ISRO General News and Updates

[Indx TechStyle]

Launch just in time for elections. Got moved from February to April. Possible?

Not at all, not here at least. Most attention time would have been this January, not noisy months of March & April.

The political thing they probably are doing, is with SSLV and Gaganyaan. SSLV will have launch station in Gujarat and Gaganyaan will splash near Gujarat which in my opinion doesn't make sense given geography of Gujarat. Modi indeed has did a great job by reviving Gaganyaan, I hope it doesn't become a political tool to score points.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Jan 25, 2019
PSLV-C44 successfully launched Microsat-R and Kalamsat-V2

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C44)successfullyinjected Microsat-R andKalamsat-V2 satellitesinto their designated orbits.

The PSLV-C44 lifted off at 23:37Hrs(IST) on January 24, 2019 from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR,Sriharikota in its 46th flight.

About 13 minutes 26 seconds after lift-off, Microsat-R was successfully injected into intended orbit of 274 km.After injection, two solar arrays of the satellite were deployed automatically and ISRO Telemetry Tracking & Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bengaluru assumed control of the satellite.

Subsequently, the fourth stage (PS4) of the vehicle was moved to a higher circular orbit of 453 km after two restarts of the stage, to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments. Kalamsat-V2, a student payload, first to use PS4 as an orbital platform, was taken to its designated orbit about 1 hour and 40 minutes after lift-off.

This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-DL, a new variant of PSLV with two strap-on motors.

In the previous PSLV launch on November 29, PSLV-C43 had successfully launched India’s HysIS as well as 30 customer satellites from abroad.

In his post-launch address, Chairman Dr K Sivan said the PSLV-C44 mission was unique as it was for the first time ISRO used the last stage of the rocket as a platform to perform experiments in space.

“I hope the student community will make use of this opportunity being provided by ISRO. This new low cost technology will help students to conduct several inspiring experiments in space by attaching their instruments to the last stage of the rocket,” Dr Sivan said.

He congratulated Kalamsat-V2 team for their perfection in making satellites. “We must strive for science-oriented India. ISRO is open to all students across India. We want students to bring their satellites to us and we will launch them.Young scientists will shape the future of India,” Dr Sivan said. He also introduced the Kalamsat-V2 team.

Mission Director R Hutton thanked the entire PSLV-C44 team for their relentless efforts in making the launch successful.

Earlier on January 24, 2019, Dr Sivan held the third edition of Samwad with Students (SwS) in Sriharikota. Over 300 students from schools in and around the region had an opportunity to interact with him.

SwS is the newly-launched outreach initiative of ISRO to instill scientific temper among youngsters. The first edition was held in Bengaluru on January 1, 2019 and the second one at Kochi on January 20, 2019.

“Concentrate on the present with full sincerity. Dilemmas will disappear. A good student is not afraid of failure. Failures are important for learning as they open up new avenues,” Dr Sivan told the SwS participants.

 

[vampyrbladez]

Not at all, not here at least. Most attention time would have been this January, not noisy months of March & April.

The political thing they probably are doing, is with SSLV and Gaganyaan. SSLV will have launch station in Gujarat and Gaganyaan will splash near Gujarat which in my opinion doesn't make sense given geography of Gujarat. Modi indeed has did a great job by reviving Gaganyaan, I hope it doesn't become a political tool to score points.

Still a launch would attract positive attention.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Still a launch would attract positive attention.

May be but Gujarat is geographically unsafe as well as costlier place.

 

[Mikesingh]

ISRO has shied away from sharing details of Microsat-R or its uses as it does routinely each time during its missions; except to say the satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth.

This is much lower than any of its civil Earth observation spacecraft, which orbit the globe at between 400 km and 700 km. That's probably because it is a secret military sat, the lower altitude helping in better clarity and resolution of target areas.

 

[indiatester]

ISRO has shied away from sharing details of Microsat-R or its uses as it does routinely each time during its missions; except to say the satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth.

This is much lower than any of its civil Earth observation spacecraft, which orbit the globe at between 400 km and 700 km. That's probably because it is a secret military sat, the lower altitude helping in better clarity and resolution of target areas.

