ISRO General News and Updates

[Karthi]

Differential Pressure Transducer

Distress Alert Transmitter

MULTI-LAYER PRINTED ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY

thick walled pneumatic vibration isolators

UNIFIED HYBRID HORN antenna

 

[Karthi]

Sounding rocket Rohini launched with new propellant.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), earlier this month, launched Rohini Sounding Rocket (RH200) with a new propellant formulation based on Hydroxyl-terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB) from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). “This was 180th successive successful flight of RH200 (meteorological) sounding rocket and the first flight with HTPB based propellant. The mission achieved an altitude of 62.7km against the predicted nominal 60.6km in 123 seconds and released the chaff payload successfully. Performance of the motor was normal,” Isro said.

India started its space journey with the establishment of the TERLS on November 21, 1963 by launching the first sounding rocket from Indian soil. Subsequently on November 21, 1967 the first Indian made sounding rocket, RH75 was successfully launched. “Over the years, Isro has developed various sounding rockets for a variety of scientific experiments & meteorological studies. Currently, the RH200, RH300 MkII and RH560 Mk-III rockets are operational which were developed during the early phase of our journey in rocketry,” Isro added. The first and second stages of the RH200 rocket are powered by solid motors.

Since the inception of the RH200 rocket, both solid stages are processed using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based propellant. “As compared to PVC based propellants, HTPB based propellant is more energetic with higher mechanical and interface properties and has less defects due to lower processing temperature,” Isro said. The space agency added that considering these advantages, efforts were made to replace PVC based propellant with HTPB based propellant for RH200 rocket and series of trials were carried out to achieve desired properties. In addition, composite paper tube based insulation has been implemented to enhance interface properties and rigidity with HTPB propellant. “Prior to maiden flight, performance of the RH200 stages were validated by conducting four static tests for first stage and two static tests for second stage,” Isro said.

 

[Karthi]

ISRO to launch its Venus mission in 2025, France to take part: French space agency.

ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in 2025 and France will participate in it, French space agency CNES said on Wednesday. The VIRAL (Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker) instrument co-developed with the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and the LATMOS atmospheres, environments and space observations laboratory attached to the French national scientific research centre CNRS has been selected by the ISRO after a request for proposals, it said in a statement.

ISRO chairman K Sivan and CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall held talks and reviewed the areas driving cooperation between France and India in space.

"In the domain of space exploration, France will be taking part in ISRO's mission to Venus, scheduled to launch in 2025. CNES will coordinate and prepare the French contribution, the first time a French payload will be flown on an Indian exploration mission," CNES said in a statement.

However, there was no comment from ISRO.

After the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) and Moon missions Chandrayaan-1 and 2, ISRO has set its eyes on Venus for carrying out its inter-planetary mission.

France and India share a robust collaboration in arena of the space. It is one of the three nations with whom India collaborates in the strategic sectors of nuclear, space and defence -- the other two being the US and Russia.

In March 2018, the two countries also issued a 'Joint Vision for Space Cooperation'.

India and France are also working on ISRO's human space mission Gaganyaan project, which aims to send three Indians to space by 2022.

Since September 2018, CNES and ISRO have set up a working group focused on cooperation in the field of human spaceflight, the French agency said.

"The two nations are pooling their expertise, notably in the domains of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring and life support. Initial exchanges have concentrated on training for India's flight physicians and technical teams and the supply of CNES flight systems," it added.

 

[Cheran]

 

[tsunami]

View attachment 61060


Sounding rocket Rohini launched with new propellant.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), earlier this month, launched Rohini Sounding Rocket (RH200) with a new propellant formulation based on Hydroxyl-terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB) from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). “This was 180th successive successful flight of RH200 (meteorological) sounding rocket and the first flight with HTPB based propellant. The mission achieved an altitude of 62.7km against the predicted nominal 60.6km in 123 seconds and released the chaff payload successfully. Performance of the motor was normal,” Isro said.

