Indian Space Capabilities

[RPK]

The Hindu : News / States : NASA scientist sees bright future for India’s space programme

``The future of Space Science in India is bright and India’s successful lunar Mission, Chandrayan-I, is a testimony to this bare truth,’’ says Shyam Bhaskaran, scientist attached to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Dr. Bhaskaran who had worked closely with Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore in India’s maiden Moon Mission was talking to The Hindu during his visit to Mar Athanasios College For AdvancedStudies Thiruvalla (MACFAST) at Thukalasserry near Thiruvalla on Wednesday.

The landmark achievement of Chandrayan-I was its successful discovery of water molecules in polar regions of the moon. This has been accredited as an important discovery and the whole credit goes to the ISRO-NASA joint venture, said Dr. Bhaskaran.

``I personally feel that the ISRO-NASA collaboration should continue in the proposed Chandrayaan-II mission too and I will be happy to work for the cause, if my organisation takes a decision to that effect,’’he added.

Born in Mumbai, Dr. Bhaskaran is the supervisor of NASA’s Outer Planets Navigation Group at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He started his career as an orbit determination specialist on the Malileo Mission and since then, he had served as a member of the navigation team for several missions, including Deep Space-I and Mars Odyssey and as the navigation lead for the European Mars Express and JPL’s MRO missions.

He was one of the principal architects of NASA’s autonomous navigation system used on Deep Space-I and is currently a navigator and member of the imaging science team for the STARDUST mission.

Former President, A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, too appreciated this 48-year old NASA scientist of Indian origin in the Indian Parliament for his achievement as the team leader of the Deep Impact-I Mission that had\successfully smashed into the comet Tempel-I in July, 2005.

Dr Shyam says the crushing of the comet attains much significance by becoming an important milestone to develop standardised techniques for combating asteroids which may hit the earth in future.

According to him, the primary goal was to peer beneath the surface of a comet, revealing freshly exposed material for clues to the early formation of the solar system. He said NASA is on an extended missionto image comet Hartley-II on November 4, 2010.

He says India should be proud of the indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and its successful lunar mission.

Dr. Bhaskaran says India is sure to witness a big drive in the overall development of the country by giving thrust on the development of Space Science and Technology. Development of Space Science and

Technology will further prove as an inspiration for the youth in the modern age of science and reasoning, he adds.

Dr. Shyam has also made a presentation for the students on `47 Years of space exploration’ at the MACFAST auditorium, later. Fr Abraham Mulamoottil, college principal and Dr Balagopalan, resident dean of Bio-Campus, also spoke.

 

[Red Dwarf]

I'm tired of seeing satellite launches. I want an Indian in space......

 

[balbir pasha]

I'm tired of seeing satellite launches. I want an Indian in space......

Tired of satellites, eh? Its something that countries like Pakistan are dying to see.

BTW, I hope it would be delivered in time by 2015.

 

[gogbot]

I'm tired of seeing satellite launches. I want an Indian in space......

Wait till 2015.

Or you can give ISRO about 20 billion dollars to speed up the project.

Spaces exploration is an expensive endeavor. ISRO has to work with what it has.

Government has allocated Rs. 95 crore (US$10 million) for pre-project initiatives for 2007 through 2008. A manned mission into space would require about Rs. 12,400 crore (US$3 billion) and a period of seven years. Planning Commission estimates that a budget of Rs. 5000 crore (US$1 billion) is required for initial work of the manned mission during eleventh five year plan (2007-12).

Hell we can be on the moon before the end of the decade if we gave them all the cash they wanted.( the Americans did it in 1969 with a Computer as smart as my laptop, I think we have significant advantage over them on that today)(same goes for most space organizations who have a foundation to work on.) .

If the Americans had the money they could be on Mars by 2025. May be even the Chinese.

 

[Red Dwarf]

Wait till 2015.

Or you can give ISRO about 20 billion dollars to speed up the project.

Spaces exploration is an expensive endeavor. ISRO has to work with what it has.




Hell we can be on the moon before the end of the decade if we gave them all the cash they wanted.( the Americans did it in 1969 with a Computer as smart as my laptop, I think we have significant advantage over them on that today)(same goes for most space organizations who have a foundation to work on.) .

If the Americans had the money they could be on Mars by 2025. May be even the Chinese.

I'm not sure about the 2015 target. We haven't started anything. We yet build a launch vehicle capable of launching a manned mission. No start on the spacecraft. No astronaut training programs. etc

Btw, just curious; is there any plan for Japan or EU to sent a manned mission.

