ISRO General News and Updates

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The reference in the Indian (Google translation from original Telegu) press for a proposed new launch site in Kulasekharapattan is not really taken seriously by ISRO. Initially to be launched from Sriharikota but may develop a mobile launcher in the future. Sea launch is not under consideration at the present.
No, Indian Sea Dragon coming anytime soon. Mobile launchers for quick reaction systems similar to US Minotaur, Russian Start and Chinese Kuiazhou may be used to have SSLV for same purpose.
Small Satellite Launch vehicle (SSLV) to address the newly developing market for small satellites. Currently, small satellites use rideshare that does not offer customised timing or orbit. Both are determined by the primary payload. The SSLV to only from Sriharikota.
Alternative launch sites may come in the future but currently, Sriharikota’s launch capacity is not being used fully.
No new spaceport.
ISRO’s first mission to Venus (Shukriyaan) to be launched in 20203. Mass and mission architecture already defined. Aditya-L1 – launch in the second half of 2022. Mars Orbiter Mission 2, architecture not yet finalised – may include lander and rover. No date yet.
Shukrayaan-1 - Same schedule
Aditya-L1 - shifted from H2 2020 to H2 2022? - Pushed later by a Gaganyaan or a typo by writer? IMO typo otherwise he wouldn't have announced "second-half".
Mangalyaan-2 - May have orbiter or lander. But no timeline
Chandrayan-3 – not announced yet but there will be a Chandrayaan-3 and more.
Summarizing as Chandrayaan-3 will be follow on mission of Cdy-2 but wasn't planned earlier contrary to reports. May or may not involve Japan.
Space station – announced by the ISRO chairman. It will happen but no timeline.
 

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Reusable Launch Vehicle second mission will involve an airdrop and land on a strip at Chitradurga in Karnataka. Target date – December 2019.
@Haldiram is a fan of these spaceship like systems.
Semi cryogenic engine. Engine development in progress with a target date of 2022. Testing and significant progress will take place AFTER the Gaganyaan mission is over.
Means no GSLV Mark-III with 15 tonnes LEO/6 tonnes GTO capacity or ULV/HLV will come in picture before Gaganyaan.
Next GSLV-Mk3 scheduled for mid-2020 for comsat launches.
Three candidates: GSAT-20, GSAT-22, DRSS-1 (First Satellite of IDRSS).
GSAT-20 (for smart cities) - 5.3 tonnes
(Reddened doesn't suggest it will be launched by ISRO on own).
GSAT-22 - Still lying in SAC
DRSS-1 & 2 each weighs - 3.5 tonnes, vital for safety for Gaganyaan mission. Missed deadline for 2019 is most likely.

What exactly IDRSS is nicely explained here:
India Data Relay Satellite System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Other is uncrerwed Gaganyaan.
There will be two Mk3 launches in 2020 alone.
Will India use the name “astronaut”? ISRO will conduct something in the way of a public poll and make a formal decision.
Anyone?
@allmembers
 

janme

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Means no GSLV Mark-III with 15 tonnes LEO/6 tonnes GTO capacity or ULV/HLV will come in picture before Gaganyaan.
Very conflicting news.Few pages back there was news posted that India is going to buy engines from Russia(for reasons unknown) and now this news.
Also wasn't Semi-cryogenic engines supposed to give us GTO 10 toness or that was to be achieved after clustering?
 

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Very conflicting news.Few pages back there was news posted that India is going to buy engines from Russia(for reasons unknown) and now this news.
Also wasn't Semi-cryogenic engines supposed to give us GTO 10 toness or that was to be achieved after clustering?
The source I quoted says "significant progress" on SCE-200 will be made only after Gaganyaan. May be for stop gap.

Or India will just directly buy RD-180 off the shelf to produce its copies as SCE-200 later.
As news of sale of Russian engines is citing Russia's deputy Prime Ministers while that for SCE-200 is citing VSSC director, we can't reject any.
 

