HariPrasad-1
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On 15th Feb 2017, India's old work horse PSLV took off from srihari kota Satish dhavan Space center among the feeling of excitement and skepticism as India was attempting something which was not done by any other country in the world. But within next 30 minutes, all skepticism ended in joy and happiness across the India when it was announced that all 104 satellites were successfully in space with high precision in intended orbit. Even the adversaries of India who do not like to praise India on any count were compelled to take notice and say few words in praise. This was an another shocker from ISRO who had launched is highly successful Mars mission at a cost less than one fighter plane of US or Europe.
The achievement of ISRO is not only significant in terms of technical and scientific achievements, but the most important of all is the commercial aspects of these launches. In last few years, ISRO has emerged as the most economical yet very effective and precise space agency who has attracted the attention of whole world for their highly innovative and cost effective solutions in space market. The space agencies across the world are unable to contain their attraction to be the partner of ISRO to collaborate to get high end technologies and cost effective space launch solutions. The achievement of ISRO is not confined only to the cost effective launches but ISRO has a multidimensional space program ranging from remote sensing, communication, military application, Navigation, planetary exploration, deep space exploration, cosmos studies and many more other areas.
The noticeable thing to be mention here is that It is not only ISRO in India who is involved in space and launch market but private firms are also coming up very aggressively with some very exciting designs, concepts and solutions. The biggest area of competition is the low cost launching. To understand all this, we need to analyze various areas individually.
Satellites launching:
Currently ISRO has emerged as the most cost effective launcher of small and medium satellite into LEO and Polar orbit. ISRO has operationalized its medium lift rocket named GSLV MK2 and it has started putting satellites in Geosynchronous orbit up to 2.2 tons with very high precision but they have yet to get customer for this segment. So far as launch of nano and medium wright satellites are concern, ISRO has almost established a monopoly in the market and has render other space agency noncompetitive. The famous space agency of US named Space X is completely rattled by the cost effective launch of ISRO and has urged US government to put a ban on launching of US companies' satellites by ISRO. However, Ignoring the high cost of launch by space X, US companies are rushing to ISRO for highly cost effective launches which cost just 50% to 60% of any other space agency. This has attracted many US companies like google and planet lab (Whose 88 satellites were launched in mission on 15th) and UK Company like DMC International Imaging etc. ISRO’s customer base spread across whole world.
As this is not enough, ISRO is working on reusable launch vehicle in which the stages used for launch shall be recovered and used once again for the launch. ISRO is also working on space shuttle technology for launch which will be used to launch satellite and they will renter earth and land on on an air strip like a plane for the use for next time. ISRO has also successfully tested scramjet technology and it is aimed to generate high thrust in low weight engine. ISRO aims to bring down launch cost to Just 10% of current cost. ISRO has also demonstrated a launch capability in multiple orbit with single vehicle and this has provided ISRO and ability to launch multiple satellites in different orbits to make launch more cost effective.
To the pleasant surprise of Indian space technology fans, a company named Bellatrix has come up with a great light weight design of rockets named Garuda and Chetak which are highly cost effective and very light weight designs with all goodies of latest space vehicles. Garuda wigs just 43 tons and it has a capability to carry 1 ton+ satellite in polar orbit. Its stages are reusable and uper stage is designed to have multiple restart capability. This will felicitate launching of multi orbit satellites in a single launch. This rockets are very light weight and made of composite material. They are reusable and amenable to restart. This will facilitate multi orbit launching. They will have a little logistic issue and shall be able to be launched from a place having very low assembly facilities.
Bellatrix is also developing a rocket named chetak.. It shall just be a 12 ton weight class rocket and shall be capable to be launched from anywhere and shall be capable to launch 150 KG class satellites in LEO. ISRO’s capability of multiple launches and launches in different orbit with a single rocket gives ISRO a tremendous flexibility and capability to exploit its capability fully.
Navigation:
Another area where ISRO has taken a giant stride is in the area of navigation global positioning system. India used to use American GPS consortium signals for a long time. ISRO operationalized a system named GAGAN which augments the GPS signals and give better accuracy. GSAT8, GSAT 10 and GSAT 15 carried GAGAN payloads. This was primary step which followed by Indian own GPS named INRSS which is a consortium of 7 satellite and provides highly accurate position and signals on earth and in the sky. India launch these satellite one by one and operationalized the system in May 2016 with the last launch of INRSS in April 16 2016.The benefit of this system is that it has made india totally independent and self-reliant in the field of Navigation and positioning. This consortium can provide its services in India and other 1500 KM in adjacent areas . This means that it can covers whole Indian sub-continent and area extending to Afghanistan, Iran and up to middle east and large part of china and up to Vietnam. One Brahmos Missile launch had failed because of cut off of GPS signals. Now India has its own positioning system and India can use it for all defense purposes and extend this services to many neighboring nation. India has a plan to expand this network to large geographical area.
