ISRO news and views

[LETHALFORCE]

India to send astronauts to space

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7906647.stm

India to send astronauts to space

India has earmarked more than $2.5bn to launch its own manned space flight and join the elite club of the US, China and Russia.

India's planning commission has set aside the cash to finance preparations.

A spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) welcomed the news.

If, as widely expected, the cabinet approves the plan, India could operate its first two-man space mission within a few years.

'Challenges'

Only the US, Russia and China can currently put their own astronauts into space using their own spacecraft.

India's dream is expensive and the planning commission, chaired by India's prime minister, has agreed to hand over billions of dollars to make it happen.

Officials at Isro feel they are now a big step closer to getting manned missions off the ground.

Spokesman S Satish said: "The target launch date is around 2015, wherein we plan to put two astronauts in a lower orbit for about a week's duration.

"And we have to establish a facility for training the astronaut, then we have to build a human space capsule - so these are some of the major technological challenges."

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India's cryogenic engine set for integration with rocket

http://www.business-standard.com/in...gine-set-for-integrationrocket/13/38/55632/on



India's cryogenic engine set for integration with rocket

The indigenous cryogenic engine that would make India totally self-reliant in all aspects of space launch vehicle technology is set to be integrated with the indigenous Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

"Now, it is getting ready for flight and I hope by the middle of the year, we should be able to make a launch", Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), G Madhavan Nair, told PTI.

Isro officials indicated that they are looking at a June-July date for the launch.

Indigenous development of cryogenic stage was taken up in 1996 for achieving self-reliance in cryogenic propulsion technology.

Technological challenges faced during the development stage include development of new materials, composite thermal insulation, new fabrication techniques, handling of cryogenic fluids at cryogenic temperatures, realisation of facilities for assembly, integration and testing, and associated safety systems.

GSLV flights launched so far by India used Russian cryogenic engine. Seven cryogenic stages were procured from Russia of which five stages have been utilised.

Forthcoming GSLV launch with indigenously developed cryogenic stage would launch GSAT-4 communication satellite.

"GSAT-4 communication satellite carries a lot of experiments. Our main interest will be to see how cryogenic engine performs. We have developed the engine using indigenous technology and indigenous fabrication capability", Isro Spokesperson S Satish said.

"We have completed all qualification tests. We are very confident. We have already conducted flight acceptance test and it has met all parameters", Satish said.

The indigenous cryogenic engine develops a thrust of 73 kilo Newtons (kN) in vacuum with a specific impulse of 454 seconds and provides a payload capability of 2200 Kg to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) for GSLV.

The engine works on 'Staged Combustion Cycle' with an integrated turbopump running at around 42,000 rotations per minute (rpm). It is also equipped with two steering engines developing a thrust of 2 kN each to enable three-axis control of the launch vehicle during the mission.

Another unique feature of this engine is the closed loop control of both thrust and mixture ratio, which ensures optimum propellant utilisation for the mission.

The cryogenic engine is now in the process of being integrated with propellant tanks, stage structures and associated feed lines.

The cryogenic stage is technically a very complex system compared to solid or earth-storable liquid propellant stages due to the use of propellants at extremely low temperatures and the associated thermal and structural problems.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India 'to join elite space club'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7906647.stm

India 'to join elite space club'

India has earmarked more than $2.5bn to launch its own manned space flight and join the elite club of the US, China and Russia.

India's planning commission has set aside the cash to finance preparations.

A spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) welcomed the news.

If, as widely expected, the cabinet approves the plan, India could operate its first two-man space mission within a few years.

'Challenges'

Only the US, Russia and China can currently put their own astronauts into space using their own spacecraft.

India's dream is expensive and the planning commission, chaired by India's prime minister, has agreed to hand over billions of dollars to make it happen.

Officials at Isro feel that they are now a big step closer to getting manned missions off the ground.

Spokesman S Satish said: "The target launch date is around 2015, wherein we plan to put two astronauts in a lower orbit for about a week's duration.

"And we have to establish a facility for training the astronaut, then we have to build a human space capsule - so these are some of the major technological challenges

 

[pyromaniac]

BrahMos to sign MOU with ISRO

Kochi (PTI): BrahMos Aerospace Ltd will sign an MOU with ISRO for launcher vehicle integration, the Company CEO, Siva Thanu Pillai, said on Thursday.

