Indian Space Capabilities

[nitesh]

News and Events, NAL, Bangalore

AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISATION OF RLV-TD

NAL trisonic wind tunnel facility is being used extensively to characterize the aerodynamics of Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) configuration during various phases of flights as well as to generate very important data viz. FADS calibration coefficients, hinge moments, unsteady aerodynamics, flow visualization and dynamic derivatives of RLV-TD HEX-1 mission, which is planned in the middle of next year. The descent phase aerodynamic characterization (TDV alone) was completed and the huge data generated was of immense use for the design and simulations. The aerodynamic community has lauded the voluminous data, which runs into 1196 tables that was followed for the first time, as practiced in aircraft industry.

In order to meet RLV-HEX-1 mission target of May-June 2009, the complete aerodynamic characterization during ascent phase as well as FADS calibration data were essential by November, 2008. On the request from ISRO, the test program was undertaken on priority by the NTAF team. Also during the course of the tests, the test data were made available in real time to the Project and design teams that facilitated making a first cut assessment on the result and to carry forward the remaining program. The total number of blowdowns was more than 450 and the whole test program went smooth. The NTAF team rose to meet the crises, like power problems and put extra effort in order to ensure timely completion of the program.

On behalf of the project, Dr K Sivan Project Director, RLV-TD, VSSC has appreciated the NTAF team for putting their best efforts to complete the RLV-TD ascent phase aerodynamic characterization and FADS calibration test for providing the data within the targeted schedules . Dr K Sivan has also mentioned that he is looking forward to the continued support and cooperation from NAL for the further test programs.

 

[nitesh]

Chandrayaan II design complete- LATEST NEWS-The Economic Times

Chandrayaan II design complete
24 Dec 2008, 1640 hrs IST, IANS


The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday said that the design for Chandrayaan II has been completed and it will be launched by 2012.

"The designs for Chandrayaan II have been completed and we hope to launch it by 2012," ISRO chairperson G Madhavan Nair told reporters here on the sidelines of a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to felicitate the Chandrayaan I team.

The Chandrayaan II project is slated to land a small rover on the moon's surface and collect and analyse samples, he said.

The ISRO has made another achievement recently, when a commercial satellite built by the organisation for the European satellite operator, Eutelsat, was successfully launched from French Guiana in South America.

Nair noted that the ISRO was earning about Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) annually from its commercial wing. This is expected to grow at 20 percent per year, he added.

 

[nitesh]

The Hindu News Update Service

ISRO eyes lunar landing in 2012, Mars mission in 2013

New Delhi (PTI/IANS): Buoyed by the success of Chandrayaan-I, space scientists now plan to conquer new frontiers by sending a robot on moon in 2012 and a spacecraft to Mars the following year which will also see an Indian astronaut in space.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has lined up a slew of missions which also include landing a spacecraft on an asteroid and sending a probe to fly past a comet.

ISRO plans to send an Indian astronaut in space onboard a Russian mission in 2013 and follow it up with two Indian astronauts on a seven-day mission on an indigenously developed rocket in 2015.

India's mission to Mars is at a conceptual stage right now, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told PTI on the sidelines of a felicitation of the Chandrayaan-I team by CII.

"Next year we will be able to finalise and by 2013 it can take off," he said.

Nair said the current Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), used to put communications satellites in orbit, will be used to launch the probe to Mars.

ISRO also plan to launch a sequel to Chandrayaan-I, which will entail landing a rover robot on moon by 2012. The lunar rover will be built in collaboration with Russia.

"The designs for Chandrayaan II have been completed and we hope to launch it by 2012," Nair Said.

The Chandrayaan II project is slated to land a small rover on the moon's surface and collect and analyse samples, he said.

The ISRO has made another achievement recently, when a commercial satellite built by the organisation for the European satellite operator, Eutelsat, was successfully launched from French Guiana in South America.

