ISRO General News and Updates

[RoaringTigerHiddenDragon]

Mitigating( not exculpatory) factors for ISRO- far less funding than the other major space faring countries the US, Russia, France, China, Japan; historically, much less developed industrial and manufacturing base than at least 4 of those countries; space programme doesn't possess the huge importance for prestige and geo-politics that it does for US, Russia, China, France; sanctions placed on India causing huge delays; Covid badly affecting India.

The only problem here is why only ISRO was affected when the US and France and even Russia went through worse Wuhan virus episodes than us. It is simply because ISRO does not have the depth in engineering talent to accomplish lofty projects. They are like the Indian cricket team of the 90s. ISRO needs a complete restructuring and a 21st century team to succeed. Just move actual manufacturing/assembly over to private sector and adopt the same model as in the US - NASA does R&D and design, while LM, Boeing, MCD do the actual manufacturing/launches. But even for this model, ISRO needs top space scientists and they are going to have a hard time recruiting such talent; as top talent require both money and a sense of purpose in serving India. India as it stands today simply does not produce top talent in science and engineering, especially in aeronautics, materials science, fuel chemistry, mechanical engineering etc, which are all very much needed in advanced rocketry. I dont think we are at a stage to execute advanced space projects and would remain a tier 2 space agency for a long, long time. This is an area where gap between us and China is going to increase many fold. I hope our private sector can bridge some of these gaps but FDI funded space startups that exclusively cater to ISRO's progress and growth is an untested model. So, let's see what happens.
Lack of vision, misplaced priorities and lethargic bureaucracy has a cost and ISRO, like other PSUs, suffers from this unchanging (unchangeable?) culture of Indian governance.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO's reduced capabilities. The government will now allow FDI in space sector.

ISRO is a government agency which drove technology in India till space sector emerges as a new frontier of economy. It is not supposed to be involved in commercial activities. As start ups and companies have made enough progress to support the sector, any administration with IQ above room temperature will try to get funding for space sector.

Space industry of India - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Indx TechStyle]

ISRO’s new series of heavy-lift rockets to carry between 5-16 tonnes to GTO

ISRO Photograph (WION)

To attain total self-reliance in the launch of heavy satellites (weighing above 4 tonnes) and to meet future demands, the Indian Space Research Organization is working on a fleet of five new rockets. According to a senior official, the five Heavy-lift Launch Vehicles (HLV) are in their project report stage.

In terms of design and appearance, this new fleet of rockets would be quite similar to the existing SSLV, PSLV and GSLV and GSLV Mk3 rockets, but they would be powered by even more capable, powerful and technologically advanced engines. Presently, India pays and utilises the services of Ariane-5, a foreign rocket, to launch satellites that weigh over 4 tonnes.

Speaking at a virtual event organised by ISRO and CII, N Sudheer Kumar, Director, Capacity Building Programme Office, ISRO, revealed that variants of this new fleet of heavy-lift rockets would be able to place a payload weighing anywhere between 4.9 tonnes and over 16 tonnes in the tonne synchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). This is an enormous improvement over the current maximum lift capability of 4 tons that the GSLV Mk3 rocket has performed to GTO.

GTO is an intermediary orbit (180km at its closest point to the Earth and 36,000km at its farthest point from the Earth) into which heavy satellites are launched by rockets. After being placed in GTO, the satellites use their onboard propulsion to reach a circular orbit 36,000 km above the earth (it is at the same distance from the earth at any given point of time). Being in the 36,000km circular orbit (also known as Geostationary or GSO orbit) allows for communication and monitoring of a large portion of the Earth. three satellites in GSO orbit are capable of covering nearly the entire globe.