A separate production line for ISRO is expected to be ready by 2013 and the government has agreed to provide about 50 acre of land for it, Pillai said at a workshop here on 'Industrial Opportunties in Aerospace and Defence Sectors'.

BrahMos would also be partner with Atomic Energy department to manufacture precision robotics systems and manipulators for nuclear reactors, he said.

Another area of interest is the development of Aero engines for Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)s.

The aim was to make Brahmos Aerospace Rs 1,000 crore company in four years time.

Pillai said business worth Rs 10,000 crore turnover could be tapped by industries in Kerala from the defence sector in another 3-4 years time. The Indian defence market would be around USD 45 billion in the next five years.

Very soon a tripartite agreement between Bharat Electronics, National Physical Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) and Keltron would be inked for development of varous defence systems, he said.

There were vast opportunities for Kerala based industries to contribute to the growth in defence market, Pillai said, adding, the state had Titanium reserves of about 7.5 lakh tonnes which can be mined.

With an investment of Rs 4500 crore, and production target of 10,000 tonnes per year, a company could post an annual turnover of around Rs 5,000 crore, he said.

Col Manoj Nair, Director, Army Aviation, said the Army aviation has a sizeable fleet of helicopters and a host of aircraft spares are required ranging from low technology items to high cost items procured from abroad and vendors from within the country. There was ample opportunities for industries in Kerala to step into this growing market, he said.

Only 30 per cent of defence requirements are presently procured indigenously.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200902261931.htm

 

[Triton]

Top scientist slams Isro for delay in Indo-Israeli mission

A top astrophysicist, spearheading an Indo-Israeli venture to launch a set of three telescopes aboard an indigenous satellite, has accused the Indian Space Research Organisation of delay in undertaking the mission, and expressed fears that relevance of data might be in jeopardy.

Tauvex is an Indo-Israeli ultraviolet imaging experiment that will image large parts of the sky in a particular wavelength region. The instrument consists of three equivalent 20-cm UV imaging telescopes with a choice of filters for each telescope.

It is a collaborative effort of the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Principal investigators: Jayant Murthy and Kameswar Rao) and Tel Aviv University (Principal investigators: Noah Brosch and Hagai Netzer) with the scientific data open to all Indian and Israeli scientists.

Speaking to PTI, Jayant Murthy said, "We have always had a very difficult time understanding ISRO schedules and have not been kept in the loop regarding when the launch will be. The flight date was first supposed to be late 2005 and has continually slipped."

However, an Isro spokesman, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue.

"The official date which was conveyed to us (now) was early June (this year). Further slippages are of great concern to us because the Tauvex payload is sitting in the Isro clean room where we have no control over its environment. UV payloads are very sensitive to contamination," Murthy said.

He said both IIA and Tel Aviv University are very pleased with the support given to them by the GSAT-4 project team. These international collaborations are critical for science which should truly transcend borders.

"Through this project, and others, we have an exposure to the latest scientific results and data. However, we are concerned that, at the same time, there is not a sufficient appreciation for the timeliness of scientific data. Science advances throughout the world and our delays do have serious consequences to the further relevance of our data", Murthy said.

According to him, Tauvex has been in the clean room of Isro since early December.

Asked specifically, if he was referring to delay by Isro in launching the payload, he said: "Yes, we have been delayed by ISRO's inability to launch on time."

Tauvex, which comprises three UV band telescopes developed by Tel Aviv University and Israel space agency (ELOP), is slated to be launched into a geostationary orbit as part of ISRO's GSAT-4 mission later this year.

 

[jayadev]

i think the isro people are afraid of our secularists. they will blame ISRO as the enemy of Islam in India and world over

 

[nitesh]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...evelop-nano-satellite/articleshow/4202791.cms

IIT-K students develop nano satellite
28 Feb 2009, 0240 hrs IST, Vishwas Kothari, TNN

PUNE: The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has embarked on a mission to become the first academic institution in the country to design and develop a nano satellite. The launch of this nano satellite, Jugnu', is scheduled for the end of this year.

Speaking to ToI here on Thursday, IIT-K's dean (resource, planning and generation) Sanjeev K Aggarwal said, "The Indian Space and Research Organisation (Isro) is assisting in the project, which forms part of the run-up activity for a bigger contributory role we (IIT-K) expect to play in Chandrayaan-II."

The second phase of India's unmanned moon mission is scheduled for launch by Isro in 2011 or 2012.

He said, "The entire exercise is aimed at familiarising students with system building; the nano satellite is a full integration project."