Earth observation and remote sensing:
India has a very wide based space program and earth observation and remote sensing being the very important area of the focus of ISRO right from the beginning. ISRO started Its journey with ISR series and extended it to TES , Oceansat, Cartosat and Resourcesat. With TES launch in 2001, ISRO entered into 1 m resolution club. These satellites has played a great role in Opium crop detection, forest fire, Monsoon prediction, crop yield prediction etc, Cyclone and Tsunami prediction etc. This has helped Indian government a lot in resource planning. Tsunami did a great damage to India in 2004 when India did not have Tsunami warning system is put in place subsequently by India. Now India predicts cyclone with a great accuracy India is able to save many lives because of early warning of flood, Tsunamis, Cyclone like natural calamity. India provide this survives to her allies and neighbors also. It provides accurate warning of any abnormal whether to fishermen going to see for fishing.
The resolution of India satellites have reached to as small as 64 cm now. Recently launched cartosat 2 has 64 cm resolution. This is very important not only from cartographies studies and planning but they provide a great reconnaissance in border area and provides real time information of enemy assets. In recent surgical strike by India forces in Pakistan, cartosat imaginaries were used to plan operation. It is said that US had used Indian satellite images to strike Osama bin laden in Afghanistan. ISRO has generated a huge DATA base of mapping of earth and it is accessible on the payment of fees.
ISRO’s coming CARTOSAT series shall have 25 cm resolution. It will be able to virtually see almost anything from space. ISRO and NASA has collaborated in making synthetic apparatus radar based satellite named NISAR . It will have a very very high resolution and virtually be able to see anything from space. It will monitor smallest of geographical change.
Planetary and space studies:
India begin her mission with highly successful launch of Mission to the moon followed by copy book launch to MARS. These missions have bought a lots of Information about moon and mars to mankind. India launch astrosat which is believed to be the a mini version of America’s Hubble telescope. This satellite created a sensation in space community by solving a 100+ years old Mistry a star consortium. India is getting ready for mission Aditya for the study of sun. India is also planning a mission to Saturn and Venus. India is all set to study universe with the help of its multifaceted space program. This will help mankind to understand universe better.
Communication satellites and whether forecasting:
Recently Israeli official came to India with an objective forging the partnership with ISRO. He told that ISRO has a top class technology in this area. This in itself tells a lot about the capability ISRO has developed in this area. Starting with early INSAT satellites, ISRO has taken a giant stride in this area. To take care of huge communication and DATA transfer requirements, ISRO is building very high capacity communication satellites. Recent launch of GSAT 18 carries 48 transponders of KU and KA band. ISOR’s Upcoming satellite shall be of very high capability and it will eliminate the need of CABLE network for internet access.
India has great whether forecasting satellites right from the time of INSAT. India lounch its state of art whether satellite in September 2016 with ISRO’s own rocket GSLV MK2. It has joined its predecessor INSAT 3D. These satellites have Multispectral Imager, Sounder and weather Data Relay Transponder. They are able to forecast whether very accurately.
Indian armed forces started getting their dedicated satellite since 2013 with the launch of GSAT -7 or Rukmini. In 2015, India got its second dedicated military satellite totally ending the dependence of Armed forces on civilian satellites. These enhanced the armed forces capability and planning ability by a great margin.
Recently ISRO announced that it is working on a satellite of 4 ton which will give the output of 6 ton satellite. ISRO has introduced electrical propulsion in satellite which will greatly enhance the life span of Satellites.
Conclusion: India has a very highly ambitious space programmer. It is very wide ranging program extending from Earth observation, Navigation, space exploration and high speed DATA communication. ISRO has establish itself as a highly cost effective space agency which offers a highly cost effective solution wide ranging application ranging from Satellite launch to remote sensing DATA and communication. The only areas where India legs behind are launch of heavy satellite and man mission to space. ISOR is all set to operationalize its capability of carrying 4+ ton satellite carrying to GTO orbit with GSLV Mk3. This will improve to over 6+ tons with coming of semi cryogenic engine. Manned mission is Not ISRO’s priority.
