ISRO news and views

[Triton]

Indian scientists discover new bacteria in Stratosphere

Three new species of bacteria, which are not found on earth and highly resistant to ultra violet radiation, have been discovered in the upper stratosphere by some Indian scientists.

One of the new species has been named as Janibacter Hoylei after the distinguished astrophysicist Fred Hoyle. The second bacteria has been named as Bacillus Isronensis recognising the contribution of ISRO in balloon experiments which led to its discovery and the third bacterial bacillus Aryabhata after India's celebrated ancient astronomer Aryabhata and also the first satellite of ISRO.

According to ISRO, the balloon experiment was conducted using 26.7 million cubic feet balloon carrying a 459 kg scientific payload soaked in 38 kg of liquid neon which was flown from the national balloon facility in Hyderabad, operated by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

The payload consisted of a cryosampler containing 16 evacuated and sterilised stainless steel probes. Throughout the flight, the probes remained immersed in the liquid neon to create a "cryopump effect". These cylinders after collecting air samples from different heights ranging from 20 to 41 km were parachuted down and safely retrieved, it said.

The samples were analysed by the scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, as well as the National Centre for Cell Sciences, Pune, for independent examination.

Hope this will not challenge the theory of earths gravity :drink:

 

[Triton]

India Set To Launch Imaging Satellite With Israeli Support

India is all set to launch a radar imaging satellite (RISAT) built with "substantial inputs" from the Israel aerospace industry from Sriharikota spaceport, an ISRO official said.

Israel has supplied Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which is in fact "heart" of the 1780-kg remote sensing satellite, the official told PTI on condition of anonymity. "Israel has supplied substantial systems," the ISRO official said.

The Israeli "inputs" are seen as a "return gesture" by the Jewish State to New Delhi for launching an Israeli spacecraft Techsar on board India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota last year.

"RISAT is likely to be launched in the first half of April. We are looking at April five or six," the official said.

An active sensor, SAR operates in the microwave range of electromagnetic spectrum and provides the target parameters such as dielectric constant, roughness, and geometry.

 

[nitesh]

International conference on Megha-Tropiques begins today

Isro chief, HEC to talk space

‘Megha-Tropiques in advanced stage of development’

Indo-French satellite to study tropical areas

 

[A.V.]

ISRO to launch a Google Earth clone service, Bhuvan

New Delhi, March 10, 2009: ISRO to launch a Google Earth clone service, Bhuvan. The India Space Agency, ISRO , will be soon launching Bhuvan, meaning “Earth” in Sanskrti , a service similar to Google Earth. The launch date has not been announced as yet but V. Jayaraman, the Director of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) an ISRO unit in specializes in satellite image processing and distribution, said that the content generation is taking time. In November, the launch date was set for March.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to take on mighty Google Earth through Bhuvan, its online earth mapping service.

The premier space agency of India that has received kudos for its successful launch of India’s first moon mission has announced the launching of a new project called Bhuvan which will map the earth using Indian Satellites.

This will be India's answer to current mapping tools like Google Earth and Wikimapia.

Bhuvan will have the capacity to zoom upto 20m while Google earth currently zooms upto 200 m and Wikimapia upto 50 m.

Unlike the other two, Bhuvan will focus only on the Indian subcontinent.

The official launch will be during the first half of 2009.

Dr G Madhavan Nair, ISRO chairman while detailing the project said “Bhuvan will use the data recorded by the Indian satellites only. The prototype of Bhuvan will be ready by the end of November and ISRO is hoping to officially launch the service by March next”.

Nair added that “With Bhuvan we will be able to produce very local information which will be specific to only to our own country. This information available from this mapping system will be useful in addressing very local problems like floods, famines, infrastructure development, education and much more”.

The ISRO chairman added “The information on Bhuvan will be layer wise and the options of viewing filtered information will be available. Inputs from a lot of local players, like farmers, fishermen and likes who know the local area in and out, will also being integrated in Bhuvan. This is for the primary reason to make it of more use to the general public”.

http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20727&Itemid=62

 

[nitesh]

Interesting twist:

http://www.ptinews.com/pti\ptisite.nsf/0/EA8E699EECD2642D65257585006192E6?OpenDocument

Asked if RISAT is an Israeli satellite or an Indian one, the Secretary in the Department of Space said "we don't launch any Israeli satellite. It's an Indian satellite".