Nair noted that the ISRO was earning about Rs.10 billion (Rs.1,000 crore) annually from its commercial wing. This is expected to grow at 20 per cent per year, he added.

Last year, ISRO had sent to space a capsule which was recovered after keeping in orbit for 22 days. The Space Recovery Experiment (SRE) was seen as a technology demonstrator for future manned missions.

 

[rubyjackass]

The Hindu News Update Service

'Bhuvan' to be launched in March

New Delhi (PTI): Bhuvan, India's response to Google Earth, will be launched in March 2009 and will provide high resolution imagery data of the order of five metre which would be of great relevance for real-time exercises, including disaster management and military operations.

"The Google Earth is providing high resolution data in the order of less than a metre. But the data is two to three years old. It cannot be of much use for any real-time exercise. But Bhuvan will provide the relevant data for any real-time exercise," S K Pathan, Head, Geo Informatics Data Division, ISRO, said.

Bhuvan, to be launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will be a better alternative to Google Earth in terms of quality of data, he said.

"Bhuvan, which means earth, will get the images from the satellites and provide high resolution imagery data of the order of five metre. This can be of use for real-time exercises like disaster management and military operations," he said.

For real-time exercises, the latest data is a guiding force, he said. It can show the topography, altitude, depth and other features of any specific location.

"This information will be required when you are undertaking a massive exercise like flood management or post-cyclone disaster mitigation," he said.

The data could be of use to manage public services, internal security, town planning and infrastructure development activities.

Wow!!!Wow!!!Wow!!!
cool!!!

 

[nitesh]

The Hindu Business Line : ISRO’s proposal for manned mission submitted to Govt

ISRO’s proposal for manned mission submitted to Govt

CII felicitates India’s space scientists for moon mission.

Our Bureau,

New Delhi, Dec. 24 The success of the Chandrayaan-1 is now going to be a stepping stone for India’s space science team which has its eyes set on Mars.

A report for ISRO’s plans for a manned mission into space has been submitted to the Government, said Dr G. Madhavan Nair, ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space. The three-manned mission is expected to take off in 2015. Before that ISRO hopes to get a lander on the moon and collect material, including scientifically rich minerals for study.

At an event organised by CII to felicitate the various scientific and research agencies of the country, that along with ISRO made the moon mission such a success, Dr Nair said, “Where Space science was concerned, India was no longer a developing country. …Now developed countries are buying spacecraft from India.” In a year that saw moon missions from Europe, China and Japan take off, India’s mission was also noticed for the comprehensive range of instruments it took on board.

The success of the lunar mission had made the country proud, and highlighted the huge service that ISRO had been doing for the country since so long, said Mr Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs. According to Dr Nair, although there was a certain brain drain that happened from India, many scientists like those at ISRO worked for the technical challenges that projects like the moon mission offered. The Government has taken note of the remuneration of researchers and scientists at least at ISRO and institutes under the Department of Atomic Energy, said Dr Nair.

ISRO’s Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) would also introduce its first batch of students who would soon contribute to India’s scientific community, added Dr Nair.

Among those felicitated today were Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre; Dr M.Y.S. Prasad, Associate Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre – SHAR; Dr V. Jayaraman, Director, National Remote Sensing Agency; and Mr K.R. Sridharamurthy, Managing Director, Antrix Corporation. Mr M.K.G. Nair, Director of Liquid Propulsion System Centre; Mr P.S. Veeraraghavan, Director, ISRO Inertial Systems Unit at Trivandrum; Mr S.K. Shivkumar, Director, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC); Mr A Bhaskaranarayana, Director, Satellite Communication Programme/Scientific Secretary, ISRO; Dr T.G.K. Murthy, Programme Director, ASP, ISRO Satellite Centre, Mr A.S. Kiran Kumar, DD, SEDA, Space Applications Centre; and Dr George Koshy, Managing Director, PSLV-C11; were also felicitated.