But it will require multiple such satellites to have continuous coverage on any target area. Why just one? They have demonstrated multiple times injection of multiple satellites.

 

[rishivashista13]

ISRO has shied away from sharing details of Microsat-R or its uses as it does routinely each time during its missions; except to say the satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth.

This is much lower than any of its civil Earth observation spacecraft, which orbit the globe at between 400 km and 700 km. That's probably because it is a secret military sat, the lower altitude helping in better clarity and resolution of target areas.

Microsat R is a Satellite made by DRDO not ISRO. Military in nature so no details available. But this satellite will also rise it's orbit to upto 400 kms using Onboard engines.

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk

 

[Chinmoy]

ISRO has shied away from sharing details of Microsat-R or its uses as it does routinely each time during its missions; except to say the satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth.

This is much lower than any of its civil Earth observation spacecraft, which orbit the globe at between 400 km and 700 km. That's probably because it is a secret military sat, the lower altitude helping in better clarity and resolution of target areas.

There is one simple reason for shying away from discussing Microsat like any other satellite. It is not an ISRO product, but DRDO. So basically ISRO is in dark regarding its full specs. Moreover in past too where CARTOSAT series is involved, ISRO has just divulged the civilian aspect of the satellite with just enough hint of its strategic implication.

 

[Chinmoy]

But it will require multiple such satellites to have continuous coverage on any target area. Why just one? They have demonstrated multiple times injection of multiple satellites.

This one is the first satellite designed by DRDO. Its more of a test subject and prototype. With time, we would see such more and more satellites.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

CartoSat-3 next month, with a resolution of 25cms.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

India 'revives' rocket's upper stage for space experiments in world first

© Indian Space Research Organisation

India is the first country to use the burnt-out upper stage of a rocket as a platform for space experiments after delivering a tiny, student-built satellite into orbit.

An updated version of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C44) was used on Thursday to deliver two communications satellites into orbit. After unloading a 740kg Microsat-R military satellite into position roughly 274km above the surface of the Earth, the fourth stage (PS4) of the rocket then proceeded to a higher circular orbit (453km) to deliver the second payload and "establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments."

The 10cm Kalamsat-V2, developed by students from the Space Kidz India foundation, is set the "first to use PS4 as an orbital platform," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

"India... becomes the first country to use the fourth stage of a space rocket as an orbital platform for micro-gravity experiments," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, congratulating the space team on their success.

Rockets have been expendable ever since the Soviet Union sent Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite, into orbit in 1957. The various segments break away during ascent, eventually ending up as space debris. To reduce the clutter in space, Indian scientists simply tried to prolong the use of the last stage of the PSLV by converting it into a platform.

"By inserting batteries and solar panel, we can increase its lifespan in space for months by making it communicable (controllable) from the ground station," Kailasavadivoo Sivan, ISRO's chairperson, explained.

 

[Enquirer]

ISRO has shied away from sharing details of Microsat-R or its uses as it does routinely each time during its missions; except to say the satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth.

This is much lower than any of its civil Earth observation spacecraft, which orbit the globe at between 400 km and 700 km. That's probably because it is a secret military sat, the lower altitude helping in better clarity and resolution of target areas.

But it will require multiple such satellites to have continuous coverage on any target area. Why just one? They have demonstrated multiple times injection of multiple satellites.

This one is the first satellite designed by DRDO. Its more of a test subject and prototype. With time, we would see such more and more satellites.

CartoSat-3 next month, with a resolution of 25cms.

Satellites for monitoring the borders is way too expensive and produces way too inferior quality images/videos!
People feed too much on Hollywood movies and real US military satellite images and get carried away! US needs and can afford the constellation of satellites (with high resolution cameras) because US concerns itself with the happenings in every inch of Earth.

However Indian military has a very specific region (thin strip - borders) to monitor 24/7! Aerostats are the best way to do it - it's cheapest and will produce the highest quality images/video for 24/7 surveillance!