India and ISRO are all set to take giant stride in space and particularly in low cost solutions of space applications. ISRO’s plans are so aggressive that it will render most of other space agencies economically nonviable and will out them in any commercial race. India is all set to be the King of space.
-HariPrasad
The achievement of ISRO is not only significant in terms of technical and scientific achievements, but the most important of all is the commercial aspects of these launches. In last few years, ISRO has emerged as the most economical yet very effective and precise space agency who has attracted the attention of whole world for their highly innovative and cost effective solutions in space market. The space agencies across the world are unable to contain their attraction to be the partner of ISRO to collaborate to get high end technologies and cost effective space launch solutions. The achievement of ISRO is not confined only to the cost effective launches but ISRO has a multidimensional space program ranging from remote sensing, communication, military application, Navigation, planetary exploration, deep space exploration, cosmos studies and many more other areas.
The noticeable thing to be mention here is that It is not only ISRO in India who is involved in space and launch market but private firms are also coming up very aggressively with some very exciting designs, concepts and solutions. The biggest area of competition is the low cost launching. To understand all this, we need to analyze various areas individually.
Satellites launching:
Currently ISRO has emerged as the most cost effective launcher of small and medium satellite into LEO and Polar orbit. ISRO has operationalized its medium lift rocket named GSLV MK2 and it has started putting satellites in Geosynchronous orbit up to 2.2 tons with very high precision but they have yet to get customer for this segment. So far as launch of nano and medium wright satellites are concern, ISRO has almost established a monopoly in the market and has render other space agency noncompetitive. The famous space agency of US named Space X is completely rattled by the cost effective launch of ISRO and has urged US government to put a ban on launching of US companies' satellites by ISRO. However, Ignoring the high cost of launch by space X, US companies are rushing to ISRO for highly cost effective launches which cost just 50% to 60% of any other space agency. This has attracted many US companies like google and planet lab (Whose 88 satellites were launched in mission on 15th) and UK Company like DMC International Imaging etc. ISRO’s customer base spread across whole world.
As this is not enough, ISRO is working on reusable launch vehicle in which the stages used for launch shall be recovered and used once again for the launch. ISRO is also working on space shuttle technology for launch which will be used to launch satellite and they will renter earth and land on on an air strip like a plane for the use for next time. ISRO has also successfully tested scramjet technology and it is aimed to generate high thrust in low weight engine. ISRO aims to bring down launch cost to Just 10% of current cost. ISRO has also demonstrated a launch capability in multiple orbit with single vehicle and this has provided ISRO and ability to launch multiple satellites in different orbits to make launch more cost effective.
To the pleasant surprise of Indian space technology fans, a company named Bellatrix has come up with a great light weight design of rockets named Garuda and Chetak which are highly cost effective and very light weight designs with all goodies of latest space vehicles. Garuda wigs just 43 tons and it has a capability to carry 1 ton+ satellite in polar orbit. Its stages are reusable and uper stage is designed to have multiple restart capability. This will felicitate launching of multi orbit satellites in a single launch. This rockets are very light weight and made of composite material. They are reusable and amenable to restart. This will facilitate multi orbit launching. They will have a little logistic issue and shall be able to be launched from a place having very low assembly facilities.
Bellatrix is also developing a rocket named chetak.. It shall just be a 12 ton weight class rocket and shall be capable to be launched from anywhere and shall be capable to launch 150 KG class satellites in LEO. ISRO’s capability of multiple launches and launches in different orbit with a single rocket gives ISRO a tremendous flexibility and capability to exploit its capability fully.
Navigation:
Another area where ISRO has taken a giant stride is in the area of navigation global positioning system. India used to use American GPS consortium signals for a long time. ISRO operationalized a system named GAGAN which augments the GPS signals and give better accuracy. GSAT8, GSAT 10 and GSAT 15 carried GAGAN payloads. This was primary step which followed by Indian own GPS named INRSS which is a consortium of 7 satellite and provides highly accurate position and signals on earth and in the sky. India launch these satellite one by one and operationalized the system in May 2016 with the last launch of INRSS in April 16 2016.The benefit of this system is that it has made india totally independent and self-reliant in the field of Navigation and positioning. This consortium can provide its services in India and other 1500 KM in adjacent areas . This means that it can covers whole Indian sub-continent and area extending to Afghanistan, Iran and up to middle east and large part of china and up to Vietnam. One Brahmos Missile launch had failed because of cut off of GPS signals. Now India has its own positioning system and India can use it for all defense purposes and extend this services to many neighboring nation. India has a plan to expand this network to large geographical area.