 

[nitesh]

The Hindu News Update Service

Chandrayaan instrument throws new light on moon surface

Bangalore (PTI): The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), one of the 11 payloads on board India's Chandrayaan-I spacecraft, has taken composite image of the Orientale Basin region of the moon providing new information, officials said.

Different wavelengths of light in the image captured by M3 during the commissioning phase of Chandrayaan-I as the spacecraft orbited the moon at an altitude of 100 km, provided new information about the region, located on the moon's western limb, they said.

M3 is from Brown University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States.

"The Moon Mineralogy Mapper provides us with compositional information across the moon that we have never had access to before", said Carle Pieters, the instrument's principal investigator, from Brown University, in a statement.

"Our ability to now identify and map the composition of the surface in geologic context provides a new level of detail needed to explore and understand Earth's nearest neighbour", he said.

The image revealed changes in rock and mineral composition, indicated the abundance of iron-bearing minerals such as pyroxene, and provided a new level of detail on the form and structure of the region's surface.

M3 is the first instrument to provide highly uniform imaging of the lunar surface. Along with the length and width dimensions across a typical image, the instrument analyses a third dimension - colour.

M3 provides scientists their first opportunity to examine lunar mineralogy at high spatial and spectral resolution.

 

[SherdiL!]

India is capable of nothing more than Child Prostituation over 40% is a big number.

 

[nitesh]

some new images:

Crater Visualisation from TMC images

2.5D Visualisation of Coulomb C Crater by TMC

Hyper Cube

 

[slugger]

Chandrayaan II design complete

NEW DELHI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday said that the design for Chandrayaan II has been completed and it will be launched by 2012.

"The designs for Chandrayaan II have been completed and we hope to launch it by 2012," ISRO chairperson G Madhavan Nair told reporters here on the sidelines of a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to felicitate the Chandrayaan I team.

The Chandrayaan II project is slated to land a small rover on the moon's surface and collect and analyse samples, he said.

The ISRO has made another achievement recently, when a commercial satellite built by the organisation for the European satellite operator, Eutelsat, was successfully launched from French Guiana in South America.

Nair noted that the ISRO was earning about Rs 10 billion (Rs 1,000 crore) annually from its commercial wing. This is expected to grow at 20 percent per year, he added.

Chandrayaan II design complete

 

[nitesh]

Chandrayaan: India on the moon & more- Special Report-The Sunday ET-Features-The Economic Times

Chandrayaan: India on the moon & more
28 Dec 2008, 0730 hrs IST, Harsimran Singh, ET Bureau

With the launch of its first mooncraft, this year, India has become one of the world superpowers in the space technology club, which was being dominated by US, Russia and Japan.

First results from Chandrayaan 1


In the wee hours on October 22, 2008, from the sleepy district of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Space Research Organisation made history. Developed with a cost of just $86 million, Chandrayaan-I moon mission, is intended to survey the lunar surface and produce a map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography.

The mission launch cost was almost half the cost of China’s Chang’e 1 mission ($187 million) and just about a fifth of Japan’s Kayuga ($480 million), both in 2007. India is also planning to launch a manned space mission in 2014, and follow it up with a manned lunar mission in 2020, four years before China.

On November 14, 2008, the Moon Impact Probe was separated from the orbiting Chandrayaan, thus marking the successful positioning of the spacecraft into moon’s orbit. Says Antrix Corporation’s Executive Director Sridhar Murthy: “The moon mission will help us in providing answers to many key questions regarding the origin and destiny or Universe. It will help in finding solutions to formulate pharmaceuticals and organic materials which grow very well on crystals in a unidirection in micro or zero gravity environment.”

The success of Chandrayaan I led the government to announce Chandrayaan mission II. The government has announced that the Chandrayaan II launch would happen by end 2009 or early 2010. The Chandrayaan II is projected to cost of Rs 425 crore ($90 million). The mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as a lander/rover. The success of Chandrayaan I also has a military aspect. Besides augmenting India’s commercial capabilities in launching and manufacturing satellites, it sharpens the country’s strategic defence capabilities.