Referring to Jugnu', Aggarwal said, "The nano satellite will weigh around 7 to 9 kg and is currently being designed and fabricated by students and faculty in the IIT-K labs."

"The launch is intended to put the nano satellite in the polar orbit, between 700 and 800 km distance from earth," he added.

The polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite travels from north-to-south direction and passes above or nearly above both the poles of the earth. Polar orbit is normally used for purposes like earth mapping, earth observation and reconnaissance.

Jugnu will carry high resolution cameras to puck up images meant for data analysis. It is also intended to aide collection of information for flood, drought and disaster management.

Aggarwal said, "While ISRO will launch the nano satellite for us, the control earth station for the purpose of communication and reconnaissance images, will be located on the premises of IIT-K."

Meanwhile, Aggarwal said that the IIT-K has launched a thorough review of the curriculum for its undergraduate degree programmes. "The review is part of an exercise that is taken every 10 years to see that the curriculum remains in tune with what the industry wants from our product, ie the students."

Also, he said, the idea is to sustain the distinct differentiating edge, which IIT graduates enjoy over their counterparts from other institutes in the country. There would be focus on emerging areas of study in fields related energy and nano-materials, among others, he said.

 

[Triton]

ISRO has submitted proposal for manned lunar mission: official

VELLORE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has submitted a Rs.12,000-crore proposal to the Central government for undertaking the manned mission to the moon, according to A. Bhaskaranarayana, Scientific Secretary of ISRO.

Talking to reporters at the VIT University campus here on Saturday, Mr. Bhaskaranarayana said that the Centre has constituted a high power committee to examine the proposal and take a decision on it. A lot of studies have to be made by ISRO before undertaking the manned mission, while the Central government would have to take into consideration the economic implications of spending such a huge sum on the manned mission. A mission to send an Indian aboard a spacecraft to a lower orbit 200 km away from earth would have to precede the lunar manned mission, he said. The ISRO official said that Chandrayan-I has completed 120 days in orbit and the first ‘imaging season’ of the satellite is over. (An imaging season is the season in which the atmospheric and climatic conditions, and the geometry of the earth, sun and moon were suitable for picking up satellite images from planets). The next ‘imaging season’ would commence in July. The ISRO has established a data centre in Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, to enable scientists to extract the data received from the Chandrayan-I mission.
Chandrayan-II

Chandrayan-II, the second unmanned lunar satellite, estimated to cost Rs.480 crore, would be launched in 2012. While the Chandrayan-I had only the spectrometers and other imaging equipment to take camera images of the surface of the moon, Chandrayan-II will also have a rover, which would dig into the surface for about half a metre, take soil samples, analyse them and send the data to earth.

Asked about the possibility of preventing collision of satellites in space as the one that occurred recently, resulting in the falling of debris into the space, he said already, technology was available to predict and prevent such collisions.

 

[Triton]

ISRO rocket to carry more astronauts in space

NEW DELHI: As the country readies itself for putting a human on a space flight, scientists are busy developing next generation rockets that can
carry more astronauts and put heavier satellites in orbit.

The Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), expected to be launched in the next three years, will give the country self-sufficiency in launching the entire range of satellites.

"If everything goes through successfully, we can attempt a launch by 2011 beginning," GLSV Mk III Project Director N Narayan Moorthy told PTI here.

Scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram will carry out testing of all engines this year.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists also said the GSLV Mk III will enable them to send "heavier and more meaningful" probes to Mars and also help send more astronauts on a single mission.

ISRO is planning to use the current version of the GSLV in the human space flight it plans to undertake in 2015.

"In case we use Mark III, we can send three persons instead of two by the regular GSLV," an ISRO scientist said.

The GSLV is capable of launching 2.5-tonne satellites and ISRO has to depend on the European Space Agency to put in orbit its communications satellites.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

ISRO Rocket To Carry More Astronauts In Space

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ISRO_Rocket_To_Carry_More_Astronauts_In_Space_999.html

ISRO Rocket To Carry More Astronauts In Space

by Staff Writers
New Delhi, India (PTI) Mar 02, 2009
As the country readies itself for putting a human on a space flight, scientists are busy developing next generation rockets that can carry more astronauts and put heavier satellites
in orbit.

The Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), expected to be launched in the next three years, will give the country self-sufficiency in launching the entire range of satellites.