Earth observation and remote sensing:
India has a very wide based space program and earth observation and remote sensing being the very important area of the focus of ISRO right from the beginning. ISRO started Its journey with ISR series and extended it to TES , Oceansat, Cartosat and Resourcesat. With TES launch in 2001, ISRO entered into 1 m resolution club. These satellites has played a great role in Opium crop detection, forest fire, Monsoon prediction, crop yield prediction etc, Cyclone and Tsunami prediction etc. This has helped Indian government a lot in resource planning. Tsunami did a great damage to India in 2004 when India did not have Tsunami warning system is put in place subsequently by India. Now India predicts cyclone with a great accuracy India is able to save many lives because of early warning of flood, Tsunamis, Cyclone like natural calamity. India provide this survives to her allies and neighbors also. It provides accurate warning of any abnormal whether to fishermen going to see for fishing.
The resolution of India satellites have reached to as small as 64 cm now. Recently launched cartosat 2 has 64 cm resolution. This is very important not only from cartographies studies and planning but they provide a great reconnaissance in border area and provides real time information of enemy assets. In recent surgical strike by India forces in Pakistan, cartosat imaginaries were used to plan operation. It is said that US had used Indian satellite images to strike Osama bin laden in Afghanistan. ISRO has generated a huge DATA base of mapping of earth and it is accessible on the payment of fees.
ISRO’s coming CARTOSAT series shall have 25 cm resolution. It will be able to virtually see almost anything from space. ISRO and NASA has collaborated in making synthetic apparatus radar based satellite named NISAR . It will have a very very high resolution and virtually be able to see anything from space. It will monitor smallest of geographical change.
Planetary and space studies:
India begin her mission with highly successful launch of Mission to the moon followed by copy book launch to MARS. These missions have bought a lots of Information about moon and mars to mankind. India launch astrosat which is believed to be the a mini version of America’s Hubble telescope. This satellite created a sensation in space community by solving a 100+ years old Mistry a star consortium. India is getting ready for mission Aditya for the study of sun. India is also planning a mission to Saturn and Venus. India is all set to study universe with the help of its multifaceted space program. This will help mankind to understand universe better.
Communication satellites and whether forecasting:
Recently Israeli official came to India with an objective forging the partnership with ISRO. He told that ISRO has a top class technology in this area. This in itself tells a lot about the capability ISRO has developed in this area. Starting with early INSAT satellites, ISRO has taken a giant stride in this area. To take care of huge communication and DATA transfer requirements, ISRO is building very high capacity communication satellites. Recent launch of GSAT 18 carries 48 transponders of KU and KA band. ISOR’s Upcoming satellite shall be of very high capability and it will eliminate the need of CABLE network for internet access.
India has great whether forecasting satellites right from the time of INSAT. India lounch its state of art whether satellite in September 2016 with ISRO’s own rocket GSLV MK2. It has joined its predecessor INSAT 3D. These satellites have Multispectral Imager, Sounder and weather Data Relay Transponder. They are able to forecast whether very accurately.
Indian armed forces started getting their dedicated satellite since 2013 with the launch of GSAT -7 or Rukmini. In 2015, India got its second dedicated military satellite totally ending the dependence of Armed forces on civilian satellites. These enhanced the armed forces capability and planning ability by a great margin.
Recently ISRO announced that it is working on a satellite of 4 ton which will give the output of 6 ton satellite. ISRO has introduced electrical propulsion in satellite which will greatly enhance the life span of Satellites.
Conclusion: India has a very highly ambitious space programmer. It is very wide ranging program extending from Earth observation, Navigation, space exploration and high speed DATA communication. ISRO has establish itself as a highly cost effective space agency which offers a highly cost effective solution wide ranging application ranging from Satellite launch to remote sensing DATA and communication. The only areas where India legs behind are launch of heavy satellite and man mission to space. ISOR is all set to operationalize its capability of carrying 4+ ton satellite carrying to GTO orbit with GSLV Mk3. This will improve to over 6+ tons with coming of semi cryogenic engine. Manned mission is Not ISRO’s priority.
India and ISRO are all set to take giant stride in space and particularly in low cost solutions of space applications. ISRO’s plans are so aggressive that it will render most of other space agencies economically nonviable and will out them in any commercial race. India is all set to be the King of space.
-HariPrasad