Let's examine Satellites. There are two types Geostationary or Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites
- LEO sats are not stationary and cross over a specific area only few times in a day. So, one can only get an image of a specific area only one or two or three times a day. So, obviously it cannot check the jihadis sneaking in. Possible (expensive solution) is to have dozens of such satellites so that it can give images of a specific area 20, 30, 40 times a day. But surveillance is still not 'continuous'. Since, the sats are 100kms above Earth they need high resolution cameras to focus.
- Geostationary satellites are stationed at a fixed point above earth. The camera can be tilted to look at different border segments at a time - not continuous surveillance here either. The worst thing about this satellite (other than the extreme cost) is that the satellite reside 35,000 kms above earth. To be able to see a jihadi scum crawling is almost impossible with the cameras that India could build!

Aerostats are cheap to build. They are 1 km to 5 km above earth, so the resolution of the images/video is EXTREMELY good! If the Aerostat is at (say) 2kms altitude it can easily cover an circle of diameter ~300kms (but optically 200kms as DRDO cameras have range limitations)!!!
So 10-15 of these will cover all of Paki border. (If lower aerostats are at 1km altitude than each will cover a circle of diameter ~200kms). Also unlike satellites, Aerostats can carry multiple payloads - day camera, night camera, thermal camera AND BFSR! Surveillance will be continuous!! When around 2 kms altitude, Pakis cannot attack it with rifles or even heavy machine guns! Only cheap way to bring it down would be via some kind of high caliber (40+ mm) anti-aircraft guns (whose use will of course invoke heavy retaliation from India as these would be at least 2-4kms inside Indian territory). Also Aerostats don't explode on being punctured by rounds - they deflate slowly and come down very slowly in a way that won't damage the equipment. The holes can be patched and the aerostat sent back up!!

 

[indiatester]

Satellites for monitoring the borders is way too expensive and produces way too inferior quality images/videos!
People feed too much on Hollywood movies and real US military satellite images and get carried away! US needs and can afford the constellation of satellites (with high resolution cameras) because US concerns itself with the happenings in every inch of Earth.

However Indian military has a very specific region (thin strip - borders) to monitor 24/7! Aerostats are the best way to do it - it's cheapest and will produce the highest quality images/video for 24/7 surveillance!

Let's examine Satellites. There are two types Geostationary or Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites
- LEO sats are not stationary and cross over a specific area only few times in a day. So, one can only get an image of a specific area only one or two or three times a day. So, obviously it cannot check the jihadis sneaking in. Possible (expensive solution) is to have dozens of such satellites so that it can give images of a specific area 20, 30, 40 times a day. But surveillance is still not 'continuous'. Since, the sats are 100kms above Earth they need high resolution cameras to focus.
- Geostationary satellites are stationed at a fixed point above earth. The camera can be tilted to look at different border segments at a time - not continuous surveillance here either. The worst thing about this satellite (other than the extreme cost) is that the satellite reside 35,000 kms above earth. To be able to see a jihadi scum crawling is almost impossible with the cameras that India could build!

Aerostats are cheap to build. They are 1 km to 5 km above earth, so the resolution of the images/video is EXTREMELY good! If the Aerostat is at (say) 2kms altitude it can easily cover an circle of diameter ~300kms (but optically 200kms as DRDO cameras have range limitations)!!!
So 10-15 of these will cover all of Paki border. (If lower aerostats are at 1km altitude than each will cover a circle of diameter ~200kms). Also unlike satellites, Aerostats can carry multiple payloads - day camera, night camera, thermal camera AND BFSR! Surveillance will be continuous!! When around 2 kms altitude, Pakis cannot attack it with rifles or even heavy machine guns! Only cheap way to bring it down would be via some kind of high caliber (40+ mm) anti-aircraft guns (whose use will of course invoke heavy retaliation from India as these would be at least 2-4kms inside Indian territory). Also Aerostats don't explode on being punctured by rounds - they deflate slowly and come down very slowly in a way that won't damage the equipment. The holes can be patched and the aerostat sent back up!!