"If everything goes through successfully, we can attempt a launch by 2011 beginning," GLSV Mk III Project Director N Narayan Moorthy told PTI here.

Scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram will carry out testing of all engines this year.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists also said the GSLV Mk III will enable them to send "heavier and more meaningful" probes to Mars and also help send more astronauts on a single mission.

ISRO is planning to use the current version of the GSLV in the human space flight it plans to undertake in 2015.

"In case we use Mark III, we can send three persons instead of two by the regular GSLV," an ISRO scientist said.

The GSLV is capable of launching 2.5-tonne satellites and ISRO has to depend on the European Space Agency to put in orbit its communications satellites.

 

[nitesh]

Chandrayaan likely to join U.S. spacecraft for water probe

 

[A.V.]

After the moon, ISRO aims for the sun

The silent space surrounding the moon could soon be busy with the movement of active satellites from different countries in its parent planet. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) lunar satellite Chandrayaan-1 is now orbiting the moon in an elliptical orbit over the polar regions of the moon. ISRO launched Chandrayaan-1, meaning ‘moon craft’ successfully on 22 October 2008, thereby joining the space faring countries in the lunar race. Launched at a cost of about $75 million, Chandrayaan-I will remain in its orbit for about two years. This is especially significant because of the renewed interest in the Earth’s lone satellite after a lull of many decades.

The moon has always been a source of mystery to the human race. It has been associated with mythology and beauty. Being the nearest celestial body, it continues to be a source of great interest to the space scientists. The lunar mission is seen as an important milestone in the space journey.

In the early 1960s the race for the moon was between the US and the USSR. However, the USSR nearly abandoned its lunar mission in the 1970s. Russia is now planning to launch its lunar project ‘Luna-Glob’ in the next few years. The US agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) are expected to provide significant information to help plan for an advanced manned lunar mission in the next decade. LRO is scheduled for launch in April this year while GRAIL is planned for 2011.

ISRO is conscious of the fact that although other countries have undertaken space missions, the data is often not shared. So, India launched its own lunar mission. China is also moving ahead in the space with its plans to send robotic explorers to the moon by 2020. Its first lunar satellite, Chang'e-1, named after a legendary Chinese moon goddess impacted the moon this year. In the global scene, India has set an example of international cooperation by carrying foreign payloads on Chandrayaan-1.

The success of Chandrayaan-1 would help ISRO to improve its technology for future missions. Chandrayaan-1 could also provide information about the availability of Helium-3 on the moon. Helium-3 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium considered as a comparatively clean fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors.

Riding high on the success of Chandrayaan-I, ISRO plans to launch Chandrayaan-2 in 2012. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The mission has been allocated a budget of $86.6 million (Rs 425 crore). Chandrayaan-2 will comprise a lander and a robotic rover, which will soft land on the moon. The robot will take samples from the lunar surface for analysis and will transmit the data back to the earth. ISRO has already signed a pact with the Russian federal space agency (Roskosmos) for the mission. According to the pact, Roskosmos will be responsible for the Lander/Rover.

While Chandrayaan-1 is yet to unload many of its secrets, ISRO is aggressively pursuing its future projects such as the solar mission, Aditya, a satellite to study solar emissions. With the design in place, the mission will be launched in a couple of years. Aditya is reportedly the first space based solar mission planned to study corona, the sun’s outer layer. There are limitations to studying corona from the earth as it is visible only during solar eclipses. The earth’s atmosphere also scatters sunlight. This makes a space mission to study corona even more significant.

ISRO’s study on a Mars mission is also underway. The orbiter mission to Mars aims to study the Martian atmosphere, weather and solar wind-Mars interactions. According to ISRO, setting up a base in the moon could help future space explorations. A long trip to a celestial body such as the Mars could use the moon as an intermediate base. Mission to Mars is likely to could happen around 2019. Missions to other planets could well become a reality in the long term.

India’s manned mission to space at a cost $2.3 billion (Rs 12,000 crore) could be expected before 2015. While ISRO is not averse to international cooperation, it prefers to be self-reliant. ISRO’s manned mission into space has been approved by the Space Commission and is awaiting the government’s approval.

Asteroid or comet flyby flights could also become future missions. This could study the surface and interior of comet nucleus, composition of dust and gas in the comet, solar radiations and also bring samples of comet dust for study.

NASA is currently in the news for its Kepler mission, which aims to explore outer space for alien life. If all goes well, the mission will be launched in Florida on Friday night, 6 March, local time. The Kepler mission is a $600-million mission in search of habitable planets.