According to Kumar, the work to upgrade the lift capability of GSLV Mk3 to 7.5 tonnes to GTO, is on the verge of being concluded. This major upgrade to India’s rocket is being made possible owing to the development of two kinds of rocket engines: a semi-cryogenic engine that burns a special variant of kerosene (dubbed ISROsene) and liquid oxygen; and a cryogenic engine that burns a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The said semi-cryogenic engine stage is dubbed as the SC120, and the upgraded cryogenic engine stage is dubbed as the C32. As per ISRO’s naming convention for rocket stages, the letter (s) refers to the type of engine fuel-Solid (S), Liquid (L), Semi-cryogenic (SC) and Cryogenic (C) and the accompanying number refers to the mass (in tonnes) of propellant carried. Simply put, a rocket is a combination of multiple engines (stages) that are vertically stacked.

"Soon the stage will be inducted into the rocket, then we will not depend on foreign sources for the launch of heavy communication satellites (weighing over 4 or 5 tonnes)," Kumar said. Regarding ISRO’s ongoing projects, he outlined that work was underway on the full-scale model of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD), besides work to scale up the proto-model of the air-breathing engine. For ISRO, these are crucial technologies to master to develop a fully reusable space vehicle dubbed the "TSTO," or Two Stage to Orbit.

The Director of ISRO’s CBPO also shared the configuration of the fleet of five heavy-lift rockets that were in their project report stage. The configurations refer to new and more powerful rocket stages-SC400 semi-cryogenic stage, the C27 cryogenic stage, and S250 solid rocket booster. Simply put, depending on the type of mission, payload to be lifted and rocket required, different variants of engines would be stacked vertically to run a relay race to space. Each stage would detach from the rocket after propelling the rocket to a certain altitude and speed, then the next engine would take over. This process goes on until the satellite (payload) reaches its final orbital destination.

In terms of materials, ISRO is said to be working on developing carbon-carbon composites, ceramic matrix composite for reusable vehicles, metal-foams for crash landing interplanetary probes, besides crucial components such as solar panels, fibre optics Atomic clocks, deployable antennas, lithium-ion batteries, Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) Devices.

 

[sorcerer]

Australia, Netherlands keen to collaborate with ISRO
Top officials of the Australian and Dutch Space agencies expressed interest in collaborating and working closely with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Australia, Netherlands keen to collaborate with ISRO

Top officials of the Australian and Dutch Space agencies expressed interest in collaborating and working closely with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

www.wionews.com

 

[FalconSlayers]

 

[Vamsi]

ISRO’s new series of heavy-lift rockets to carry between 5-16 tonnes to GTO

ISRO Photograph (WION)

These are old designs , not the latest.

 

[FalconSlayers]

 

[Indx TechStyle]

These are old designs , not the latest.

There are no old or new designs yet and won't till project finalises. These are representational pictures used by ISRO personnel during presentations.

 

[sorcerer]

‘India’s first solar mission likely to launch next year’: ISRO


3-4 minutes


India’s first solar mission, which was pushed from early 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is likely to be launched in the third quarter of 2022, when the country’s second space observatory Xposat, aimed at helping astronomers study cosmic sources such as pulsars and supernova, will also be launched, senior officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

‘India’s first solar mission likely to launch next year’: ISRO

The solar mission, Aditya L1, will provide more insights into the origin of the universe and many other unknowns.

www.hindustantimes.com

 

[Vamsi]

Isro scientist Nilesh Desai again says that they are planning a Lander and Rover in Mangalyaan-2 mission

 

[Vamsi]

Isro scientist Nilesh Desai again says that they are planning a Lander and Rover in Mangalyaan-2 mission

Watch at 2:53:29

 

[SavageKing456]

 

[Vamsi]

There are no old or new designs yet and won't till project finalises. These are representational pictures used by ISRO personnel during presentations.

Those designs were from 2015 atleast if not earlier, in those concepts the core alone version uses a SC400 core stage and C-27 upper stage and can carry only 11.4T to LEO, while the latest designs shown by Dr. Somanath uses new SC90 as second stage and replaced old C-27 with C-34 as the upper stage, in this new config it can carry 28T to LEO in Expendable mode and 22 T to leo in reusable mode which is a significant improvement when compared to that old design, which also shows that isro is improving their concepts every year.

 

[Vamsi]

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Those designs were from 2015 atleast if not earlier,

Those aren't designs, those are configurations. Engines don't have designs yet and no rocket configuration was ever ruled out.