India started its space journey with the establishment of the TERLS on November 21, 1963 by launching the first sounding rocket from Indian soil. Subsequently on November 21, 1967 the first Indian made sounding rocket, RH75 was successfully launched. “Over the years, Isro has developed various sounding rockets for a variety of scientific experiments & meteorological studies. Currently, the RH200, RH300 MkII and RH560 Mk-III rockets are operational which were developed during the early phase of our journey in rocketry,” Isro added. The first and second stages of the RH200 rocket are powered by solid motors.

Since the inception of the RH200 rocket, both solid stages are processed using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based propellant. “As compared to PVC based propellants, HTPB based propellant is more energetic with higher mechanical and interface properties and has less defects due to lower processing temperature,” Isro said. The space agency added that considering these advantages, efforts were made to replace PVC based propellant with HTPB based propellant for RH200 rocket and series of trials were carried out to achieve desired properties. In addition, composite paper tube based insulation has been implemented to enhance interface properties and rigidity with HTPB propellant. “Prior to maiden flight, performance of the RH200 stages were validated by conducting four static tests for first stage and two static tests for second stage,” Isro said.

Is it for military purposes? It looks too small for launching satellites.

 

[Sanglamorre]

Is it for military purposes? It looks too small for launching satellites.

It's a sounding rocket. Basically equivalent of styrofoam models for full-sized buildings. They're just testing out tech without having to commit significant resources to it. If a new fuel can run a small rocket, chances are it can be run a scaled up version full rocket.

 

[Dessert Storm]

ISRO's Venus Mission

 

[Karthi]

Is it for military purposes? It looks too small for launching satellites.

Weather forecast

 

[FalconZero]

View attachment 61098

Boi! I am excited for this, imagine our own Space X type landing video of GSLV based VTVL rocket ......otot RLTV too. I wish they gave us some timeline for that, would have been a lot better.

 

[Akula]

 

[FalconZero]

Sorry for sharing the tweet from the Yindooo!

 

[Karthi]

ISRO plans to launch new SSLV rocket before December 2020

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working towards launching its new rocket ‘Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)’ before December 2020, a senior official said. Necessary tests to check its biggest motor will be done in November.

According to IANS, the SSLV launch will be from the first launch pad at Sriharikota rocket port after the flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C49 (PSLV C49). Post PSLV C49’s flight, the launch pad set up has to be reconfigured to suit SSLV. Sometime next month PSLV C49 will fly with about 10 satellites. The rocket will be carrying India’s RISAT-2BR2 and other commercial satellites. It will be followed by PSLV C50 with the GSAT-12R satellite in December. The rocket is being assembled at Sriharikota with various systems coming from different centres. It will fly from the second launch pad, Somanath said.

From the drawing board to launch pad the time taken is only about two-and-half years. The SSLV is a three stage/engine rocket all powered by solid fuel. The 34-metre rocket will have a liftoff mass of 120 tons. The rocket has the capability for multiple satellite launches at different orbits. The SSLV can carry a 500 kg payload for low earth orbit (LEO) and 300 kg for sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The development cost of the rocket is about Rs 120 crore. The new miniaturised telemetry system developed for SSLV has achieved 70 per cent mass reduction in the telemetry package.

The developmental cost of SSLV is low and only the third stage of the PSLV rocket has been adopted for the new rocket. The per kg cost of launching a satellite will be similar to that of ISRO’s other rocket PSLV. The first payload for SSLV has already been booked and some more payloads are being looked at as the rocket has a capacity to carry up to 500 kg. According to ISRO, the first satellite to be carried by SSLV will be 142 kg Mircrosat-2A to demonstrate launch on demand capability. The satellite is expected to meet the ever-increasing user demands for cartographic applications at cadastral level, urban and rural management, coastal land use and regulation, utilities mapping, development and various other geographic information system (GIS) applications.