Says Commodore Uday Bhaskar (retd.), former director of New Delhi-based Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses: “Typically, India has firewalled space and missile programmes. But any capability which allows you to carry a heavy payload with precision over a large distance definitely can be used for long-range intercontinental missile capability.”There are numerous commercial benefits from Chandrayaan missions as well. Chandrayaan-1 will search for Helium-3, a good nuclear fuel which is rarely found on Earth. It can be used to power nuclear reactors. It will also search for water ice and conduct chemical composition of moon’s surface. (This will help India as it wants to send two men to Moon by 2015).

It also demonstrates India’s capability to launch payloads and make satellites in a cost effective manner. Meanwhile, apart from launching satellites, India has entered the global league of satellite manufacturing. ISRO now competes with the likes of global majors like EADS, Mitsui, Motorola, Raytheon. The organization recently shipped satellites for two European majors. It is now targeting a revenue of $60 million from outsourcing of satellite manufacturing by major nations to India.

Overall, India’s romance with the moon is not going to end soon and hopefully it is going to bear fruit for the country’s defence, space, pharma industries and also pave way for an Indian colony on moon, a few decades down.

 

[nitesh]

next month will be interesting:

NDTV.com: Scientists to announce findings of moon data next month: ISRO

Scientists to announce findings of moon data next month: ISRO
Press Trust of India
Monday, December 29, 2008, (Bangalore)

Scientists would announce next month preliminary findings based on the data generated by instruments on board India's Chandrayaan-1 moon mission, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair said on Monday.

"Today, Chandrayaan is sending very good data to the ground stations. Soon, we will have the preliminary analysis of the data. By the end of January, we will have session by which the scientists will come together and announce the first findings," he said.

"There is already some lead about the presence of iron and calcium and so on. Yes, there are indications. But to say it conclusively, a lot of analysis need to be done," he said.

Chandrayaan-1 instruments (payloads) have so far sent 35,000 scenes (images), he said during a lecture organised by the KEB Engineers' Association in Bangalore.

 

[nitesh]

India to launch exclusive satellite for climate - Yahoo! India News

India to launch exclusive satellite for climate

Tue, Dec 30 01:45 PM

Bangalore, Dec 30 (ANI): Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair has said that after the success of Chandrayaan 1, India's Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is going to launch an exclusive weather satellite jointly with the French space agency CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) in 2009.

The satellite, named 'Mehga Tropiques' will study the tropical atmosphere and its associated phenomena and would help India and France to study the cyclones, monsoon and other changes.

The Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) would be built and launched by ISRO and two instruments called SCARAB and SAPHIR would be built by the CNES.

The other critical instrument called MADRAS will be jointly engineered by ISRO and CNES.

Talking to reporters here on the sidelights of a programme on Monday, Nair said that the satellite would be launched by the end of 2009.

"It is a joint agreement between France and ISRO. Some instruments are made by French people and some we are doing it. By the end of the 2009, it would be launched. This satellite will provide lot of inputs for weather modulates and near time weather forecast and so on," said Nair.

The satellite would be operated by ISRO and both the countries (India and France) would share data.

India hopes to send an astronaut into space by 2012 and a manned mission to the moon by 2020.

India's Chandrayaan-1, the first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon and the country's first space vehicle to venture beyond Earth's orbit successfully entered lunar orbit on November 8. (ANI)

 

[nitesh]

I am waiting for it:

The Hindu News Update Service

Chandrayaan's moon impact photos to be released soon

New Delhi (IANS): It is a set of pictures that is among the most anticipated in India - around 3,200 frames tracking the descent of the first-ever Indian-built device to the moon's surface.

But the Indian public may have to wait for some more time to take a peek at that journey.

