenic engine for the first time since then this month.

"Uncertainty on the schedule of the lander is clear. It's there. Availability of the lander has become uncertain. So now, we are lacking in that part", Radhakrishnan said.

Currently, discussions are underway between ISRO and Roscosmos on the way forward vis-a-vis the Chandrayaan-2 mission but it appears there is no major headway in the past one year though there were several rounds of discussions and exchange of technical data between Indian and Russian sides primarily to finalise on the various interfaces and mission-related operations.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 02 Aug 2013 03:01

After a snag, Insat-3D reaches geosynchronous orbit.

India's advanced weather satellite Insat-3D, had developed some anomalies after it was launched in the early hours of July 26 from Kourou, French Guyana, but Indian scientists corrected these immediately.

The satellite has now been successfully placed in a geosynchronous orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said in a statement on Thursday. Insat-3D will eventually be placed in a geostationary orbit from where it can monitor weather conditions over the same region continuously.

The satellite reached the intended path after three orbit-raising manoeuvres commanded from Isro's master control facility at Hassan. It wasn't a textbook launch of the satellite, as soon after the deployment of its solar panels, the satellite showed some "anomalous behaviour," according to Isro scientists. However, the mission operations team of Isro soon brought the satellite by firing thrusters and using other contingency procedures before raising its orbit.

The Isro statement said Insat-3D is now moving towards its final geostationary orbital location of 82 degree East longitude and on August 6, 2013 it will reach this destination.

"Subsequently, the two meteorological payloads (Imaging System, Atmospheric Sounder), as well as the two Transponders (designed for the Meteorological Data Relay and Satellite-aided Search and Rescue system) will be activated by August 8, 2013," it said.

Before reaching the 36,000km orbit, the satellite is now on a slightly elliptical path with an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 35,799km and a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 35,469km.

symontk · Post by **symontk** » 02 Aug 2013 05:58

KrishC wrote:Heres some info about the C-12.5 stage: http://www.isro.org/gslv-d3/pdf/GSLV-D3 ... ochure.pdf

ISRO never uses a engine's full power in the first launches. So far we have seen that L37.5 of PSLV has now grown to L110 (with 2 engines of course). Like wise there is a high probability that C-12.5 will grow to C-15 and then to C-20 and similarly C-25 grow to C-40 thru various iterations

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 02 Aug 2013 10:48

Vipul wrote:After a snag, Insat-3D reaches geosynchronous orbit.
India's advanced weather satellite Insat-3D, had developed some anomalies after it was launched in the early hours of July 26 from Kourou, French Guyana, but Indian scientists corrected these immediately.

From The Hindu,

One of the two receivers on board, which link the satellite with the command centre at Hassan, failed irrevocably. A back-up had to be installed to connect with and operate the satellite, The Hindu has learnt.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 05 Aug 2013 20:43

INSAT-3D and India’s new emphasis on meteorology.

On July 26, 2013, India’s dedicated meteorological satellite INSAT-3D was successfully launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) by an Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana. India already has two operational meteorological satellites in space: the KALPANA and INSAT-3A satellites of India have been in service in geostationary orbit for the past decade. The article puts in context India’s overall investments in the field of metrological satellites at the backdrop of successful launch of INSAT-3D.

India, being an agricultural economy, depends significantly on weather conditions. The entire country keenly waits for the monsoon season (June to September), which contributes about 80 percent of India’s yearly rainfall. Doing advance prediction about the monsoon rains, and tracking and forecasting its progress for four months after its arrival, has always been a tricky job for the meteorologists. Monsoon weather pattern always have their own vagaries. India, with widely varying terrain, is even found witnessing floods and droughts simultaneously in different areas of the country.