 

[Varun2002]

Hurrah!! At last some positive and concrete news about the SSLV. I double checked to make sure I wasn't reading 'December 2021'

 

[Dessert Storm]

 

[FalconZero]

India's Own 'Space Shuttle': ISRO Likely To Test Ground Landing Of Its Reusable Launch Vehicle By End Of This Year
byIANS-Oct 7, 2020 10:53 AM


ISRO RLV-TD (Pic Via Wikipedia)
The Indian space agency is likely to test its reusable launch vehicle's (RLV) landing on the ground sometime in November or December 2020, said a senior official.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is targeting to build RLV similar to USA's space shuttle to put into orbit satellites and come back to land for the next mission. This in turn would bring down the satellite launch costs.
The two Indian rockets in service - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) - and also the upcoming Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) - are expendable ones.
"We are planning to test the Reusable Launch Vehicle's landing in Chitradurga District in Karnataka. We want to do the test in November/December this year," S Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) -- part of ISRO -- told IANS.
As per plans, the RLV will be lifted up by a helicopter and from the height of four km it will be released.
Post release by the helicopter, the RLV will glide and navigate towards the runway and land on its own in an airfield in Chitradurga District deploying its parachute, Somanath said.
According to ISRO, RLV Interface System (RIS) for interfacing with helicopter and Qualification Model of landing gear have been realised.
Simply put, RLV will ascend to orbit, stay there, re-enter and land on a runway like an aircraft. The technology has the challenges of meeting the complexities of both -- a rocket and an aircraft.
According to Somanath, about 30-40 ISRO officials have to be taken to Chitradurga and stay there for about two weeks.
In 2016, ISRO successfully tested RLV's descent from an altitude of 65 km, its atmospheric re-entry at around Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).
According to ISRO, the vehicle's navigation, guidance and control system accurately steered the vehicle during this phase for safe descent.
After successfully surviving high temperatures of re-entry with the help of its Thermal Protection System (TPS), the vehicle successfully glided down to the defined landing spot over Bay of Bengal, at a distance of about 450km from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Total flight duration from launch to landing of this mission lasted for about 770 seconds.
Source : https://swarajyamag.com/insta/india...s-reusable-launch-vehicle-by-end-of-this-year
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Personally, I am more interested into VTVL capability like SpaceX, would be amazing to see it come to fruition.
Here's the link to video of the old RLV Test :

 

[Karthi]

Vikram Processor

RLV Structural diagram

Sine burst testing of Crew module

ADMIRE Reusable VTVL Rocket

 

[Dessert Storm]

GSLV with four redundancies. Is that different from Quadruple Modular Redundancy (not that I understand QMR either)?

 

[Karthi]

NETRA network

System Capability : To detect & track at least single 10cm object at 1500/2000/2500 km range for a minimum duration of 2 minutes and to independently catalog it with specified orbit estimation & reconstruction accuracy. System should be capable of detecting the target for less duration also with reduced accuracy mentioned in Sr.No.6,7,8,9,11,12.

2. Radar Operating Freqency : UHF or higher. Selection of frequency and its justification for space object detection of various shapes and sizes to be given.

3. Type of Radar: Solid-State Power Amplifier (SSPA) based Bistatic/monostatic / quasimonostatic phased array configuration with element or group level Digital beam forming feature.

4. Minimum Detectable Object Size: 10 cm diameter or better.

5. Slant Range Coverage: 1500 km or better, for complete Field of View.

6. Slant Range Configurable: Up to 4000 Km, aiming to detect bigger target in higher orbits.

7. Minimum Slant Range: Coverage 2 km or better, for calibration & low range modes.

8. Range Resolution: 100 m or better.

9. Angular Resolution (AZ & EL): 1 deg rms or better.

10. Range Accuracy: 30 m rms or better.

11. Angle Accuracy (AZ & EL): 0.1 deg rms or better.

12. Range rate accuracy: 2 m/s rms or better.

 

[Dessert Storm]

Not from ISRO but interesting.

 

[Haldilal]

Ya'll Nibbiars ISRO's CY-2 Orbiter High Resolution Camera OHRC has a resolution of 0.32m from 100km, the highest among any lunar orbiter to date. The camera is pretty big too, making up for a large part of the orbiter's size. Much of the manufacturing work of CY-2 was outsourced to HAL.