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India’s space station likely to have space for three


BENGALURU: The Indian Space Station, which the Indian Space Research Organisation plans to put in place in five to seven years, will have space for three astronauts, sources told TOI.
The space station will be an extension of the human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan. TOI has learned that the initial designs for the space station – still in a nascent stage – suggest a 20-tonne modular abode in the low earth orbit (LEO), at an altitude of 120km to 140km.

The International Space Station (ISS), jointly managed by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, orbits at an average altitude of 400km. Announcing the project in June this year, Isro chairman K Sivan had said: “We don’t want to be part of ISS. Our station, which will be set up in five to seven years, won’t be very big.”

A space station, with its zero-gravity environment and exposure to space, provides a unique laboratory for scientific research that is difficult to be replicated on Earth. That cells and chemicals behave in a different way in space enables scientists to study variant behaviours and their applications. Some of the major experiments being conducted at ISS include those on Parkinson’s disease and resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy. Research in space have applications also in material development, disaster relief, food and water conservation and waste management.

Much of this, however, will depend on the success of Gaganyaan, which envisages sending three Indian astronauts to space and bringing them back in the same crew module in 2022. Isro plans to use technologies from Gaganyaan for the space station. These include orbital module, life-support system and human-rated launch vehicles for space station programme.

Isro has been working on space docking technology, which is key to manned space missions, for three years. The technology, for which the department of space has earmarked Rs 10crore, will allow transfer of humans from one vehicle or spacecraft to another and refuel spacecraft. Isro is likely to conduct a docking experiment next year.

Isro officials said private firms will be part of the space station programme. “They will make significant contributions,” said a scientist. Sivan had earlier said that Gaganyaan will include participation from about 650 industries.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...have-space-for-three/articleshow/71828669.cms
 

shankyz

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How TN Seshan put India among the stars

CHENNAI: About two decades before he became famous as the chief election commissioner who taught politicians to behave, T N Seshan was busy helping India make its first giant strides in space science.

As administrative director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in the 1970s, Seshan drafted the contract signed with SEP, a company that worked for French space agency CNES, to develop Vikas, India’s first liquid propulsion engine. The engine continues to power Isro’s PSLVs and GSLVs used for missions including Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan.


It was a tough deal to strike as India had no money to offer, just a workforce which had virtually nothing to show. Seshan drafted a contract that offered the French Indian engineering manhours for a fraction of the global cost in return for equal ownership of the technology.

S Nambinarayanan, who led the 50-member Isro team at SEP, France, remembers Seshan dictating the 50-odd page “tricky contract” in one go. “When stenographer Datta Guru gave him the typed text, Seshan ran a pen through it, the tip touching the paper only a few times to inject a comma or to replace a word. This man was extraordinary,” says Narayanan.

Seshan, who signed the deal with the French on August 24, 1974, was a shrewd negotiator too. A few months after the joint venture took off, Roy Gibson, chairman of the newly-formed European Space Agency (ESA), reviewed contracts of member agencies to ensure countries like India did not use rocket technology for military purposes.

He wanted SEP to change a part of a clause that said Isro should use the technology ‘for its own use’ to ‘for its own peaceful use’. Seshan said no. When the French side appeared to be building a strong case, Seshan decided to break the flow. He said he wanted to consult “the highest office in India,” and the talks could continue the next day.

“I am not sure if he consulted anyone,” said Narayanan who accompanied Seshan for the talks. “The next day at the meeting, Seshan put his foot down: There will be no change to the original contract. And if this contract is annulled, India will rethink several other contracts that are lucrative for European companies.” SEP conveyed the message to ESA, which relented.


Seshan respected well-meaning bosses and wielded his authority like a sword. Once, when the mild-mannered Isro chairman Satish Dhawan was in one of his rare irritated moods, Seshan suggested India buy cryogenic technology from France. Dhawan told Seshan to mind only administrative matters, not the technology part. Barely 10 minutes later, Dhawan had forgotten about it and asked for Seshan’s opinion on something. “That’s technology, sir,” Seshan said.

For slack officers, Seshan was a terror who sent them running to the dictionary. He once summoned an underperformer and asked if he had drawn the month’s salary. When the employee nodded, Seshan asked him to deposit the money back in Isro’s account. He thundered: “Go jump into the first agglomeration of water that you see.”

