Indian Space Capabilities

[T-Rex]

India has successfully launched a rocket into space carrying a cluster of ten satellites into orbits. Oreviuosly it was claimed that Pakistani missile programme was far ahead of India, but now it seems the opposite is true.

 

[Joodi]

India has successfully launched a rocket into space carrying a cluster of ten satellites into orbits. Oreviuosly it was claimed that Pakistani missile programme was far ahead of India, but now it seems the opposite is true.

Missile program and space program are two different areas. But yes, no doubt indian have invested heavily in their space program and they are quite successsful in the space field. Space program has never been priority areas of our military and civil establishments.

 

[Vinod2070]

It is not exactly a world record. I read that a Russian rocket put 13 satellites in orbit a few years back.

A remarkable achievement none the less. Congratulations to ISRO.

 

[Flintlock]

First Published: 18:01 IST(28/4/2008)
Last Updated: 18:05 IST(28/4/2008)
ISRO to send man into space in seven years

India will be in a position to carry out a manned space mission within seven years from now, said a top official of the Indian space agency in Sriharikota on Monday.

Addressing the media after the successful launch of 10 satellites in one go, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G Madhavan Nair said: "The government has given us pre-project funding of Rs 950 million (for the manned mission) and we have initiated necessary activities."

Asked about the need for a manned mission when tests could be conducted remotely, he said: "Today the US, Russia and China have a capability to have a manned mission. We cannot be left behind in the space race. Further, man's presence is absolutely necessary in a spacecraft for conducting some experiments."

The manned mission will be in ISRO's second and more powerful rocket geo synchronous launch vehicle (GSLV).

"We have to study issues like crew module, emergency escape system, provision of all-round outside view from the spacecraft for the crew. These are complex systems that ISRO has to tackle," said K Radhakrishnan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, on the complexities involved.

ISRO will first put out three unmanned rockets to test the systems before sending a rocket with a man.

That aside, ISRO will be launching five-six rockets per year - all with multiple missions, Nair said.

"In terms of missions - satellite launches per rocket - during the next five years we will be doing around 70," he remarked.

Speaking about the forthcoming commercial launches, K.R. Sridharamurthi, executive director of Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial arm, said: "We are in the process of negotiating for two commercial launches".

Referring to Monday's PSLV C9 launch, Nair said the weather gods gave ISRO officials some anxious moments as there was low pressure over the Bay of Bengal.

"We found that out with the image sent by our meteorological satellite Kalpana. At 11 pm last night we decided to proceed with the launch as the low pressure moved away."

The rocket lifted off the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, about 80 km from Chennai, at 9.24 am emitting thick orange flames, and placed in orbit an Indian cartography and a mini satellite to maintain leadership in the remote sensing domain.

It also slung eight nano satellites into outer space, marking the world's second largest such mission. Russia holds the record for launching 16 satellites at one go last year.

Fourteen minutes into the flight, the 44-metre tall rocket first slung the 690 kg Cartosat-2A and followed it by slipping the 83 kg mini satellite and the cluster of other nano satellites into a high polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO).

However, there were a few anxious moments for the ISRO scientists as the separation signal from seven satellites didn't come in initially.

Fortunately, it all ended well when the tracking station at Mauritius got the satellite signals.

"Our customers too have received the signals from their satellites at their respective tracking stations," Nair said.

Antrix Corporation earned $600,000 as carriage fee to ferry the eight nano satellites.

The two Indian satellites, Cartosat-2A and the mini satellite, will start sending pictures Tuesday.

The Rs.1.2 billion Cartosat-2A has a life of five years and the Rs 220 million mini satellite two years.

"Both satellites have sufficient on-board fuel to last longer," said DVA Raghava Murthy, project director, Small Satellite Projects.

Asked about the optimal luggage capacity of PSLV without its customary six strap-on motors, George Koshy, vehicle director, said: "The core alone version can carry up to 1,100 kg. The capacity may vary slightly depending on the orbit intended."

HindustanTimes-Print

 

[Flintlock]

^^^To get Here, from here...



....is very inspiring!

 

[Sam Dhanraj]

It is not exactly a world record. I read that a Russian rocket put 13 satellites in orbit a few years back.

A remarkable achievement none the less. Congratulations to ISRO.

Vinod, You are correct, what media is comapring this launch with is the failure to launch 8 satellites in one go on a Russian rocket some time back and thus considering it as a world record of sorts.