One of the major reasons India chose to invest in space technologies was to offer assistance to its agriculture sector.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is responsible for the prediction of weather to assist its farmers, aviation industry, and various other sectors of socioeconomic relevance. IMD came into existence in 1875, nearly 75 years before India got its independence from British colonial rule. One of the major tasks of the IMD is monsoon prediction and it started issuing monsoon forecasts in 1882. Presently, IMD issues a long-range monsoon forecast each April, almost three months in advance of the monsoon season, and continuously updates it during the season. IMD has a huge network of weather observatories all over the country, in the mountains and even the oceans. This organization is involved in various activities from aviation weather forecasting to ozone layer monitoring to tsunami and earthquake predictions and monitoring. It uses satellite technology, radar technology, supercomputers and a number of other state-of-art techniques for weather observations and monitoring. It uses conventional and numerical weather prediction (NWP) techniques for forecasting. Apart from monsoon forecasting it has also mastered the art of tropical cyclone (hurricane) prediction.

One of the major reasons India chose to invest in space technologies was to offer assistance to its agriculture sector. India started its space program in 1963 in a very modest fashion by launching sounding rockets to study upper atmosphere. India established its Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) program in 1983. During its initial phase, INSAT series satellites were developed as multipurpose satellites with multiple payloads. Invariably, all these satellites had a meteorological payload on board. This was mainly done because India was not in a position to financially afford a dedicated satellite only for meteorological purposes. Also, India had become a spacefaring nation only during 1980 and thus was in a period of learning and experimentation. Now, after three decades, the launch of a very sophisticated satellite like INSAT-3D indicates that India has come a long way in this field.

INSAT-3D is an advanced weather satellite configured with an improved imaging system and atmospheric sounder. The other Indian weather satellites, KALPANA and INSAT-3A, provides imagery in visible, near-infrared, shortwave infrared, water vapor, and thermal infrared bands. INSAT-3D, though, offers significant improvements over its predecessors. It offers the imaging in the mid-infrared band to provide nighttime pictures of low clouds and fog. Significant improvements in the quality of sensors have taken place during the last decade and, along with cloud pictures, INSAT-3D also can measure the sea surface temperature with much better accuracy.

In addition, INSAT-3D adds a new dimension to weather monitoring through its atmospheric sounding system, which provides vertical profiles of temperature (40 levels from the surface to about 70 kilometers), humidity (21 levels from the surface to about 15 kilometers), and integrated ozone from the surface to the top of the atmosphere. The satellite also has a data relay transponder onboard to collect weather observations from automatic weather stations located at inaccessible areas in deserts, mountains, and bodies of water. IMD and ISRO have already established over 1,800 data collection platforms at various remote places in India. Another key payload of this system is the search and rescue unit, which will pick up distress beacons from users on land, sea, and in air during emergencies. India’s neighbors and islands in the Indian Ocean region will also benefit from this system.

It is important to visualize the launch INSAT-3D in a larger framework. For last few years, India has been making investments in various satellite systems that could enhance the country’s observational capabilities in respect to various atmospheric parameters, and to assist in improving various forecasting models.

Two missions launched by ISRO in the recent past should be viewed in this framework. On February 25, 2013, India successfully launched its PSLV-C20/SARAL mission. The main payload of this mission was the 409-kilogram SARAL (Satellite for Argos-3 and Altika). SARAL is studying the circulation of ocean currents and also measures sea surface heights, for which it has an altimeter onboard. This information is important to predict the development of weather systems. SARAL has two independent payloads (developed by the French space agency CNES): Argos-3 for data collection, and the Altika altimeter for measuring sea surface height. These payloads were integrated into a satellite bus from India and the entire satellite was built in India. The data received from SARAL supports the French program of operational oceanography development. The data collected also contributes to the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE), the first international operational oceanography experiment. SARAL is one of the very few such ocean-centric satellites specifically developed for studying sea surface heights. It is somewhat similar to ISRO’s Oceansat-2, a satellite launched in September 2009 to study surface winds and ocean surface strata. The inputs provided by Oceansat-2 assisted NASA in monitoring Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

These satellite launches undertaken by India in recent years indicate that a major focus of India’s space program is the study of weather, climate, and associated issues.
Nearly a year and a half earlier, on October 12, 2011, India’s PSLV-C18 successfully launched a 1000-kilogram Indo-French weather observation satellite called Megha-Tropiques (Megha means clouds in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language, and Tropiques means tropics in French). Presently, this satellite is providing data on solar radiation, humidity and temperature profiles, cloud features, and precipitation patterns, among other features. It, like SARAL, operates in polar orbit. India now has the largest civilian remote sensing satellite constellation in the world with 11 operational satellites. These satellites provide images in a variety of spatial resolutions, supporting agriculture, water resources, environment, forestry, drought and flood forecasting, ocean resources, and disaster management.

