ISRO General News and Updates

[Free Karma]

ISRO Logs Milestone with Cryo Engine - The New Indian Express

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Taking a big step forward in the development of bigger and more powerful locally-built rocket engines, the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) on Monday successfully conducted the first 'cold flow test' on the CE-20 cryogenic engine, which will power the upper stage of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mk III (GSLV-Mk III).

"It's a milestone," LPSC director Dr K Sivan told 'Express' here on Tuesday, confirming that the test had gone as planned at the LPSC facility in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu. The first 'hot test' - where the engine will be fired for a few seconds- will be performed in three weeks' time, Sivan said. In a cold test, the propellants are not ignited. Cryogenic engines were back in the news with the Kerala High Court making a reference to it on Monday while passing a directive on the infamous ISRO spy case of 1994. The spy case had delayed its development and the ISRO could conduct the first successful flight test aboard the GSLV-Mk II type launch vehicle (GSLV-D5) only on January 5, 2014.

CE-20 is a mightier version of the CE-7.5 engine used in the GSLV-D5 mission. Cryogenic technology is highly complex as the propellants must be stored at extremely low temperatures. The work is progressing on another CE-7.5 engine, which will power the upper stage of the GSLV-D6, a ditto version of the GSLV-D5, expected to be flown in March-April 2015. This flight is very crucial for ISRO to prove that the cryo stage is reliable.

"The work on the engine is in an advanced stage," said N R Vishnu Kartha, LPSC associate director and GSLV Cryogenic Upper Stage Project director.

The CE-20 will make isro self-reliant. The success of the CE-20 engine is crucial for the GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle project. This Mk-III rocket will make ISRO self-reliant in the launch of heavier communication satellites in the 4000-plus kg class. The rocket will give ISRO an edge in the international satellite launch market.

 

[cobra commando]

Isro's human space flight endeavour inches ahead

 

[pmaitra]

Isro's human space flight endeavour inches ahead

The antepenultimate paragraph reads:

The manned flight to space will be undertaken after these tests pass the space-quality criterion. The GSLV MK-III has made at least four to six successful test flights, which means the HSF may take pace by 2020.

I think what was intended is:

The manned flight to space will be undertaken after these tests pass the space-quality criterion. The GSLV MK-III has to make at least four to six successful test flights, which means the HSF may take pace by 2020.

 

[alekhyaochre]

The post,articles here are really informative.Any information about GSLV Mark III.

 

[roma]

Isro's human space flight endeavour inches ahead

i think mods should consider a separate sticky thread for isro manned programs

 

[cobra commando]

India plans second Mars mission in 2018 - IBNLive

 

[Free Karma]

ISRO's Baby Steps at Cheaper Missions - The New Indian Express

Six years after the Union Cabinet gave it the formal go-ahead, a project that will give India cheaper access to space is finally picking up steam at ISRO's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC).

Officials at the LPSC HQ, Valiyamala, said they hoped to run the first major test in connection with the 'semi-cryogenic' engine project by November-end. What is special about the engine is that it uses kerosene as fuel instead of Liquid Hydrogen (LH2), the propellant used in cryogenic engines.

"This will be the first sub-system level test and we will be testing the booster pump for the oxidiser used in the engine,'' LPSC director K Sivan said on Friday. In both cryogenic and the semi-cryogenic engines, Liquid Oxygen is used as oxidiser, which helps the fuel to burn. In addition to being a low-cost technology, the use of highly refined kerosene (RP-1) will enable easier storage and handling.

The cold flow test facility at the LPSC unit in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, where the test is to be conducted, is expected to be completed shortly, Sivan said. In fact, LPSC has had to postpone the test to November owing to the delay in its completion. An integrated test facility also is planned at Mahendragiri where the 'hot test' of the semi-cryo engine - in a hot test, the engine is fired - will be performed.