China, the US and Japan are going ahead with major plans for space exploration. Everyone wants a share of the outer space. While ISRO says it is not interested in a space war, it also does not want to be lagging behind in enhancing its competence to explore space. The possibilities awaiting the space explorers could very well challenge human imagination.


http://www.itexaminer.com/after-the-moon-isro-aims-for-the-sun.aspx

 

[LETHALFORCE]

 

[Triton]

India to deploy space-based surveillance systems for ballistic missile defense shield

NEW DELHI, March 10 (Xinhua) -- India is mulling to deploy space-based surveillance systems to counter any threat posed to its indigenous ballistic missile defense (BMD) system, a top Indian Defense official said Monday night.

"We are certainly looking to develop space-based surveillance capabilities for the BMD. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is working on the project," Indian Air Defense Program Director V.K. Saraswat told the media.

He also said that to tackle enemy attack, missiles with a striking range of over 6,000 km and hypersonic interceptor missiles will have to be developed for the phase II of the air defense program.

In the phase I of its air defense program, India had successfully tested the BMD system in November 2006 outside atmosphere at a 48-km altitude and inside atmosphere at an altitude of 15-km in December 2007.

India last week successfully test-fired its indigenous ballistic missile shield in the eastern state of Orissa. The interceptor missile was fired from the Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast and destroyed the "enemy" missile at an altitude of 80 km.

The Indian Ballistic Missile Defense Program is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defense system to protect the country from missile attacks.

The program is a two-tiered system consisting of two interceptor missiles, namely Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) missile for high altitude interception, and the Advanced Air Defense (AAD) Missile for lower altitude interception.

 

[Triton]

Rs 201 crore That's how much Isro owes in unpaid taxes

Space organisation's commercial wing tries to wriggle out of paying VAT saying leasing a facility is a service, not a sale. But court says, nothing doing

The state commercial tax department has asked Isro to cough up Rs 201 crore as value added tax, a decision that has been upheld by the Karnataka High Court.

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) commercial wing, Antrix Corporation, leases out transponders carried by Indian satellites to private and public broadcasters to uplink and downlink signals.

Antrix, which generates huge revenue by leasing the facility, has not paid Value Added Tax (VAT) to the state government, reveal commercial tax department investigations. The department investigated the case for about a year.

Antrix's transactions between 2005 and 2008 revealed that unpaid VAT amounted to about Rs 158 crore under the KVAT Act 2003. Interest and penalty together make it a whopping Rs 201 crore.

"It's the first time we've handled such a case," said a top official in the department.

Read complete article here

 

[Triton]

ISRO's drought-predicting satellite delayed by 3 years

Six years back, this satellite was cleared in the same evening meeting of the Union Cabinet, which approved Chandrayaan-1.

While Chandrayaan-1 reached the moon, Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) is three years behind its original launch schedule of 2006-07 and can be delayed even further.

Once realised, RISAT is expected to provide clues to determine if a drought is looming at large by fairly accurately estimating the soil moisture level over a small patch of land.

Since India doesn’t have any tool to determine if a drought-like situation is emerging in any state, RISAT will come in handy. But space scientists are not sure whether they can meet the new schedule in 2009-10 because of the satellite’s complications associated with the active antenna for its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and complexities in integrated ground testing.

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair stated in November 2008 that RISAT was “standing in the queue” and a flight “is likely before the middle of next year.”

However, ISRO officials now claim since their latest deadline is 2009-10 the satellite can even be launched in the first quarter of the next year.

“We are pushing for a end 2009 launch and have another six to seven months to ready the payload,” V Jayraman, director of Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre, which is making the payload’s critical components, told Deccan Herald.

Approving the satellite on September 11, 2003, the Union Cabinet sanctioned Rs 378.49 crore with a foreign exchange component of 263.23 crore for RISAT. The space agency envisaged a launch within three years of the approval. The 2004 annual report of ISRO mentions a launch schedule of 2006-07. Over the years, the schedule was modified to 2007 and 2008-09. It now stands at 2009-10.

Technical challenges

“Few people were over-optimistic at the time of approval. But it’s new and technical challenges were more than what envisaged,” said an ISRO scientist.