On whether Israel has contributed to the satellite, Nair said "no. That many countries contribute, not only Israel. It's our satellite".

Asked if Israel supplied Synthetic Aperture Radar for the satellite, he said "those finer details...We will talk when we make the launch".

 

[nitesh]

ISRO hopes to map surface of Moon

 

[nitesh]

Terrorism at it's best

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/...+Nair,+Kasturirangan&SectionName=X7s7i|xOZ5Y=

LeT targeted Madhavan, Kasturirangan

KOZHIKODE: Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had plans to assassinate senior scientists in India, including ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and former chairman Kasturirangan.

This was disclosed by international terrorist Sarfaraz Nawaz during the interrogation by the Karnataka police.

Jasim also mentioned that film star Govinda was also on LeT target list.’ LeT had carried out an attack at the IISc, Bangalore. Nawaz’s statement has detailed accounts of how the terrorists in Kerala operated as per instructions from their leaders in Pakistan and in the Gulf.

 

[Triton]

New data from moon’s poles soon: ISRO

The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), one of the Indian payloads on board Chandrayaan-1, has completed about 40 per cent coverage of the lunar polar region and it will soon provide new data, according to J.A. Kamalakar of Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bangalore.

The current status of the Chandrayaan-1 mission and the salient features of the initial results obtained by its various onboard instruments were presented on March 24 at a special session on lunar missions at the 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held at Texas, U.S.

Professor J.N. Goswami, Director, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and also Principal Scientist, Chandrayaan-1, said more than a 1,000 delegates from across the world attended the conference. The Chandrayaan-1 team members presented a dozen papers at the session. The extensive coverage of the lunar polar region by the LLRI was presented by Dr. Kamalakar. He said the instrument provided details of the topography of lunar surface and crater bases.

(The LLRI is a laser radar that generates data on the height or depth of hills, mountains, valleys and craters on the moon). Paul Spudis, Principal Investigator of Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (miniSAR) instrument, said data from some of the shadowed areas in the lunar polar region had been obtained. Dr. Spudis indicated that (work on obtaining) data for permanently shadowed polar regions of the moon to look for possible signatures of water-ice, mixed with upper layers of lunar soil, would be initiated soon.

 

[nitesh]

bad news guys

http://www.hinduonnet.com/holnus/001200903311811.htm

One killed as roof collapses on ISRO campus

Thiruvananthapuram (IANS): One worker was killed and nearly 30 others were injured on Tuesday when the roof of a building under construction came crashing down at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) campus in the Kerala capital.

Eight of the injured are in a serious condition. The accident took place when a portion of the roof of the new five-storey building gave way, an ISRO official said.

"The building was to be used to assemble rockets," the official said. "Construction work was going on and hence there were several workers. Rescue operations are on."

The ISRO campus is also known as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

An Indian space shuttle takes shape

http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/01/stories/2009040161821100.htm

Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator to fly within a year

— PHOTO: ISRO

An engineering model of the Indian space shuttle called “Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator” at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

CHENNAI: An Indian version of the space shuttle will be test-flown from the spaceport at Sriharikota in a year’s time. The Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), as it is called, will be a combination rocket-aircraft: the aircraft with a winged body, which is the RLV, will sit vertically on the rocket.

The engineering model of the aircraft is ready at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram. The first stage of the Satellite Launch Vehicle-3, flown in the early 1980s, will form the booster rocket. Weighing nine tonnes, it is called S-9.

After it takes off like a rocket, the booster will release the unmanned aircraft, which will go into space. At the end of the mission, the aircraft will land in the sea.

K. Radhakrishnan, Director, VSSC, said in an interview: “The next year we expect the prototype of the RLV-TD to be ready for flight-testing. This will be a milestone for ISRO.” The RLV “will open a new dimension in the launch vehicle technology and transportation system of ISRO.”

According to Dr. Radhakrishnan, ground testing of the booster rocket was done at Sriharikota in December 2008.