Employing kerosene as rocket propellant is not a new idea as spacefaring nations such as Russia and the US have been doing it for years. It was in 2008 that the Union Cabinet approved ISRO's semi-cryogenic engine project at an estimated cost of `1,798 crore. Then, the idea was to have the engine ready by 2014.

"The semi-cryogenic engine will facilitate applications for future space missions such as the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), Unified Launch Vehicle (ULV) and vehicles for interplanetary missions,'' the government had said in 2008.

However, indications are that it may take a few more years before this technology gets fine-tuned. ''We will have clarity by the end of next year as to when we can complete the project,'' Sivan said.

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

Experimental flight of GSLV Mark 3 in December: ISRO chief

India will conduct an experimental test of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark 3 in mid-December, ISRO Chief K Radhakrishnan said Tuesday.

The satellite launch vehicle will have a capacity of carrying approximately four tonnes of load, and will be able to launch heavier satellites in space, Radhakrishnan said giving the 50th Foundation Day Address at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

"In mid-December, we will have the experimental flight of the GSLV Mark 3. It will not launch a satellite in this flight, and will be passive in the upper stage," said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief.

"It will be ready for developmental flight in two years," he added.

The vehicle is 42.4 metres tall compared to the other GSLV which is 49 metres. It will be a three-stage vehicle.

Development for the GSLV Mark 3 began in the early 2000s, with the first launch planned for 2009-2010.

Several factors, including the April 15, 2010 failure of the ISRO-developed cryogenic upper stage on the GSLV Mk II, have delayed the programme.

Pointing out that the cryogenic engine used in the launch vehicle, developed totally indigenously, make India one of the few countries with the technology, Radhakrishnan said India still lagged behind several other countries in the capacity of its launch vehicles.

"China has launch vehicles with 5.5 tonnes capacity, Europe has 11 tonnes capacity launch vehicle, US has 13 tonnes capacity launch vehicles and Russia has nearly 10 tonnes capacity vehicles," he said.

The ISRO chief said the long term target is to make a launch vehicle with 12 tonnes capacity.

Experimental flight of GSLV Mark 3 in December: ISRO chief - The Economic Times

 

[cobra commando]

Smaller companies partner for ISRO's precursor to first manned mission - The Economic Times

SRIHARIKOTA: Chennai-based Valeth Hightech is among the smaller companies that will be joining hands with behemoth's like Hindustan Aeronautics in ISRO's experiment aimed at being a precursor to India's first manned mission. The company has machined the silica-based tiles that will shield a trapezoidal pod Indian Space Research Organisation will launch into space and bring back to earth in an experiment in December. The attempt is to test new design features developed for its new- age launch vehicle GSLV Mk-III, which will enable India to launch its heaviest thus far - 4-tonne satellites. A capability that an elite club of US, Russia and China can boast of now. "Many small companies have contributed to this mission, and Valeth's contribution is critical to the mission safety," says S Unnikrishnan Nair, one of the project directors for Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment. For ISRO, the challenge lies in frictional heat that can burn up the crew module as it re-enters the atmosphere from the 126-km high point it is expected to touch in this mission. "The temperature as a result of earth's pull can reach up to 1,600 degree Celcius. To protect the crew module, heat shields are used," said Subba Rao, another scientist at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Scientists said the silica cladding covering the module will keep temperature at a lower level. The entire duration of the experiment is close to 1,140 seconds. The crew module is expected to splash at a point 180 km off Andaman and Nicobar in sea, from where it will be secured by the Indian Coast Guard. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 140 crore, with expenses on the crew module alone at Rs 15 crore.

 

[kurup]

GSAT-16 launch on Dec 5 aims at improving telecom services


Indian Space Research Oraganisation's (ISRO) communication satellite GSAT-16 is all set for launch from Kourou in French Guiana on December 5. The satellite aims at increasing the number of transponders that in turn enhance the satellite-based telecommunication, television, VSAT services in India.