The images were taken by the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) as it hurtled down for nearly 25 minutes after detaching from India's maiden lunar probe Chandrayaan-I and landed on the lunar surface at 8.31 p.m. Nov 14.

That day, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had released two photos of the pockmarked surface taken from MIP. Nothing after that.

According to a key Chandrayaan scientist, it is now a matter of waiting a bit more - though he still could not specify the date.

"While we have released some sample images already, the full set of 3,200 pictures will also be made public after some more time," A.S. Kiran Kumar, deputy director, sensor development area in ISRO's Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre, told IANS.

Kumar headed the team which built the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), one of India's key payloads on Chandrayaan.

The pictures are currently being analysed at ISRO's Physical Research Laboratory. "We could be releasing it in a couple of months," Kumar said, adding that the last photograph on the set was from a height of two to three kilometres from the surface.

One of the several activities involved in getting the pictures ready for public release is to identify the surface features. "Since the pictures are of very high resolution, the features are not listed on any current moon atlas," he said.

The TMC has meanwhile been mapping the South Pole at a resolution of five metres, through lens capable of capturing images at three angles simultaneously.

Recently, China unveiled a three-dimensional map of the lunar surface with data from its Chang'e-1 mission, while Japan has been frequently releasing imagery from its lunar orbiter, Kaguya, including that of the landing site of the Apollo 17 spacecraft.

But, Kumar insisted, photographs collected by the Indian orbiter would be better due to higher resolution and lower orbit height at 100 km.

"The Chinese camera is three-dimensional but only has a resolution of 200 metres compared to our five-metre resolution. The Japanese one has 10-metre resolution, but they have only stereo doublet - we have a stereo triplet," he said.

By stereo triplet, the senior ISRO scientist referred to TMC's capability to take images from three angles - frontal, nadir and rear views. "The advantage is that no portion (of the surface) will be blocked. Occlusion will not be a problem," he said.

In optics, 'occlusion' refers to the method in which a close object masks or covers an object that is further away.

While Chandrayaan goes around the moon approximately 12 times each day - the camera is operational for two to three orbits.

"We have to balance every activity on the satellite, take note of the operating condition and find the optimal time to transmit to the ground station," Kumar said.

The time slot also gets limited as the camera has to factor in the solar illumination angle, which changes with the orbit of the moon. The scientists have decided to limit the solar angle to 30 degrees on both sides of the equator to take consistently well-lit images.

During the 20-minute photographing in each orbit, TMC captures images over an area 1,700 km long and 20 km wide, which translates into 1.4 km per second.

"Every second of data recorded takes about two and a half seconds to be transmitted to the ground station," said Kumar. The latest photograph released is of a lunar impact crater on the far side of the moon.

The senior ISRO scientist said several images have also been provided to academic institutions for analyses.

NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper payload team has also sought information from TMC. "They are interested in particularly looking at the terrain data," Kumar added.

 

[nitesh]

India goes on a star trek with Isro - ET Cetera-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

India goes on a star trek with Isro
25 Dec 2008, 0302 hrs IST, Shelley Singh, ET Bureau


NEW DELHI: Sweat it out, aim for the moon, and you’ll end up a star, says India’s space chief. The country’s first lunar astronaut needn’t be a rocket scientist or a pilot, but anyone who is “young, physically active, healthy, and with a terrific spirit of adventure”, according to G Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

“The shortlisting of the candidate will start three years prior to the mission,” Mr Nair told ET in an exclusive chat about Isro’s Mission 2015, the space agency's ambitious manned mission to the moon.

Enough time for aspirants to build up endurance and work on those biceps. With Chandrayaan-1 firmly in lunar orbit and Isro’s successful launch of multiple satellites — 10 in one go — early this year, completing a great year of launches, the national space agency is now looking at bigger missions, he said.