Later, the officer told a colleague that he had to look up the term ‘agglomeration of water’. “A pond or lake would’ve been easier,” he quipped years later.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com..._medium=referral&utm_source=native_share_tray
 

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Chandrayaan-3: Second bid to land on Moon by November 2020


BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which failed to land a probe on Moon in its first attempt in September 2019 (Chandrayaan-2), has begun work on Chandrayaan-3 with a deadline of November 2020, sources said.

Isro has formed multiple committees — an overall panel and three sub-committees — and held at least four high-level meetings since October. The new mission will include only a lander and rover, as the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is functioning well. On Tuesday, the overview committee met with the agenda of reviewing the configuration of Chandrayaan-3. It also looked into the recommendations of various sub-committees on propulsion, sensors, overall engineering, navigation and guidance.

Work is in full flow, said a scientist. So far Isro has looked at 10 specific aspects of the mission, including landing site selection, absolute navigation and local navigation. Sources quoted an office order issued on October 5 as having instructed: “It is essential to carry out detailed analysis on the changes for improving the lander system considering the recommendations of both the expert committee (formed to look into Chandrayaan-2) and the recommendations which could not be implemented due to advanced stage of Chandrayaan-2 flight preparation.”

Another scientist said among the top priority for the new mission is “strengthening the legs of the lander”, so that it allows landing even with a high velocity. Sources said that Isro will be building a new lander and a rover. No final decision has been taken on the number of payloads on the lander.

A source said Isro teams are looking at having a detachable module that will carry fuel. “Tentatively called the propulsion module, it will help in taking the landing module — which will have the rover sitting inside the lander — to the lunar orbit,” the source said. In Chandrayaan-2, fuel carried on the orbiter was used for all the manoeuvres performed post launch and until the separation of the landing module. Here, the propulsion module will aid this process. Isro is also looking at reducing the number of manoeuvres around Earth and also during the transit to the lunar orbit. “Instead of six manoeuvres, we may have just three or four,” a source said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...oon-by-november-2020/articleshow/72047390.cms
 

indiatester

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Chandrayaan-3: Second bid to land on Moon by November 2020


BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which failed to land a probe on Moon in its first attempt in September 2019 (Chandrayaan-2), has begun work on Chandrayaan-3 with a deadline of November 2020, sources said.

Isro has formed multiple committees — an overall panel and three sub-committees — and held at least four high-level meetings since October. The new mission will include only a lander and rover, as the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter is functioning well. On Tuesday, the overview committee met with the agenda of reviewing the configuration of Chandrayaan-3. It also looked into the recommendations of various sub-committees on propulsion, sensors, overall engineering, navigation and guidance.

Work is in full flow, said a scientist. So far Isro has looked at 10 specific aspects of the mission, including landing site selection, absolute navigation and local navigation. Sources quoted an office order issued on October 5 as having instructed: “It is essential to carry out detailed analysis on the changes for improving the lander system considering the recommendations of both the expert committee (formed to look into Chandrayaan-2) and the recommendations which could not be implemented due to advanced stage of Chandrayaan-2 flight preparation.”

Another scientist said among the top priority for the new mission is “strengthening the legs of the lander”, so that it allows landing even with a high velocity. Sources said that Isro will be building a new lander and a rover. No final decision has been taken on the number of payloads on the lander.

A source said Isro teams are looking at having a detachable module that will carry fuel. “Tentatively called the propulsion module, it will help in taking the landing module — which will have the rover sitting inside the lander — to the lunar orbit,” the source said. In Chandrayaan-2, fuel carried on the orbiter was used for all the manoeuvres performed post launch and until the separation of the landing module. Here, the propulsion module will aid this process. Isro is also looking at reducing the number of manoeuvres around Earth and also during the transit to the lunar orbit. “Instead of six manoeuvres, we may have just three or four,” a source said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...oon-by-november-2020/articleshow/72047390.cms
I hope they test the lander and rover with early level gravity first . Double them up as practice for spaceX like recovery of initial stages.
 