S. Ramakrishnan, Director (Projects), VSSC, explained how the rocket-aircraft would look: “The aircraft will stand over the rocket, nose-tip up, and its tail will be interfaced with the rocket. In other words, the entire RLV will stand vertically on top of the booster.” The engineering model of the prototype RLV was ready at the VSSC. “It will undergo various structural and load tests,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said.

The booster rocket will take the RLV to a specific altitude, release the RLV and fall into the sea. On re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, the RLV will land in the sea, to be recovered.

“Re-entry, descent and recovery are the three issues which we are trying to understand,” Mr. Ramakrishnan said. But in the first trial-flight in 2010, the RLV will not be recovered from sea because it will not be cost-effective to do so. “But we will get the data on the re-entry, deceleration and return from the telemetry.”

There were several issues that the ISRO was trying to understand in the mission, Dr. Radhakrishnan said. These included the aerodynamics of the RLV, compared to the rocket, and the controllability of the vehicle. “The control system must be fast-acting. That is the basic challenge. The digital auto-pilot is important for the ascent phase and the descent phase.”

The third important challenge was the heat generated when the RLV re-entered the atmosphere. Dr. Radhakrishnan said: “You need to have hot structures [which can withstand the re-entry heat]… Today, we have a handle on the materials.”

The ISRO had a long way to go before it could build an operational RLV, he said. “This is the first TD towards that.”

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[nitesh]

 

[nitesh]

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index....iew&id=35477&sectionid=4&issueid=100&Itemid=1

ISRO chief Madhavan Nair gets Z category security
PTI
New Delhi, April 5, 2009

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G. Madhavan Nair and six other prominent space scientists have been provided with security cover following threat to their lives after a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant claimed that plans were being hatched to kidnap or assassinate them.

Sources in the Union home ministry said 65-year-old Nair, who is also the Secretary, Department of Space, has been provided with "Z" category security while the other six scientists associated with the satellite and rocket divisions were given "Y" category security.

The move comes in the wake of interrogation of Furfur Nawaz alias Shabaz Nawaz, a Lashkar militant, recently deported from a Gulf country. He told the interrogators that Lashker had made plans to either kidnap or assassinate some of the prominent scientists including Nair, the sources said.

Under the Z category, Nair, a recipient of country's second highest civilian award – Padma Vibushan – will have an escort and guards round-the-clock. The other scientists will have a personal security officer and two guards each.

When contacted over phone, Director (Public Relations) of ISRO S. Satish told PTI that the organisation had received an alert from Union home ministry following which the security was reviewed and necessary measures were taken.

The security of the campus and some of the prominent scientists was reviewed, he said, without divulging any of the names.

Sources in the home ministry said security around other scientific installation across the country has also been enhanced manifold. During interrogation, Nawaz said that he had conducted a recce of important scientific installations in Bangalore, the sources said.

He said second-rung leadership of Lashker had also visited gulf countries to prepare modules to target scientists.

"Some money had also been allocated for the purpose," the sources said quoting Nawaz's interrogation report.

 

[nitesh]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/04/06/stories/2009040651310300.htm

Bangalore, April 5
At a time when the country grapples with terror threats and security concerns have peaked, a radar imaging satellite that is due to be put in orbit later in April is expected to give extra teeth to the nation’s eyes and ears in the sky — ISRO’s constellation of earth observation satellites.

ISRO also plans to send up a second one, Radar Imaging Satellite-2, towards the end of this year to complement the upcoming RISAT-1.

At a time when the Ministry for Home Affairs has put even the space agency’s scientists on terror alert, the project is sensitive to a normally open ISRO, which is playing down the project and its Israeli input. “RISAT-1 (Radar Imaging Satellite) is an all-weather satellite, capable of seeing through rain and cloud; and at night too,” is all its officials would say. It will orbit pole to pole from a height of around 600 km.

The brain of the 1,780-kg RISAT-1 is a C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) based on active phased array technology. ISRO has procured the SAR for RISAT-1 from Israel. “Except for the SAR that we procured, it is our satellite,” an official unwilling to be named said, meaning to distinguish it from the TecSAR/Polaris surveillance satellite that the space agency launched for Israel in January 2008.

“Corresponding developments on the ground data processing systems with large computational requirements is yet another requirement,” ISRO’s Web site says.