ISRO has hired the French company Arianespace for launching the satellite. The satellite will be launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) by Ariane-5 VA-221 launch vehicle. After its injection into the orbit, ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka will take control of the satellite and perform the initial orbit raising manoeuvres using its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM). Finally, it will be placed in the vicinity of circular geostationary orbit.

Following this, the deployment of appendages such as solar panels, antennas and three axis stabilisation of the satellite will be performed.

With 48 transponders, GSAT-16 has the potential of carrying to the space more transponders than what the other ISRO's communication satellites have been able to achieve to date. The satellite will have 12 Ku band transponders each with 36 MHz usable bandwidth with a footprint covering the Indian mainland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

About the satellite

-GSAT-16 will be the 11th among GSAT series of Indian communication satellites and will have a lifespan of 12 years

-It is similar to GSAT-15 with each satellite weighing 3,150 kg and having power generation capacity of 6.8 kW

-GSAT-16 will offer 24 transponders in the C-band, 12 in the extended C-band and another 12 in the Ku band

The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Nation

 

[kurup]

ISRO crew module

 

[kurup]

 

[cobra commando]

Integrated Cryogenic Engine Manufacturing facility construction begins at HALFrontier India | Frontier India

 

[cobra commando]

[tweet]540121614805790720[/tweet]

 

[cobra commando]

India, US set up joint working group for Mars studies - The Economic Times

 

[Free Karma]

Isro's commercial arm inks 16 contracts with 6 countries | Business Standard News

Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), has finalised contracts to launch 16 satellites of six countries in the coming years.

Minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh, informed this to the Lok Sabha today.

In a written reply to the House, he said, from 1999-till date, Isro had successfully launched 40 satellites of foreign customers from 19 countries on board its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). In doing so, Isro had provided space launching services for developing countries in Asia and Africa.

Antrix has launched an Indonesian satellite, while a contract had been finalised for launching two more. It has also launched a satellite for an African country Algeria, he said.The minister stated projects undertaken by Antrix include establishment of ground stations for reception of data from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites along with processing facilities at 20 locations outside India, building two contemporary communication satellites for European customers, a communication satellite for India's strategic use, providing tracking support for over 70 spacecraft missions of foreign customers and provisioning of satellite transponder capacity from Indian communication satellites.

Antrix has also taken up the launch of 40 foreign satellites onboard PSLV, establishment of ground terminals for tele-education, tele-medicine, disaster mitigation and village resource centres.

The minister said Isro and the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) had been working together to realise a dual frequency (L&S-band) synthetic aperture radar mission for an earth observation satellite. Both agencies had established an Isro-Nasa Mars Working Group to explore the possibilities of enhancing cooperation in Mars exploration.

Isro does not have any plan for developing an Indian space telescope similar to the Hubble Space Telescope, he clarified.

Isro's space exploration projects in the next three years includes a multi-wavelength astronomy satellite 'ASTROSAT' aimed at studying the celestial sources over a wide spectral region covering Visible, Ultraviolet, Soft X-rays and Hard X-ray bands.

Chandrayaan-2 mission comprising of an Indian Orbiter, Lander and Rover. The Orbiter with scientific payloads will orbit around the moon. The scientific payloads onboard the Orbiter, Lander and Rover are expected to perform mineralogical and elemental studies of the lunar surface.

A scientific mission 'Aditya' for solar studies to understand the physical processes that heat the solar corona.

The Union Minister said that Isro is not facing shortage of engineers/scientists/physicists to fill up the sanctioned posts.

He said, as a part of the long term capacity build up strategies for developing high quality human resources in Space Science area, the Department of Space / Isro has introduced fellowship schemes for post graduate students pursuing space science and atmospheric research in eight Universities in the Country;

An one time financial grant to set up Space Science laboratories in select eight Universities in the Country, introduction of research fellowship to enable scientists from universities and other academic and research institutions to visit and conduct research work at national laboratories, academic/research institutions;

Established Joint Astronomy Programme with participation of other research laboratories and an academic institution in organising research in astronomy area leading to award of Ph.D to young research students and developed customized academic programme in Space Science area both at Undergraduate and Graduate level at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.

