India unveils manned spacecraft designs
By 2015 India plans sending its first man into space onboard of indigenous spacecraft, Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said at AeroIndia'2009 seminar in Bangalore on 9 February 2009. The Indian manned space programs is tightly link to another highly ambitious program, that of automatic interplanetary missions.
The manned space and automatic interplanetary missions are major points in the Indian national space exploration strategy for the next 30-50 years.
A series of missions to the Moon and Mars are being considered. These will be undertaken "to better understand the Solar system and universe", Madhavan Nair said. For that purpose India will consequently develop the GSLV Mk III super heavy launch vehicle (LV). It features GTO payload capability of 4 tons and LEO 10t. Maiden flight is set for 2010.
In the 2020-2025 timeframe the GSLV Mk III will be supplemented by a partially reusable space system. Its configuration will be determined following flight of technology demonstrators. The latter is already in the design stage. One of those trial vehicles, the RLV-TD, Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator, was on display on ISRO stand at AeroIndia'2009.
As of this time, two and three stage rocket systems are being considered. The upper stage shall be able to reach low-Earth orbit for a weekly stay there, and then fly back to the launch base to be reused.
Next step is a spacecraft able to takeoff using runway, reach space and then land on the runway. Maiden flight for this reusable system is set for 2050.
Development of heavy LVs is seen as a key enabler. "Of course, this is a question of access to the deeper space", Madhavan Nair commented.
The above-mentioned grandeur plans apparently pretend for the larger half of the Indian space budget. However, Madhavan Nair clarified that, up to years of 2020-2025, the top priority of the national space activities will continue to be on various programs on communication and navigation. The reason to that is the growing solvent demand for such services, in both domestic and international markets. Among other directions of the national space program Nair named "Enhancing capability for natural resources management, weather and climate change studies... enhanced imaging capability, space science missions."
Human space missions" is "an important element" of the national space plan, Madhavan Nair stated. Presenting a draft design of the indigenous manned spacecraft, he said "I am talking about virtually something like a dream". After the successful automatic mission to the Moon using the 1380-kg Chandrayaan-1 probing spacecraft (its launch took place in the morning of 22 October 2008, atop of PSLV-C11 rocket), the Indian scientists have "naturally" started thinking of "something greater". "So far our way has been to concentrate on practical projects, to help solve of the problems of the man and society. But now, since we have time to think it over... we should take a look at how we can have a manned mission", Nair explained.
The ISRO researchers have conceptualized an indigenous "orbital vehicle". It consists of "crew module" (also referred to as "capsule") and "service module". The crew module is designed for re-entry and the service module for mission management. "It could accommodate two astronauts, up to three. It can be taken to the orbit by the GSLV Mark II at the moment, and maybe by Mark III at a later stage. All of the concept is fitting...", Nair stated.
ISRO has been investigating issues relating to man-living conditions in the capsule. "This is going to take time", Nair confessed. "Crew safety is very important. It is not just to put the manned capsule on the top of the rocket. At any phase of the launch we should be able to rescue the astronauts in the case of difficulty. This plan shall be implemented through the entire system".
"If the necessary funding comes through, we hope we can have such a mission in 2015 - sending man into the near orbit and back. Once we have established that, than, maybe, we will be able to build up on that. Next target could be that of reaching to the Moon. Leading countries like US and Japan have declared their plans on deep space exploration. Countries like India can not afford to be lagging behind. I believe this program will take off and be implemented in a timely manner", Nair said.
The above plans are so grand that some people cannot take their breath. Certainly, the immense success of the Chandrayaan-1 flight, the Indians are elated and ready for further advance. "After the Moon mission, people have been asking me why we are not landing on the Moon? Well, it is the way to go", said the chairman of the Indian space research organization.
Rumors have it that India will use its rocket to deliver a compact explanatory vehicle on the Lunar surface in 2011-13 timeframe.
So far, the Indian economy has been doing rather well, much better than US, European and Russian economics. In the past three years the Gross Domestic Product rose with annual rate of 9-10%. This year the GDP will rise by 8%, in the background of zero or even 1-2% drop for the world's economy. In 2010 India hopes to have at least 7% growth. This creates firm foundations for further investment into the national space exploration program.
While asking the government for more funds, ISRO promises to provide relatively low-cost access to space. "Air Breathing Propulsion along with Reusable Launch Vehicle technology will lower the costs of space access drastically", the establishment states. Scramjet engine with supersonic combustion is identified the most critical element in Air Breathing Propulsion Technology.
IRSO has done few steps in development of this technology. Combustion flow simulation and supersonic combustion in ground testing have been successfully achieved. In-flight scramjet engine demonstration and flight test preparations are progressing.
Next step is flight tests are planned on the Scramjet Engine Demonstration Vehicle. That's a sort of rocket outfitted with an air breathing engine. It will be followed by flights of the Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). Future missions include LEX (landing experiment), REX (Return Flight Experiment) and SPEX (Scramjet Propulsion Experiment). IRSO stand at Aero India 2009 features RLV-TD model, with the scale 1:20.
The RLV-TD flight will consist of the following phases: ascent phase, combined Coast Phase, HS9 (Indian key word for the first rocket stage) separation, separated coast phase, start of descent phase, entry phase - hypersonic regime, simulation of landing maneuver - terminal phase, splashdown in the sea (both the HS9 and the reusable spacecraft). Maiden flight of the RLV-TD is planned for 2010-12 timeframe.
While all these "space dreams" may sound very ambitions to general public, those who have closely followed the Indian space progress have little doubt in the ability of the great Asian nation to make them come true. In addition to tremendous success with the Moon surface picturing, as well as ground surface imagery and communications, the nation has created its own satellite-based positioning system.
It is referred to as the Indian regional navigation satellite system (IRNSS).
As of today, seven satellites are placed in the Geostationary and inclined Geosynchronous orbits. IRSO claims that the IRNSS provides highly accurate position, velocity and time information in the real time mode to a variety of Indian users. The main features of the IRNSS systems are the following: data with good accuracy for a single frequency user with the help of Ionospheric corrections; all weather operation on a 24 hour basis, coverage over India and about 1500 to 2000 km around it.
Successful fulfillment of the IRNSS created foundations for another project, the GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN). In addition to the basic navigation services, the IRNSS and GAGAN can have other applications, such as survey and mapping, precision farming, timing, transport, marine, location based services, personal navigation and mining.
India unveils manned spacecraft designs