However, RISAT-2 will be fully indigenous and development work is in progress at the Space Applications Centre, the official said. The US, Europe, Canada and Israel are among the few countries that have the SAR capability. The recent lunar mission — Chandrayaan-1 — uses NASA’s mini-SAR as a guest instrument.

Who will be the primary user of RISAT? How useful will it be to secure vital scientific and commercial establishments that face risk? Will data from RISAT be commercially available, just as data from IRS are? Answers to these will have to wait for now.

A SAR system ‘sees’ opaque objects that take cover under darkness, foliage, haze or clouds. These features, ISRO officials admit, are warranted by India’s risk-ridden location; they were lacking in the IRS remote sensing satellites that have been launched in the last two decades. “Ninety five per cent of our data requirement can be met by (the regular) optical imaging satellites. When we needed radar images, we have obtained them from other satellites like Canada’s Radarsat,” one official said.

A RISAT brings other advantages, such as timely information during floods, natural calamities and quicker assessment of damage and deployment of relief to those areas. A radar imaging spacecraft is estimated to cost much more than the Rs 150 crore that a regular IRS costs.

About RISAT, the ISRO Web site says the radar provides target parameters such as roughness and geometry and has the unique capability for day-night imaging, in fog, haze or any weather conditions. It can glean soil moisture data and give spatial resolutions of 3 metres to 50 metres and a sweep of 10-240 km.

According to information available online, regular earth observation satellites sense reflected sunlight; a SAR transmits microwave energy towards the surface and records the reflections. It can also offer fairly clear terrain features, identify selected man-made targets and movements and can be handy for 24x7 military requirements.

Some SAR systems are built to ‘see’ select underground utility lines, arms caches, bunkers, mines, oil slicks and moving vehicles, says the Web site of US SAR leader Sandia National Laboratories.

 

[SATISH]

Russia and India Collaborate on Future Space Missions

Russia and India Collaborate on Future Space Missions

http://www.idrw.org/2009/04/09/russia_and_india_collaborate_on_future_space_missions.html

According to Madhavan Nair, the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO):

“We are considering a manned space flight of our own. Russia has vast experience in man-controlled spaceflight, which we hope it will share with us to help the Indian space programme. We plan to perform the first Indian space flight on a Russian space vessel.”In April of 1984, India launched its first Indo-Soviet mission onboard a Salyut-7. Rakesh Sharma, an Indian Air Force pilot, became the first Indian astronaut to travel in space. Nearly three decades after Sharma’s historic flight, in keeping with its primary objective to develop space technology for India, the ISRO is scheduling a human space flight known as the Chandrayaan-II project for the year 2015, which will herald the onset of Indian Space Research.Late last year, India and Russia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Activities in the Field of Human Spaceflight Programme. ISRO also sent a space capsule, which was recovered after 22 days in orbit. Once again according to Madhavan Nair:

“As per the agreement, an Indian astronaut will first go on a space mission on a Russian spacecraft. An Indian-manned mission to space in 2015 will follow. ISRO and the Russian space agency, Roskosmos, will jointly build the spacecraft
for the Indian manned mission and we will be redesigning the Soyuz space capsule of the Russian agency for our mission.”

Anatoly Perminov, director of the Russian Space Agency, or Roskosmos said:

"This is a very interesting project. Russia and India will be developing a spacecraft jointly."

Russia and India are also expected to collaborate on launch vehicles for future space missions. The two sides will also set up the India-Russia Centre for Technology Transfer. If the mission is successful, India will become the fourth nation in the world after the US, Russia and China to send a manned mission into outer space. The space race grows with each passing day, and now includes Iran, whose leaders recently announced will embark on a manned space flight by the year 2021.Under the ambitious $2.5 billion plan, India's space agency has proposed to put two people into space orbit at 274 km (about 170 miles) above the earth for seven days. It is indeed a costly venture, as project critics have claimed. But just like any pancake worth its salt, the issue has two sides. In addition to mounting Indian prestige as a growing world power, the mission will also bring military advantages, as the space mission will help India achieve ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) capability. In the words of one official who preferred anonymity:

“To place a spacecraft in orbit we will require a bigger rocket booster. This large rocket booster will help India acquire the ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) capability.”

Putin had this to say:

"We plan to continue our cooperation with India in such high-tech spheres as telecommunications and exploration of space.”