The Indian Space Research Organisation has set-up a fellowship programme at an American University and has setup an endowed fellowship programme at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), California, USA.

This fellowship programme is established in honour of Dr. Satish Dhawan, who was the former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation.

The fellowship provides an opportunity every year to one meritorious graduating student from the Aerospace Department of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram to be sponsored by the Department of Space, to pursue Masters in Aerospace Engineering at Caltech.

The fellowship programme has started in the winter session of the academic year 2013-14 and one student has availed this fellowship and already completed his Masters degree at Caltech.

 

[pmaitra]

Looking at the size at the shroud, it seems, it can carry even a bigger module into space.

Looking forward to the GSLV Mark 3 launch and the crew module test.

 

[cobra commando]

[tweet]540544720431112192[/tweet]

 

[cobra commando]

Bengaluru: After being deferred twice,India's latest communication satellite GSAT-16 will be launched on Sunday from the space port of Kourou, French Guiana, Indian Space Research Organisation said. "GSAT-16 launch is rescheduled on early morning of Dec 07 at 02:10 hrs (IST) from French Guiana," ISRO said on its website. Hit by inclement weather, the launch of GSAT-16 was deferred for the second time on Friday after it was rescheduled to be put into space in the early hours today by Ariane 5 rocket. The satellite launch was originally scheduled for Friday but was put off. ISRO had rescheduled it for today at 02.09 AM (IST) but within hours it was postponed again, citing the inclement weather at the launch base. Ariane 5 VA221 is to place in orbit GSAT-16 which is designed to augment the national space capacity in communication services, along with DIRECTV-14, built by SSL (Space Systems/Loral) for operator DIRECTV to provide direct-to-home television broadcasts across the US. The capacity crunch has forced ISRO to lease 95 transponders on foreign satellites mainly for private TV broadcasters' use. GSAT-16, with a designated on orbit operational life of 12 years, will boost public and private TV and radio services, large-scale Internet and telephone operations. GSAT-16 will replace INSAT-3E, decommissioned prematurely in April. It will be the 18th satellite to be launched by Arianespace for ISRO.
GSAT-16 satellite set to be launched on Sunday - IBNLive

 

[cobra commando]

GSAT-16 in orbit

kourou: An Ariane Flight designated VA221 today placed the ISRO built telecommunications satellite -GSAT-16 – into the orbit. GSAT-16 separated from the flight 32 minutes after lift off. The launch was put off on December 4 owing to bad weather conditions. "In light of the improvement in the weather conditions over the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace has decided to restart the countdown for Ariane Flight VA221. This mission will place two satellites into orbit: DIRECTV-14 and GSAT-16," said the Arine Space release on 6th December. Lift-off of the Ariane 5 ECA launcher was then set for 2:10 a.m. to 3:19 a.m. in India, on Sunday, December 7. "When referring to our friends of ISRO, I can think of no better word than 'faithful," said Stéphane Israël, the company's Chairman and CEO, in post-launch comments at the Spaceport.. "In 33 years of cooperation, Arianespace has indeed orbited all Indian geostationary satellites which were not assigned to domestic vehicles." Dr. S.K. Shivakumar, Director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's Satellite Centre (ISAC), congratulated Arianespace for today's launch and accurate injection into geostationary transfer orbit for GSAT-16, adding that ISRO will be back next year for GSAT-15's flight on another Ariane 5. "And we do hope in the years to come that many more opportunities to work together will exist for us." With a liftoff mass estimated at 3,180 kg., GSAT-16 carries Ku- and C-band transponders to further augment communication services across India – operating from an orbital position of 55 deg. East.
GSAT-16 in orbit - Frontier India