 

[balbir pasha]

I'm not sure about the 2015 target. We haven't started anything. We yet build a launch vehicle capable of launching a manned mission. No start on the spacecraft. No astronaut training programs. etc

Btw, just curious; is there any plan for Japan or EU to sent a manned mission.

My friend, astronaut training program has already started in russia. Astrounaut traing facility is under construction in HYD or BLR I am not sure about the place right now. Modified design of soyuz is being worked upon. I think it would be feasible by 2015.

 

[gogbot]

I'm not sure about the 2015 target. We haven't started anything. We yet build a launch vehicle capable of launching a manned mission. No start on the spacecraft. No astronaut training programs. etc

Btw, just curious; is there any plan for Japan or EU to sent a manned mission.

if we already had a launch vehicle we could be in space by 2012.
The Americans and Soviets did it 1950's-1960's, why cant we do it today

Check out the links.

Plan panel okays ISRO manned space flight

Orbital Vehicle

ISRO to discuss manned mission to moon - India - The Times of India

And always of course there is wiki

Indian human spaceflight program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also dont read to much into the race. But this is a good way to be informed about Space capabilities in Asia, and their plans for the future.

Asian space race - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[white_pawn]

1st desi cryogenic engine for GSLV ​

Isro Develops Indigenous Tech, To Soon Launch Rockets With It

Prashanth G N | TNN

Bangalore: Isro’s 2010 space dream should be a technological leapfrog. It will soon launch the GSLV-D3 rocket with an indigenous (Indian) cryogenic stage and engine for the first time in the country’s space history. The space agency has so far been launching GSLV rockets on borrowed Russian technology.

The GSLV launch, if successful, will make India only the fifth or sixth country in the world to launch a rocket with indigenous cryogenic technology. The cryogenic stage is the upper stage of the rocket that will house the cryogenic engine within it.

“Cryogenic technology involves the use of super-cooled liquid fuel to launch heavy rockets like GSLV with the fuel being a mix of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Launching rockets with liquid fuel of the cryogenic kind has never been easy and Isro will do it this time on its own with the stage and engine developed by itself,” an Isro official said.

Isro achieved a significant milestone recently when it successfully tested the cryogenic stage. The test was conducted for full flight duration of 720 seconds at the liquid propulsion test facility at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu. The indigenous cryogenic stage now remains to be tested in actual flight—on the GSLV-D3. The ground test has validated the design robustness and performance adequacy for its use in GSLV.

Isro also crossed another major milestone by successfully conducting the Flight Acceptance Hot Test of the indigenous cryogenic engine at Mahendragiri facilities. This engine will be used within the cryogenic stage that has already been developed.

“The ground tests have been very good and all parameters have been met. We have completed developing the cryogenic stage and engine. They are in fact being integrated with other stages of the rocket. With the GSLV-D3 launch, we would have achieved our indigenous quest in cryogenic technology.

“With the GSLV, we will be able to launch heavy satellites in the range of 2,000 to 2,500 kg. We haven’t done that before. Placing the satellites successfully in orbit from a GSLV with indigenous cryogenic technology would be a major achievement for us,” Isro officials said.

Engine of Growth

A cryogenic engine is one that uses liquefied gases, mainly liquid hydrogen, as fuel for rockets. Eg, Nasa’s workhorse space shuttle uses cryogenic hydrogen fuel as its primary means of getting into orbit

Cryogenic advantage

Greater thrust to engine Lower fuel consumption Lower fuel costs Faster rocket speed
The US & the UK always imposed sanctions on transfer of cryogenic technology to India. Russia lent its stage and engine but didn’t share the knowhow. India has now broken the shackles of such politics

 

[Red Dwarf]

That GSLV launch postponed to March which was actually scheduled for January.

 

[faithfulguy]

I'm tired of seeing satellite launches. I want an Indian in space......

Indians had been to space before on Suyoz. Read up on Rakesh Sharma

 

[Maddy2105]

Indians had been to space before on Suyoz. Read up on Rakesh Sharma

We all know it...He is very famous. We where taught about him in school books

 

[Red Dwarf]

Indians had been to space before on Suyoz. Read up on Rakesh Sharma

I meant Indian manned space mission.