Your focus is limited to the border alone. Since you are talking of 2-5km altitude, there are a lot of blind areas for these aerostat solutions. For ex: the enemy can use tunnels that start beyond the range of aerostat, or they can start behind a ridge that is not covered.
There is also the sea that you have to monitor for such ingress. Or, if you want to monitor the path taken by something.
Blinding these are easier and less expensive for the enemy with cheaper equipment. Like you said, they can be temporarily impacted giving a few vulnerable points at the time of the enemy choosing.

Then, there are offensive operations deep inside enemy borders you want to monitor, OR if you want to do some sigint on their sites.

While the aerostat solution has its uses, the satellite will be far more effective means and has already been used by our forces multiple times as seen from publicly available sources.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

- LEO sats are not stationary and cross over a specific area only few times in a day. So, one can only get an image of a specific area only one or two or three times a day. So, obviously it cannot check the jihadis sneaking in. Possible (expensive solution) is to have dozens of such satellites so that it can give images of a specific area 20, 30, 40 times a day. But surveillance is still not 'continuous'. Since, the sats are 100kms above Earth they need high resolution cameras to focus.
- Geostationary satellites are stationed at a fixed point above earth. The camera can be tilted to look at different border segments at a time - not continuous surveillance here either. The worst thing about this satellite (other than the extreme cost) is that the satellite reside 35,000 kms above earth. To be able to see a jihadi scum crawling is almost impossible with the cameras that India could build!

Not necessarily for border, CartoSats are for all sort of entertained military reconnaissance requirements as well as even city planning.
Aerostats are indeed great thing but when thing that has to be tracked is way far from border, its useless. You'd have to tack mobilization path for your forces and for that, you'll need layout for higher scale. The staggering resolution of 0.25m ensures that you can get a nice map that even at high resolution.
For consistent tracking focused on one place only, you'll need to put satellite in Geosynchronous orbit. GISAT series will be there for it.

 

[Enquirer]

Your focus is limited to the border alone. Since you are talking of 2-5km altitude, there are a lot of blind areas for these aerostat solutions. For ex: the enemy can use tunnels that start beyond the range of aerostat, or they can start behind a ridge that is not covered.
There is also the sea that you have to monitor for such ingress. Or, if you want to monitor the path taken by something.
Blinding these are easier and less expensive for the enemy with cheaper equipment. Like you said, they can be temporarily impacted giving a few vulnerable points at the time of the enemy choosing.

At 5 kms altitude the camera from the Aerostat can see 250 kms inside Pakistan (provided you have cameras that have good resolution). DRDO's own LORROS have 80-100 kms range! No tunnel would start that far from the border!

Steep mountains/ridge will present a 'shadow side' to Aerostat cameras; but if it's movement that you're interested in then one can detect the movement towards that blind spot!

The key aspect you're missing is that Aerostat based cameras can offer 'continuous monitoring' of areas of interest. Infact onboard BFSR can first automatically detect movements in vast swathes of areas and then direct the cameras automatically towards them for monitoring.

Satellite based cameras need to be pointed at areas (with knowledge a priori that something will happen in a particular(small) area at a certain time).

Full scale war is a different scenario. India desperately needs 24/7 surveillance of border to stop the flow of jihadi scum! UAVs will become the choice of surveillance platform during wars (with satellite imagery to assist)

Also, you're assuming that the quality of images (resolution) from a stationary Aerostat and a satellite moving at 30,000 km/h (LEO sats) is the same. Nothing can be far from truth! We have to take into account that GEO sats to monitor individual jihadi movement is a no go (India doesn't have the cameras to pick a single jihadi from 35,000 kms away)

Aerostats can also be employed at the coasts. Monitoring of the coastal areas will be much more effective than land borders!
In fact DRDO's Airship is specifically meant for the coasts!

Then, there are offensive operations deep inside enemy borders you want to monitor, OR if you want to do some sigint on their sites.

Sigint equipment is also usually part of the Aerostat payload.
A few satellites will be required to take a different perspective. But having a constellation of satellites will be extremely cost prohibitive. Even if one manages to have a LEO satellite over Ind-Pak border at every hour (presumably with 30+ surveillance LEO satellites), the camera is still taking a picture of only one area! Despite what the fan boys might be fantasizing Indian military won't go for that.
With several Aerostats, several areas could be monitored simultaneously!

