Guys ,I have a small thought regarding our lunar programme .Since bat eaters are planning for a Lunar Base with Russians, Why shouldn't we have a sustained Lunar Exploration Programme immediately after Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Chandrayaan programme is already a phased one. Initial stage goes with orbiter and later with landings and robotics/sample return missions.
Since ours is at too early stage, we can't plan what Chinese and Russians do. We need to have consecutive successful robotic moon soft landings, develop RTEG for long endurance missions and have a permanent human presence in orbit (space station). We are 15-20 years away from that.
Manned missions to moon and planets remain in India's vision but they are not planned yet since building blocks aren't in place yet. Most of such stuff was started by Vajpayee government.
ISRO was more meant for socio-economic development than military or research oriented programs before him.
Sending a man to moon is a very costly thing and we need atleast 100ton to LEO class LV , but it's very costly and it's very difficult to reuse. But I think we can use a 25 ton to LEO LV for manned mission .
No, LEO cap. doesn't matter, you need a vehicle with very powerful payload assist space tug or an upper stage with a TLI (Trans-lunar injection) capacity over 50 tonnes.
Currently, only US, Russia and China have upper stages. ISRO also had a project called PAM-G to similarly upgrade GSLV-II to directly throw satellites into GEO, MEO, TLI and TMI instead of GTO and EPO. But GSLV failed for too long ISRO became focused on replacing Russian engine with an Indian one. Never heard of PAM-G project after that (may come only after SCE-200).
If GSLV Mk-III had an upper stage, it would have sent Cdy-2 to moon in just few days and we wouldn't have to wait for months Cdy-2 switching geo and selenocentric orbits. In human mission, off course we can't keep humans in spacecraft for 6 months to 1 year like Chandrayaan-2.
But before sending our men and women we should have an unmanned lunar base on the south pole with landers and rovers to explore the sites for bases and develop and demonstrate technologies like building a lunar habitat with lunar soil (for which we already have basic tech) , insitu resource utilisation to collect water and then produce LH2 and LOX and their long term storage tech and after demonstrating all the required tech then we can send another set of Landers and Rovers to build a lunar habitat and other infrastructure to collect lunar ice and produce fuels and their storage facilities.After that we can launch a single stage reusable lunar transfer vehicle which can refuel on lunar surface and can ferry astronauts from LEO to Lunar South Pole and vice versa . After this, only thing we need is, two launches of GSLV MK-3 . One carrying cargo and another carrying Crewed Spacecraft. These two will then dock with Lunar Transfer Vehicle (LTV) , and that LTV will carry our Vyomanauts to the moon base, it will refuel there ,bring them back to LEO from where Gaganyaan returns to earth, after that LTV return backs to moon base and wait until for next mission and refuel there
In simple words
Phase 1 : lander and rover to demonstrate 3D printing of lunar habitat using lunar soil and producing water ,LH2 and LOX from moon ice and their long term storage
Phase 2 : send a larger lander and rover to build a lunar habitat ,fuel production and storage facilities and production of Water and fuel
phase 3: Launch a Lunar Transfer Vehicle (LTV)and land it on the moon,refuel it on the moon and then bring it back to LEO and then launch a Gaganyaan and a Cargo spacecraft ,they will dock with it in LEO and go back to the moon ,land there, refuel and return.
Most of these points have already been officially adopted in Chandrayaan-2 or reports from VSSC except a robotic base.
Building giant robots and remotely control them from earth will be tougher than landing humans. Humans will have to go there first or at least set up a station in orbit to supervise. Same goes for US, Russia and China too.
I have read somewhere that an ISRO scientist or chairman I forgot it, said India can develop a moon colony in 10 years . The theoretical knowledge are already developed, may be experimental knowledge also. So chill bros . The most important thing we need to concentrate on is Heavy launch Vehicles.
Heavy launch vehicles aren't more than a decade away since SCE-200 is undergoing testing. But it will take 10-15 years for India to set up a station in space to train humans and reach the stage of lunar exploration like China.
Indian colony on moon is just a vision 30 years away at least unless a space race starts and Indian government pours $20-30 billions into space program.
I'm not accounting delays caused by failures. Failures happen and when they happen, program goes pushed back for years and sometimes even decades.
Super heavy launch vehicles are far away atleast for now by isro,we need catchup to spaceX in this area.
They aren't since SHLV would use clustered engines and boosters HLV itself. Their timeline would depend upon funding and requirement. Unless India has to send a large space station module or a giant QKD set to space or giant robot to moon, SHLV won't be realised. If it becomes a clear concept design before 2030, means manned lunar landing is on cards of government.
I think for a long term perspective,ISRO should do orbital construction of spacecrafts,launching from earth takes fuel consumption and requires more payload cap
Setting up a factory isn't a long but very very long term perspective.
Launching and sustaining humans there won't be any less costly since robots can't do anything. Maintaining a many thousands tonne factory in space and facing recoil releasing satellites into orbit from it is another headache.
Meanwhile a startup that has been in existence for just a few years has already tested an SCE concept engine…
https://www.dnaindia.com/science/re...ly-3d-printed-semi-cryo-rocket-engine-2874077
Where is ISRO headed even with R&D then if startups are competing with ISRO at their own game (though this is overall very good for India - nothing like competition to light a fire under people’s asses)?
LOL, not sure what you are trying to say.
AgniKul itself is in INSpace to obtain tech from ISRO. This engine is being developed by AgniKul is for small launcher with payload cap. of 100 kg (20% of SSLV). It's clustered main engines or upgraded thrust can't power anything better than Israeli Shavit.
SCE-200 (probably with valves bigger than outlet of this engine) is for rockets in class of Delta IV Heavy, CZ-5 and Ariane-V. Clustered to power SHLVs in class of rocekts like Energia, CZ-9 or Saturn-V.
That is how everything starts - conceptual and simple. Then the people who put in the most effort and innovate with speed come out ahead like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Yes they too. Private players don't have exceptionally higher IQ. They just sign pacts to get decades long tech from government for commercial use since themselves can't bear the cost of research and failures (SpaceX is a different case though). Similarly, government space agencies after creating a space economy in the country can focus on research instead of commercial services.
SpaceX and Blue Origin have been in touch with NASA for quite long. In India, Skyroot is built up of former ISRO personnel while AgniKul has tech transfer and consultancy from ISRO itself. Once launch services are off loaded on private players, a new sector will be created in country and then ISRO will be all about moon, mars, Venus, humans than worrying about GSATs to maintain band frequency in India.
