ISRO General News and Updates

[Karthi]

From Nashik to Thiruvananthapuram: Mammoth truck covers 1,700km in 10 months.

A 74-tyre truck carrying machinery weighing 70 tonnes finally reached the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday 10 months after it began its journey from Maharashtra’s Nashik, around 1,700 km away, to the country’s premier research institute.

The lockdown imposed to check the Covid-19 pandemic spread from March 25 delayed its arrival by a month. Usually, regular trucks cover the distance between Nashik and Thiruvananthapuram in five to seven days. The mammoth truck moved at a snail’s pace with each of the five states it journeyed through making special arrangements for it. When it moved, escorted by police teams in each of the five states, the movement of other vehicles was stopped. In some places potholed roads had to be repaired, trees cut and electric poles removed to allow the truck, carrying an aerospace autoclave, to move.

Autoclaves are used to process materials needing exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Subhash Yadav, an employee of a private firm engaged in transferring the machine, said the lockdown made their movement miserable. “In Andhra Pradesh, our vehicle was detained for a month due to the lockdown. Later our contract agency had to intervene. But still, it was a challenging task. Engineers and mechanics were there in our team of 30 which accompanied the Volvo FM series truck,” said Yadav.

They began their journey on September 1 last year. Yadav said the machinery is 7.5 metres high and 7 metres wide. Since the chassis of the vehicle carrying the machinery had to be very strong, the truck almost covered the entire road at many places. “In some places, roads were widened and trees were cut to make way for it. And at two places, special iron girders were put to strengthen bridges,” he said. Another team member,said on the condition of anonymity, “In Kerala, an aged lady came to us and told us better make a vaccine for Covid-19 than sending rockets. Most of us walked throughout, it was a challenging experience for us.” A VSSC official said the heavy machine could not be dismantled. “The autoclave will be used to manufacture large aerospace products for various programmes and it is expected to be commissioned this month after making necessary modifications,” he said.

 

[Varun2002]

Amid Covid, India-Japan Moon mission takes shape, Isro to lead lander tech
Chethan Kumar | TNN | Updated: Jun 13, 2020, 09:52 IST

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BENGALURU: Even as both the countries continue to battle Covid-19 pandemic, Japan, which will be launching a joint lunar mission with India — Lunar Polar Exploration (LPE) — that hopes to put a lander and rover on Moon’s surface has, for the first time, spelled out details of the project that will see Isro lead the lander development.
As per details shared by Japanese space agency JAXA, the mission will be launched after 2023

Just to be absolutely clear, this Indo-Japan mission is quite distinct from Chandrayaan-3, right? India on its own is going to make another attempt at a moon landing sometime in 2021. Then comes the joint misssion.

 

[Adrian Corvus]

Just to be absolutely clear, this Indo-Japan mission is quite distinct from Chandrayaan-3, right? India on its own is going to make another attempt at a moon landing sometime in 2021. Then comes the joint misssion.

Yup and india is to provide the lander while the Japanese are to provide the launch vehicle, Chandrayaan 2 itself was to test out our landing capabilities for that mission.

 

[Karthi]

Scientists Claim ‘Active Volcanoes On Venus’ Ahead Of ISRO’s Shukrayaan Mission In 2023.

Gaining a deeper understanding into Earth’s neighbouring planet, a research team led by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) has found out that Venus may have active volcanoes still present, according to international reports. The study published in Science Advances on Friday has stated that the team has concluded so due to the presence of lava flowing on Venus surface which may be only a few years old. This would make Venus the only other planet in our solar system apart from the Earth with active volcanoes.

Active volcanoes in Venus?

Explaining the implications of the research, USRA scientist Dr. Justin Filiberto said, “If Venus is indeed active today, it would make a great place to visit to better understand the interiors of planets. For example, we could study how planets cool and why the Earth and Venus have active volcanism, but Mars does not. Future missions should be able to see these flows and changes in the surface and provide concrete evidence of its activity,” at a conference in Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI).

How did they conclude about active volcanoes in Venus? The team reportedly recreated Venus’ hot atmosphere in their lab to study how Venusian minerals react and change over time. Their results showed an abundant mineral in basalt — olivine — reacts rapidly with the atmosphere and within weeks becomes coated with the iron oxide minerals – magnetite and hematite, according to the study. The scientists found that this conversion would take a few years and hence they suggested that the lava flow was recent and hence would mean that volcanoes were active on Venus.