While the aerostat solution has its uses, the satellite will be far more effective means and has already been used by our forces multiple times as seen from publicly available sources.

Rest assured. Aerostat will be the preferred solution and will be implemented shortly!
That doesn't mean there'll be no surveillance satellites - but will be limited to 2 or 3, that's all (not 30 or 40).

 

[Enquirer]

Not necessarily for border, CartoSats are for all sort of entertained military reconnaissance requirements as well as even city planning.
Aerostats are indeed great thing but when thing that has to be tracked is way far from border, its useless. You'd have to tack mobilization path for your forces and for that, you'll need layout for higher scale. The staggering resolution of 0.25m ensures that you can get a nice map that even at high resolution.
For consistent tracking focused on one place only, you'll need to put satellite in Geosynchronous orbit. GISAT series will be there for it.

You're once again confusing border surveillance with large-scale mapping!
0.25m resolution is not really staggering!! This means a jihadi will be one pixel (slightly darker than the background) in the image; that too if you're lucky to have your satellite above the area and take the image exactly at the time when the jihadis are present!

Even if you get the jihadi as one pixel in an image, how exactly are you going to figure that out?
For border surveillance you need to be able to see the jihadi scum quite clearly - including the weaponry that they're carrying!

You guys are all getting mightly confused here. No one said there should be no satellite imagery! I am only saying that for continuous monitoring of jihadi movement across the border, satellite based surveillance is impractical to impossible!

 

[Advaidhya Tiwari]

You're once again confusing border surveillance with large-scale mapping!
0.25m resolution is not really staggering!! This means a jihadi will be one pixel (slightly darker than the background) in the image; that too if you're lucky to have your satellite above the area and take the image exactly at the time when the jihadis are present!

Even if you get the jihadi as one pixel in an image, how exactly are you going to figure that out?
For border surveillance you need to be able to see the jihadi scum quite clearly - including the weaponry that they're carrying!

You guys are all getting mightly confused here. No one said there should be no satellite imagery! I am only saying that for continuous monitoring of jihadi movement across the border, satellite based surveillance is impractical to impossible!

I don't think this DRDO satellite is for border surveillance. It simply makes no sense to use satellite for border surveillance due to low resolution as well as the fact that the satellite keep moving aeound the earth and can take images of any plance for at most 30% of the time.

The satellite makes sense only for surveillance of enemy territory and other strategic facilities

 

[Haldiram]

Simply basis of new stuff.

Ranting..
Post 2030s, ISRO's launch fleet must be:

Expendable Launch Vehicles:

• SSLV
• Modular UMLV series of rockets for medium to heavy payloads.

Resuable Launch Vehicles

• HTHL spaceplane based on AVATAR project.
• VTVL launcher based on ADMIRE test vehicle.

Or we don't need ELVs after RLVs??

Does it lower the overall cost of the launch to have a vertical landing rocket, instead of just having a parachute assisted descend and then recovering that module to be reused later? (seems like the latter will consume less fuel, isn't it?)

 

[Enquirer]

Does it lower the overall cost of the launch to have a vertical landing rocket, instead of just having a parachute assisted descend and then recovering that module to be reused later? (seems like the latter will consume less fuel, isn't it?)

Firstly, rockets are too heavy to be decelerated with parachutes!
Secondly, parachutes do let the cargo 'impact' on the ground - undesirable for reuse of looooong rockets that might just disintegrate.
Thirdly, if the parachute just drops it in the ocean, how will you recover it from the ocean bed?

 

[Enquirer]

I don't think this DRDO satellite is for border surveillance. It simply makes no sense to use satellite for border surveillance due to low resolution as well as the fact that the satellite keep moving aeound the earth and can take images of any plance for at most 30% of the time.

The satellite makes sense only for surveillance of enemy territory and other strategic facilities

You have the knack of informing me stuff that I've already stated
There are folks who think a constellation of satellites should be launched to enable continuous monitoring. My post was to disspell such a notion.