The C-band SAR lies at the core of RISAT, enabling the satellite to operate in the microwave range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The radar gives RISAT a unique capability for all weather day and night imaging including fog and haze conditions. It also provides information on soil moisture. It has a spatial resolution of 3-50 mt and swath of 10-240 km.
Careful analysis of RISAT images supplemented with information on water balance, vegetation route crop type can help predict a possible drought.

“We are attempting the microwave technology after mustering optical and remote sensing technology. Few European countries and Canada only have perfected this microwave technology,” Jayraman said.

 

[nitesh]

IAF personnel to be on first manned space mission

 

[nitesh]

Indian NSDI publishes Metadata Standards ver 2.0
20 March 2009

India: The National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), under Department of Science & Technology of Government of India, has released Metadata Standard 2.0. The publication is prepared by the working group on ‘Metadata Standards’ chaired by Dr. S K Pathan, from Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmadabad.

The National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) Metadata Standards defines the schema and design for the NSDI Metadata. The Metadata standards contain a set of relational tables that standardise the layer metadata, the geographic search metadata, the access metadata etc.

Metadata is first element of the NSDI which enables a user to find spatial data that is available in different NSDI Agency servers. Metadata serves two major purposes – both for the spatial data generator and for the spatial data user. For the generator, the Metadata provides a framework to document the spatial data and declare its content for users. For the user, Metadata serves many important purposes, including finding the spatial data as per need; browsing spatial data; deciding on whether the spatial data will meet the application need and finding how the spatial data can be accessed. This Metadata Standards 2.0 is an important document that defines the schema and design for NSDI Metadata.

ISRO, with the involvement of Survey of India (SOI), National Informatics Centre (NIC), Geological Survey of India (GSI), Forest Survey of India (FSI), National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSSLUP), National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO), Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Central Water Commission (CWC) and the private sector, has led the effort of defining a ‘National Metadata Standards’.

 

[nitesh]

http://www.ptinews.com/pti\ptisite.nsf/0/891057F482233D216525757F0035CFA6?OpenDocument

India set to launch imaging satellite with Israeli support



Bangalore, Mar 20 (PTI) India is all set to launch a radar imaging satellite (RISAT) built with "substantial inputs" from the Israel aerospace industry from Sriharikota spaceport, an ISRO official said today. Israel has supplied Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which is in fact "heart" of the 1780-kg remote sensing satellite, the official told PTI on condition of anonymity. "Israel has supplied substantial systems," the ISRO official said.

The Israeli "inputs" are seen as a "return gesture" by the Jewish State to New Delhi for launching an Israeli spacecraft Techsar on board India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from Sriharikota last year.

"RISAT is likely to be launched in the first half of April. We are looking at April five or six," the official said.

An active sensor, SAR operates in the microwave range of electromagnetic spectrum and provides the target parameters such as dielectric constant, roughness, and geometry. PTI

 

[Triton]

Isro to add 36 transponders in one year: Bhaskaranarayana

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has mapped out its programme till 2025 and is planning to make 36 more transponders available in the period of the next one year, a senior officer said.

This was revealed by Isro scientific secretary A Bhaskaranarayana at the Casbaa Indian Satellite Forum 2009 here today.

In a keynote address, Bhaskaranarayana said Isro had presently made available more than 200 transponders for various functions. It was operating seven remote sensing satellites and also a large number of other satellites including communication satellites in the field of education, health, e-governance, and rural advancement.

Referring to the Chandrayan mission, Bhaskaranarayana said that the aim was to study the origin of the moon. He said only 30 per cent of the moon’s surface had been mapped and the aim was to learn about the rest. India would also put a man in space within the next two years.

He claimed that Isro, which recently became a member of the Cable and Satellite Association of Asia (Casbaa), was now self-sufficient in that it had developed capability in operating and launching satellites and had launched more than 17 space satellites. It was operating two navigation projects from space, apart from Edusat for educational purposes, a satellite for telemedicine, another for village resource centres, a satellite-based disaster management system with 350 centres, and a satellite-based search system.

Bhaskaranarayana said Isro, which had commenced operations in 1963, was one of the most cost-effective satellite operators in the world.

Referring to television, he said that the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (Site) in the early seventies had proved to be a trend-setter for many countries, and the Insat series of satellites had helped Doordarshan and other Indian satellites to beam their programmes.

Answering a question, he said it was up to the countries which were covered in the footprint of the Insat satellites to approach Isro in case they wished to utilise its services.

Bhaskaranarayana also said one C-Band and One Ku-band was available at any time for emergency requirements.