 

[sudhir007]

Indian Space Research Organisation hunt on for vyomanauts – desi astronauts IDRW.ORG

The hunt for India’s first astronauts — ‘vyomanauts’ in a desi tweak — has begun. Two of the four selected vyomanauts (vyoma means ‘space’ or ‘sky’ in Sanskrit) will finally go on India’s first manned space mission scheduled to lift off in 2015.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is laying down criteria for short-listing 200 Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilots, from whom four will be selected for the space mission, director-general of medical services, IAF, Air Marshal P Madhusoodanan told DNA.

While two vyomanauts will finally go on the space mission, the other two will remain in reserve.

The reason for choosing vyomanauts from the pool of IAF fighter pilots is that they are already trained to endure high gravity
forces. This makes it easier to train them for space missions. “The module (for the selection) is being prepared at the moment,” he said. The run-up to the selection process speeded up after February 2009, when the Union government gave its nod to the Rs12,400-crore manned space flight mission.

India’s first human space mission envisages a fully autonomous orbital vehicle carrying two vyomanauts into space at an altitude of 300-400 km from sea-level, and safely returning them to Earth. The mission is expected to last between four and seven days.

“The selection procedure will begin soon. But the final phase (when the four finalists will be selected) will be in 2012 as the selection criteria are very strict,” Madhusoodanan said.
The candidate vyomanauts will have to answer a Nasa questionnaire before being subjected to physical examination, which would include cardiac, dental, neurological, ophthalmologic, psychological, radiographic, ear-nose-throat (ENT), and other laboratory tests at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) in Bangalore.

The candidates will be tested on the human centrifuge machine at the IAM for endurance while experiencing extreme gravitational forces – of the kind one experiences during space flights.

Madhusoodanan said the facilities at the IAM were being upgraded in preparation for the tough selection process for vyomanauts.

The final four candidates will undergo astronaut training at the IAM as well as at ISRO’s astronaut training school. This will be set up on a 100-acre land in North Bangalore by 2012.

The vyomanauts will be trained to survive in the space vehicle environment while enduring micro gravity, pressure and gaseous changes, to keep alert under space flight stresses, to monitor and operate controls and instruments in the case of information failure, to scientifically observe and report beyond what instruments can do, and to control and improve flight systems and sub-systems like a true test pilot.

India has already completed a space capsule recovery experiment (SCRE) in January, 2007, to perfect the art of retrieving the vyomanauts safely after they return from their space mission.

The spacecraft carrying the vyomanauts will be programmed to splash at a predetermined location in the sea before Indian Navy vessels retrieve the vyomanauts for post-mission medical checks.

 

[white_pawn]

Chandrayaan-II to take off in 2013: ISRO​

TIRUCHI: The launch of India’s next moon mission, Chandrayaan-II, will be in the first quarter of 2013 as per schedule, its project head said here on Sunday.

The project is shaping up as per schedule, Mylswamy Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan-I and II of the Indian Space Research Organization, told reporters.

Chandrayaan II, the second lunar mission, a four-year project under Indo-Russian collaboration, is being executed by ISRO after the success of Chandrayaan I.

The designs of the rover and orbiter for the mission have been finalized and the fabrication will begin shortly. Chandrayaan-II, also an unmanned mission, will land on the lunar surface and make chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the moon to confirm Chandrayaan-I’s findings.

Unlike the first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-II will not have 11 payloads, but fewer instruments, Annadurai said. It will also investigate the presence of water.

Chandrayaan-II to take off in 2013: ISRO - India - The Times of India

 

[sudhir007]

:: Bharat-Rakshak.com - Indian Military News Headlines ::

Thiruvananthapuram: Indian defence scientists are readying a weapons system to neutralise enemy satellites operating in low-earth orbit, a top defence scientist said here on Sunday.

"India is putting together building blocks of technology that could be used to neutralise enemy satellites," Defence Research and Development Organisation Director General V K Saraswat told reporters on the sidelines of the 97th Indian Science Congress.

However, he added that the defence scientists have not planned any tests but have started planning such technology which could be used to leapfrog to build a weapon in case the country needed it. Saraswat, who is also the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said the scientists were planning to build the weapon which would have the capacity to hit and destroy satellites in low-earth orbit and polar orbit.

Usually, satellites in such orbits are used for network centric warfare and neutralising such spacecraft would deny enemy access to its space assets.

"We are working to ensure space security and protect our satellites. At the same time we are also working on how to deny the enemy access to its space assets," he said. To achieve such capabilities, a kill vehicle needs to be developed and that process is being carried out under the Ballistic Missile Defence programme.