G10

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This will be fine if other projects are not affected. Too many projects are getting delayed due to chandrayaan.
 

Prashant12

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Isro to launch Cartosat-3 on November 25, 2 satellites in December to boost military’s space surveillance


NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is gearing up to launch three earth observation or surveillance satellites — one on November 25 and two in December — to beef up the country’s border security through more “eyes in the sky”. Besides three primary satellites, the three PSLV rockets will also carry over two dozen foreign nano and micro satellites.
PSLV C-47 rocket, to be launched from Sriharikota at 9.28 am on November 25, will carry third-generation earth-imaging satellite Cartosat-3 as the primary payload and 13 commercial nanosatellites from the US. The commercial deal for the launch of 13 US nanosatellites was earlier signed by newly formed commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), according to Isro. Cartosat-3 will be placed in an orbit of 509 km at an inclination of 97.5 degree.

Thereafter, Isro will launch two more surveillance satellites— Risat-2BR1 and Risat-2BR2 —with the help of PSLVC48 and C49 rockets to be set off from Sriharikota in December, according to spaceflight. The agency had earlier launched surveillance satellite Risat-2B on May 22 and EMISAT (electronic intelligence satellite to help DRDO keep an eye on enemy radars) on April 1. The six-month hiatus in the launch of operational satellites happened due to the Chandrayaan-2 mission in that period. This will be for the first time in Isro’s history that all satellites launched from Sriharikota in a year are meant for military purpose.

Cartosat-3 is highly advanced than its predecessor Cartosat-2 as it will have a powerful resolution of 0.25 metre or 25 cm (meaning it can distinguish two objects separated by a distance of 25cm) and a wider spatial range (16 km swath in panchromatic mode). All other surveillance satellites launched before Cartosat-3 did not have so powerful resolution. Cartosat-3, which will also have multi-spectral (captures light within specific ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum) and hyperspectral (captures light from across the electromagnetic spectrum) capabilities, will help the military zoom in on enemy hideouts and terror hubs.

Risat-2BR1 and Risat-2BR2 will also increase the military’s surveillance power as these satellites will have the capability to see through clouds and take images at night. They will also help keep an eye on border infiltration and terror activities. Images from older series of Risat were earlier used to launch surgical strikes on terror launchpads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In December, PSLV-C48 will launch primary satellite Risat-2BR1 and QPS-SAR microsatellite developed by iQPS, a Japanese company, and four Lemur 2 CubeSats for Spire Global. Thereafter in the same month, PSLV C49 will carry surveillance satellite Risat-2BR2 and four Kleos Scouting Mission radio surveillance nano-satellites for Kleos Space, a Luxembourg company, and multiple Lemur 2 CubeSats for Spire Global, says Spaceflight. All but Spire will be a new user of Isro’s most-reliable rocket PSLV.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...s-space-surveillance/articleshow/72117448.cms
 

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PSLV-C47 / Cartosat-3 Mission

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C47 will launch Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites iinto Sun Synchronous orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled at 0928 Hrs IST on November 25, 2019, subject to weather conditions.

PSLV-C47 is the 21st flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with 6 solid strap-on motors). This will be the 74th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

Cartosat-3 satellite is a third generation agile advanced satellite having high resolution imaging capability. The satellite will be placed in an orbit of 509 km at an inclination of 97.5 degree.

PSLV-C47 will also carry 13 commercial nanosatellites from United States of America as part of commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.
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Chandrayaan 2: Vikram hard-landed within 500 mts of landing site, says govt | India News - Times of India
NEW DELHI: Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander hard-landed as reduction in velocity during its descent was more than the designed parameters, the government said on Wednesday, throwing more light on ISRO's dashed hopes of making a soft landing on the lunar surface in its maiden attempt.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Jitendra Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, who looks after the department of space, said the first phase of descent was performed normally from an altitude of 30 kms to 7.4 kms above the moon's surface and velocity was reduced from 1,683 metres per second to 146 metres per second.
 

G10

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Reduction in velocity more than designed parameters would make spacecraft hover or loose orbit.‍:bs:
 

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