But some other newspapaers such as Hindu is reporting correctly that this is the second best world record after Russians put 16 satellites in one go. The better part is that those 16 satellites were less in weight (Around 300 Kg)as compared to our lauch of 10 satellites (824 Kg).

Edited Later- I might be wrong here as one news source says 16 satellite in one lauch by Russian - Link- on April 18, 2007, While the official Russian Website shows 8 satellite on the same day - - Link RS-20 Cluster Launch-


Nonetheless this is still a first by India and a very proud moment for ISRO and all the Indians.

 

[Sam Dhanraj]

^^^To get Here, from here...



....is very inspiring!

Thanks a ton...I was digging for this rare picture for quite some time...thanks mate !!!

 

[Energon]

10 satellites. Impressive. I hope the space business is opened up a bit more in India especially the satellite building part. There are so many global companies dying to come to India who have excellent capacities in this field; Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon to name a few. I think perhaps JVs should be set up with the private sector and academic institutions to build more sophisticated satellites with numerous civilian and military purposes and then let ISRO manage the launches.

 

[Contrarian]

It is not exactly a world record. I read that a Russian rocket put 13 satellites in orbit a few years back.

A remarkable achievement none the less. Congratulations to ISRO.

I believe that they failed. In the end they did not put up the project.

Either ways, this is a world record since it is the heaviest multiple payload, more than what the Russians carried.

 

[Vinod2070]

I believe that they failed. In the end they did not put up the project.

Either ways, this is a world record since it is the heaviest multiple payload, more than what the Russians carried.

No doubts about the second part. Great achievement indeed.

TOI wrote today that NASA tried and failed in such an operation. Though I take it with a pinch of salt, still it shows the complexity of the mission.

 

[indiapakistanfriendship]

I think the more interesting part of this launch was the launch of Cartosat 2a. This is the third in series of cartosats launched. I think all this talk of Cartosat used for mapping and urban planning is BS. I think it will be primarily be used as a spying and reconissance purpose.

 

[niaz]

I think the more interesting part of this launch was the launch of Cartosat 2a. This is the third in series of cartosats launched. I think all this talk of Cartosat used for mapping and urban planning is BS. I think it will be primarily be used as a spying and reconissance purpose.

Your assumption is probably correct. One can purchase maps from google earth for most purposes anyway.

 

[indiapakistanfriendship]

Your assumption is probably correct. One can purchase maps from google earth for most purposes anyway.

Even if not from Google there are private satellites that would only be happy to provide high resolution images of urban population.

PS: Could there be some kind of relation between the launch of Ofeq the Israeli satelite launched by Isro few weeks ago and Cartosat or am I being a consiracy theorist

 

[Contrarian]

I think the more interesting part of this launch was the launch of Cartosat 2a. This is the third in series of cartosats launched. I think all this talk of Cartosat used for mapping and urban planning is BS. I think it will be primarily be used as a spying and reconissance purpose.

Your assumption is probably correct. One can purchase maps from google earth for most purposes anyway.

There are a LOT of uses for launching our own Cartosats. For one, we Dont have to depend on private companies or other countries to get our images. Photos of military bases or border areas, are sensitive, and the required resolution is not given by commercial firms or unless you pay them a lot.

Secondly, its cheaper because India is starting to use satellite mapping in a big way, so its about the scale. Cartosats are used extensively in mapping resources, urban planning, in a LOT of places in India. Your underestimating its uses.

Thirdly and MOST importantly, other people, countries, companies buy from us. So what you are suggesting is what other people do and we provide them the photos.
Antrix Corp(commercial arm of ISRO) has a very sizeable share in remote sensing and high res photography market, and has garnered a sizeable percentage of the global market, as it is cheaper than from other countries. So we are earning a lot of money through that.

Fourthly, Cartosat's are not sent as individual payloads, they are always sent along with other satellites, so other countries pay us for sending their satellites as well. For instance, Antrix earned $0.6 million for sending these foreign nano sats up in this launch, and this was ONLY because Antrix had reduced the charges as these sats belonged to universities and not commercial firms. So it all ends up being paid for and we earn a lot of money through it, apart form having our own sats that can be used for military purposes.

Fifth, building and sending our own sats gives a huge boost to our own aerospace industry, and the money goes back in our own economy. It also gives experience to constantly build more and more sophisticated satellites, something which we would have lacked if we used or rented other countries sats. A bit like the LCA example.

 

[Vinod2070]

I am eagerly waiting for the moon mission (this year) and the planned manned-mission (7 year plan, I believe).

Now is the time for India to get ambitious in the space arena. The basic building blocks are in place. Sky is the limit now, literally.