With its established credentials as a provider of low-cost access to space, Bangalore-based ISRO also sees itself in a unique position to get into the business of launching satellites for other countries, apart from developing an array of rocket components and satellite sub-systems for global customers, a $10-billion opportunity globally.

Besides its own missions in 2009, ISRO will be launching satellites for Singapore, Italy, Algeria and a clutch of so called nano-satellites for the Netherlands on its proven Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

To play a bigger role in space activities, ISRO is hiring more people and expanding its infrastructure while its commercial arm, Antrix Corporation, is targeting a revenue of Rs 1,000 crore next year. Much of this will come from services like providing Global Positioning System (GPS) applications, direct-to-home (DTH) TV services, telecom, launch of satellites and development of rocket sub-systems.

Over the next few years, ISRO will also be focusing on emerging as a bigger player in the space mission launch market. The area it has an edge over other countries is in its capability to do low-cost launches and development of control and propulsion systems. Last week, ISRO for the first time designed and built a satellite — W2M — for Eutelsat, the European satellite operator, at a cost of $80 million.

“It’s a $130-billion global market with 80% being accounted for by services and $10 billion being spent on satellites and launch vehicle systems. With our successful launches this year, we have built market credibility and demonstrated reliability. The more successful launches we do (with bigger and heavier satellites), the bigger market share we will get,” said KR Sridhara Murthi, managing director, Antrix Corporation.

The W2M satellite, at 3.46 tonnes, is the heaviest built by ISRO so far and the space agency made a profit of $40 million on it. India's Department of Space — ISRO is the largest organisation under it — has a manpower of 16,000 out of which 11,000 are scientists and engineers. ISRO will be hiring 300 scientists next year, Mr Nair said.

“High bandwidth satellites capable of micro-wave imaging and new exploratory missions are much sought after worldwide. However much depends on investment in infrastructure and HR,” he said on the sidelines of CII's felicitation of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 team.

As more countries seek to put satellites for applications spanning DTH, GPS, telecom and education, ISRO’s launch services — which cost 60-70% cheaper than costs of similar services by western nations — could also help boost India's own commercial space programme.

 

[nitesh]

domain-b.com : ISRO to test high-end launch vehicle GSLV Mark III in 2009

ISRO to test high-end launch vehicle GSLV Mark III in 2009
01 January 2009

Following the launch of Chandrayaan last year, ISRO will roll out several ambitious initiatives to consolidate the gains and build on its last year's achievements over the coming years. According to ISRO calendar the new year will mark a crucial testing phase in its development of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, which is slated for space flight in 2010-11.

GSLV Mark III is a next generation launch vehicle designed to put four tonne satellites into orbit. But more importantly, it is expected to cut the costs of launching satellites by half, to enable Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial arm offer the cheapest space launches in the niche market. The current GSLV can put 2.2 tone satellites in orbit.

According to K Radhakrishnan, director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the new year will see solid booster testing for Mark III. This will be followed by the liquid stage and finally the cryogenic engine stage will be tested, he added.

He said that the flight testing will be carried out duirng the 2010-11 period.

He said that with GSLV III, ISRO will be able to pack more transponders per space flight which would make for cost effective solutions, giving India an edge in the category of four tonne satellite launches.

He added that the GSLV Mark III will also help ISRO put more Indians in the manned space flight program which will be undertaken in 2015. He said that as per current plans, the agency will send two Indians on a week long space sojourn in that year.

However, instead of the regualr GSLV if GSLV Mark III is used, it will be possible to send three persons instead of two he said.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV, is an expendable launch system developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO). Expendable launch systems derive their name from the expendable launch vehicle (ELV) they use to carry a payload into space.

Vehicles in expendable launch systems are expended during a single flight; they can, therefore, be used only once. The vehicles comprise several rocket stages, that are discarded one by one with the vehicle gaining altitude and speed.

The GSLV was developed by ISRO for launching INSAT type satellites into geostationary orbit and to lessen India's dependence on foreign rockets.