India’s Shukryaan-1 mission in 2023

While the team has stated that future missions will be able to explore further, India’s own mission Shukrayaan-1 is scheduled to the hot planet in 2023. ISRO had invited proposals from the international scientific community to carry out novel experiments on its planned Venus mission in 2018. ISRO aims to explore in its Venus mission include surface, subsurface, and atmosphere of the planet, as well as its interaction with the Sun.

 

[scatterStorm]

I am just sad as shit, Chinese launched there MARS mission and I think this time they will pull this off. They did in covid.

 

[Akula]

I am just sad as shit, Chinese launched there MARS mission and I think this time they will pull this off. They did in covid.

UAE also launched their mars mission.

 

[SKC]

UAE also launched their mars mission.

Imported mars mission! Satellite from US launch from Japan.

 

[scatterStorm]

Chinese can do all of these because they have a 10year focused plan, while nothing changes, the main objective remains to be perused. ISRO on the other hand, let’s launch more PSLVs. Let’s go to Venus in 2023, why shouldn’t you start with landing on moon first. The countries first to reach there will serve for fuel stations for spaceships in future.

 

[Tactical Doge]

Imported mars mission! Satellite from US launch from Japan.

Scientists from American Institutes,
Jaxa launches it,
But you're missing the most important point,

UAE MONEY
DIFFERENT DIFFERENT

 

[Chinmoy]

Chinese can do all of these because they have a 10year focused plan, while nothing changes, the main objective remains to be perused. ISRO on the other hand, let’s launch more PSLVs. Let’s go to Venus in 2023, why shouldn’t you start with landing on moon first. The countries first to reach there will serve for fuel stations for spaceships in future.

Let us complete the Gaganyan & Chandrayan mission successfully first. Then we should talk about the next step of landing on moon. We were unable to land a probe on moon till now and you are talking of human landing there.

Chinese on their part is sending a probe to mars after even failing to insert a orbiter in its orbit. So if you want to match their monkey trick of ego satisfaction, then its other matter. But I am happy with the systematic approach of ISRO in this regard.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Chinese can do all of these because they have a 10year focused plan, while nothing changes, the main objective remains to be perused. ISRO on the other hand, let’s launch more PSLVs. Let’s go to Venus in 2023, why shouldn’t you start with landing on moon first. The countries first to reach there will serve for fuel stations for spaceships in future.

Exactly it was so earlier till mid 2010s when ISRO didn't have long term plans.

It holds as of now BTW, and AstroSat-2, Shukrayaan, Aditya L1 etc. are just easy token missions.
The aim will be to master human spaceflight with accumulating more & more Vyomanauts with lot of space hours on space station, and achieving abilities to get on Moon & Mars simultaneously. This broad because have to catch up with world.

Jupiter & ExoWorld (Indian version of Voyager type missions) mission won't progress for even a decade now.

 

[Varun2002]

https://www.indiatvnews.com/science...ikram-chennai-techie-tip-off-isro-nasa-638915 Speculation about Pragyan rover being intact. It's from a credible source, so probably worthwhile..

 

[Karthi]

“Chandrayaan 2’s Rover Intact On Moon”: Techie Who Spotted Vikram Lander.

Chennai-based engineer Shanmuga Subramanian, who was credited by NASA last year for spotting the debris of the lander of Chandrayaan 2, has come up with a new find. The 33-year-old techie has claimed to have spotted Chandrayaan 2’s rover – Pragyan – which seemed to be “intact” on the moon’s surface.

In a series of tweets along with a picture taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital (LRO), Mr Subramanian claimed that the rover had “rolled out a few metres from the skeleton Vikram lander.” Chandrayaan2’s Pragyan “ROVER” intact on Moon’s surface & has rolled out few metres from the skeleton Vikram lander whose payloads got disintegrated due to rough landing. The space enthusiast also said that the lander may have received the commands sent to it from earth and also might have relayed it to the rover. However, it may have failed to communicate back to earth.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had lost contact with the lander Vikram following its launch from Chandrayaan 2 moon orbiter on September 6 when it tried to make soft-landing near the moon’s south pole. Mr Subramanian has also mailed ISRO about his latest find, a screenshot of which he shared on Twitter. India had expected to make space history with the Rs. 1,000 crore Chandrayaan 2 mission. A successful soft landing on the moon’s surface would have made the country only the fourth – after the United States, Russia and China – to achieve the feat. It would also have made India the first country to complete a soft landing near the South Pole on its first attempt.