ISRO has options to

1. keep up with PSLV/GSLV/LVM3 as it is and just develop one or two HLVs to add in family,

2. redesign and release a series with interchangeable parts (UMLV). Would add more development time and cost. or
3. mastering reusable technologies to replace all the systems with RLVs or various paylods. Will need even more time

All options are open.

Since even SCE-200 isn't flying yet and barely any engines and motors of concepts have been worked upon, all of the suggestions and concepts by various managers at DoS keep on repeating.

All we know that there plans of 16-22T GTO capacity HLV or 60-100 tonnes LEO cap HLVs for long term. Only official confirmation is a 16 tonnes GTO cap GSLV since we heard that it entered project phase this year (might fly around or before 2030).

Dozens of designs or super heavy launchers and reusable space shuttles have been discussed and thrown in archives in ISRO for past 10 years.

 

[RoaringTigerHiddenDragon]

Looks like ISRO is having a bit more trouble.

Isro likely to miss 3 key missions despite reducing targets | Latest News India - HuntDailyNews.in

Despite the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) reducing its launch target from 16 to five projects in 2021 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency is likely to miss some critical missions, according to people aware of the matter. The space agency was to launch two earth observation...

huntdailynews.in

Some excerpts:

Ajey Lele, senior fellow at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, said: “It is critical for Isro to quickly conduct the SSLV launches; they have been delayed for far too long. It will be a commercial satellite and some of the slots even in the development flight has been booked by foreign agencies. If the launches do not happen soon, they might move to other launch service providers and Isro will lose market.”

All three atomic clocks – one main and two back-ups – on the first satellite of the constellation IRNSS-1A failed, prompting the space agency to launch a replacement satellite IRNSS-1H (which failed) and IRNSS-1I (which is currently working). Officials from the space agency also confirmed that the failure of the atomic clock has affected more satellites.

The NVS-01 satellite is to replace the IRNSS-1G satellite that was launched in 2016 and has a mission life of 12 years. The NVS-01 replacement satellite was to be launched on board Isro’s Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle or GSLV, the same one that failed this August. Four of the fourteen GSLV missions so far have failed.

Challenging times for ISRO, for sure. Let's see how the government and new ways of working with private players can get them out of these troubles.

 

[SKC]

Looks like ISRO is having a bit more trouble.

Isro likely to miss 3 key missions despite reducing targets | Latest News India - HuntDailyNews.in

Despite the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) reducing its launch target from 16 to five projects in 2021 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency is likely to miss some critical missions, according to people aware of the matter. The space agency was to launch two earth observation...

huntdailynews.in

Some excerpts:







Challenging times for ISRO, for sure. Let's see how the government and new ways of working with private players can get them out of these troubles.

They need to do so many things:
1. New leadership.
2. Revamped Team structure.
3. Much Much More Funding.
4. Much Much more work force
5. Ditch ages old hardware and systems used in their offices, labs, etc.

 

[SKC]

Why the hell ISRO staff wearing white Lab Coat we used to wear in Chem labs in school, in the Launch control centers??????

I don't see any other country doing this BS!

Just see the recent Tianzhou-3 launch from China. Extremely professional dress and setup of the whole Control Center. Almost beating US and Russia in that.

 

[Mantospace]

It seems ISRO looses grip and not able to understand wat to do now. Leadership collapsed.

 

[RoaringTigerHiddenDragon]

They need to do so many things:
1. New leadership.
2. Revamped Team structure.
3. Much Much More Funding.
4. Much Much more work force
5. Ditch ages old hardware and systems used in their offices, labs, etc.

Yup…I am saddened too. The very passive policies of ISRO, internal sabotages like the Nambi Narayan episode, the Antrix-Devas debacle, not much focus on S&T by BJP, etc are also further reasons for this sorry state. The challenge is how to get out of it. What can be done to turn the ship around? I think this government’s focus is much more on DRDO military applications than in civilian science sectors. ISRO is going to struggle for a while now - that much is certain.