The manned space mission will carry a two-member crew and these IAF (Indian Air Force) pilots will make history as the second Indian astronauts to go into space after Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma. The ISRO wanted one of its scientists onboard the mission along with an IAF) pilot, but the air force won out with its demand that both should be IAF personnel.

One senior IAF official said:

“The crew will consist of two members. We had a meeting with the ISRO scientists and they insisted on sending one scientist and one air force pilot, but we have proposed to depute one of our engineers also with them for training till the mission happens. To be in constant touch with the astronauts as they revolve around the earth, we will need to interlink our satellites, which in turn will boost our reconnaissance capability. Presently we are able to get 15 minutes of feed daily from our satellites. The space mission will give us 90 minutes.”

India is also looking at having manned lunar mission by 2020 and a mission to Mars by 2030. Keeping up with China and other world powers is no small impetus in determining India’s next move in outer space.

One question remains:

Is there room for one more on board?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India's Spy Satellite to be in Orbit on April 20

http://www.techtree.com/India/News/...o_be_in_Orbit_on_April_20/551-100916-547.html

India's Spy Satellite to be in Orbit on April 20

As a means to secure its borders and to keep a check on infiltration round the clock, India is launching an Israeli-made spy satellite aboard the PSLV C12 from Sriharikota in about two weeks time

The launch has been scheduled for April 20 and is considered to be an important mission, keeping in mind the current heightened tension and terrorist strikes that has hit the country hard in recent times. The 300-kg satellite has been designed by The Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and will be accompanied by the tiny, student built Anusat designed by students of the Anna University.

The satellite has been equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology, which gives it an "all weather capability". It is capable of taking images, irrespective of cloud cover, weather conditions or even if its day or night-thanks to the SAR technology. The satellite will be positioned about 550km above the Earth.

India is also developing its own satellite with SAR capabilities. However, that one at 1200 kgs is much heavier compared to its Israeli counterpart. Back in January last year, India had launched another Israeli-made satellite, the TecSAR, that seems to have impressed Indian officials forcing them to go for this second Israeli collaboration.

The launch of this satellite is expected to give a boost to the country's defense and infiltration checking mechanism.

 

[venkat]

The satellite orbit may have to be kept top secret. Pakistanis with help of chinese ASAT may shoot down the spy satellite!

 

[nitesh]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ite-for-study-on-rice/articleshow/4407693.cms

UoP, ISRO to launch satellite for study on rice
16 Apr 2009, 0320 hrs IST, TNN


PUNE: The Biophysics section of the Department of Physics of the University of Pune (UoP) has tied up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to send a satellite named Space Recovery Experiment II (SRE -II) into space to study the effects of micro gravity on the production of rice.

The experiment is the brainchild of Pandit Vidyasagar, head of the biophysics section, and will be sent into space by ISRO. This is the first such satellite experiment to take place in the state. Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, Vidyasagar said, “The experiment was pitched as part of the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment of ISRO and a proposal to that effect was sent. Our experiment was selected and ISRO will send this satellite in the last quarter of 2009.”

“The UoP proposal was one among those submitted by some of the most prestigious institutes in the country, including the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as well as the University of Kerala. The expenses, which will be to the tune of Rs 75 to Rs 85 crore, will be borne by ISRO,” said Pramod Kale, an advisor to the UoP ISRO chair, who was also present at the news conference. After the proposal was made to ISRO, it took six to eight months for the tie-up to materialise.

The Biophysics department has conducted this experiment at its laboratory with an instrument called the clinostat, designed and developed by the laboratory. The instrument studies the effects of microgravity. This instrument creates conditions of microgravity as it is present in space. Speaking about the results of this experiment, Vidyasagar said, “The study carried out on the rice seeds showed that microgravity accelerated the growth of the crop.

 

[Flint]

Thanks for the last Chandrayaan pics nitesh, doesn't our India look dashing in that picture?

 

[nitesh]

Thanks for the last Chandrayaan pics nitesh, doesn't our India look dashing in that picture?

Had u have got any doubt before seeing this picture flint?

 

[venkat]

Flint! A thousand thanks for the india pictures link! Fantastic pictures posted by marathaman! i never imagined that our country is so beautiful.