 

[FalconZero]

View attachment 55228View attachment 55229View attachment 55231

“Chandrayaan 2’s Rover Intact On Moon”: Techie Who Spotted Vikram Lander.

Chennai-based engineer Shanmuga Subramanian, who was credited by NASA last year for spotting the debris of the lander of Chandrayaan 2, has come up with a new find. The 33-year-old techie has claimed to have spotted Chandrayaan 2’s rover – Pragyan – which seemed to be “intact” on the moon’s surface.

In a series of tweets along with a picture taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital (LRO), Mr Subramanian claimed that the rover had “rolled out a few metres from the skeleton Vikram lander.” Chandrayaan2’s Pragyan “ROVER” intact on Moon’s surface & has rolled out few metres from the skeleton Vikram lander whose payloads got disintegrated due to rough landing. The space enthusiast also said that the lander may have received the commands sent to it from earth and also might have relayed it to the rover. However, it may have failed to communicate back to earth.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had lost contact with the lander Vikram following its launch from Chandrayaan 2 moon orbiter on September 6 when it tried to make soft-landing near the moon’s south pole. Mr Subramanian has also mailed ISRO about his latest find, a screenshot of which he shared on Twitter. India had expected to make space history with the Rs. 1,000 crore Chandrayaan 2 mission. A successful soft landing on the moon’s surface would have made the country only the fourth – after the United States, Russia and China – to achieve the feat. It would also have made India the first country to complete a soft landing near the South Pole on its first attempt.

Also, he did mention that antenna probably got separated, so is there any other way to relay the information? I so wish that he is right.

 

[scatterStorm]

Let us complete the Gaganyan & Chandrayan mission successfully first. Then we should talk about the next step of landing on moon. We were unable to land a probe on moon till now and you are talking of human landing there.

Chinese on their part is sending a probe to mars after even failing to insert a orbiter in its orbit. So if you want to match their monkey trick of ego satisfaction, then its other matter. But I am happy with the systematic approach of ISRO in this regard.

Chinese are not sending a probe, they are sending a geosynchronous sat, a landing platform and a rover. They already reached moon. They didn't needed help, we on the other hand required NASA's trajectory data to reach MARS. The information is in public domain.

They ain't doing monkey trick, they are just more focused. Yes I do have to say that funding is given to them by the CCP in large numbers. That's there advantage. Meanwhile ISROs rover didn't land correctly because of various reasons, one of the major one being not able to calculate properly the reentry of a moon lander. I assume there calculations were in regards to earth's atmosphere, and the other being not able to use better sensor suite and optical location mapping which the Chinese did. I think @Karthi could put some more light into this.

If ISRO really want to make big news, they should stat there ATV project for reusable rockets. Because this is the only thing which will place them near SpaceX and Blueorigin. If they did it, they will become the first country in Asia to do this. The second nation to do this.

This will be a small win but a major one, imagine they can cut cost of building more rockets, this will give rise to more mission and will inch us closer to moon in Just within a year or two.

 

[mokoman]

Why are we relying on NASA LRO images ?

Isn't Chandrayaan's orbiter images higher resolution ?

It would have done several passes over landing site.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Why are we relying on NASA LRO images ?

Isn't Chandrayaan's orbiter images higher resolution ?

Not in public domain mostly.

 

[Akula]

Not in public domain mostly.

Will be available in public domain, only after October.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Will be available in public domain, only after October.

Entire part won't be even after 2020.

 

[no smoking]

Meanwhile ISROs rover didn't land correctly because of various reasons, one of the major one being not able to calculate properly the reentry of a moon lander. I assume there calculations were in regards to earth's atmosphere, and the other being not able to use better sensor suite and optical location mapping which the Chinese did. I think @Karthi could put some more light into this.

No, even high schoolboys won't make that mistake (using earth's atmosphere as reference).
The main reason is: India's moon lander was using 5 small liquid throttleable engines (800kn) to control its descent while other 3 nations only used 1 engine (>7500kn). So, instead of only controlling the the fuel flow to change the thrust to adjust the dropping speed, India's moon lander also has to do the same thing by switch on and off the number of engines, which in turn significantly increase the complexity and risk.