These satellite launches undertaken by India in recent years indicate that a major focus of India’s space program is the study of weather, climate, and associated issues. For this purpose, India has created a system by positioning satellites in geostationary and polar orbits and also using relevant (direct or indirect inputs) from satellites launched for other purposes.

India’s geography puts it at a disadvantage in regards to adverse weather and climate. The country has faced the worst form of natural disasters in the recent past. Peninsular India shares its northern and eastern borders with the Himalayan mountain ranges, a tectonically active region. Glaciers in these ranges are found melting at a rapid speed in recent times. Due to its geography, India is affected by both tropical and subtropical weather systems, making weather prediction more challenging.

A little over a month ago, the Uttarakhand region in the northern part of India suffered a major natural disaster. The flash floods following heavy rains on June 16–18 had forced the Indian government to launch one of the biggest relief and rescue operations in recent times. This disaster killed thousands, and the India’s security forces, civil rescue workers, and the disaster management agency rescued an estimated 100,000 people. The mammoth physical effort by these agencies was supported by appropriate weather “nowcasting” and short range forecasting. This became possible due to variety of factors, including the inputs received from the disaster area about weather and topographic conductions, inputs received from radars and satellites, and usage of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools.

India requires a vastly improved meteorological satellites regime to arm itself for addressing various challenges and there are high expectations from ISRO in this regard.
The Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA) report of 2010 provides an assessment of impact of climate change in the 2030s on India. According to this report, the anticipated impacts of the climate change in India are likely to be increased temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns including monsoons, rises in expected sea levels, and melting of Himalayan glaciers. Obviously to address the challenges posed by such possible changes, it is important to continuously monitor the atmosphere. India is also witnessing rapid economic growth and a significant amount of foreign investment. Various ongoing infrastructure projects including dam building, mining, and exploration of natural gas could have some long-term bearing on the atmosphere in general, while the execution of these projects requires timely weather inputs. Water scarcity is rapidly becoming a cause of concern in various parts of India. For effective implementation of water resource management, meteorological inputs are necessary. The tourism sector is another sector that is significantly dependent on climatic conditions.

In regards to issues related to global warming and climate change, there is a criticism of India’s position from certain quarters. Now, having a group of weather satellites at its disposal, India could be in a position to present to the world the correct facts about the weather and climate in their region. This could bring in more transparency towards making climate assessments and drawing conclusions.

India requires a vastly improved meteorological satellites regime to arm itself for addressing various challenges and there are high expectations from ISRO in this regard. India needs to continuously make investments to create state-of-art space assets for meteorological purposes. The launch of INSAT-3D is expected to add a new dimension to weather monitoring over the country but much more still needs to be done.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 05 Aug 2013 20:54

ISRO to focus on R&D, industries' space pie to be scaled up

ISRO's upcoming satellites Cartosat-2D and Cartosat-2C would have spatial resolution of 0.6 metres and Cartosat-3 0.25 metres.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 06 Aug 2013 11:35

SSridhar wrote: From The Hindu,
One of the two receivers on board, which link the satellite with the command centre at Hassan, failed irrevocably. A back-up had to be installed to connect with and operate the satellite, The Hindu has learnt.

My impression is that ISRO continues to have these failures on their satellites from time to time, either a power failure or a communications failure. They haven't licked these problems completely. Fortunately the backup did not also fail here, else the satellite would be dead in the water

There is still no solid news about GSAT-10's Ku transponders working fine or not. ISRO is keeping quiet on that front and just stating that GSAT-10 is functioning fine.

member_23694 · Post by **member_23694** » 07 Aug 2013 13:26

can any one please share on the latest activities / snaps of the GSLV launch this month. Its only 12 days to go now