Isro tests lunar crew module on its heaviest rocket GSLV-Mark III

GSLV Mk-III integrated with CARE being transported to Second Launch Pad 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) today successfully launched its heaviest rocket GSLV-Mk III on Thursday at 9:30 am from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, marking a significant day for India's space programme. The 630-tonne 42.4 metre tall three-stage rocket blasted off with an experimental crew module that separated from the launch vehicle after reaching a sub-orbital height of around 120km and then splashed into the Andaman Sea. Naval ships waiting for the splashdown later picked up the crew module. Isro would study the flight validation of the complex atmospheric flight regime of the crew module, called LVM 3. The experiment will validate the module's ability to re-enter the earth's atmosphere with thermal resistance, parachute deployment in cluster formation, aero braking system and apex cover separation procedures. The crew module separated from the rocket as planned and made a 'soft-crash' into the Bay of Bengal some few hundred kilometres from Indira Point in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with the help of parachutes, which was picked up by Indian Coast Guard ships. GSLV-Mk III is conceived and designed to make India fully self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class, which weigh 4,500 to 5,000 kg. It would also enhance the capability of the country to be a competitive player in the multimillion dollar commercial launch market. While the rocket cost Isro Rs140 crore, the crew module has taken another Rs15 crore. The crew module, shaped like a giant-size cup cake - black in colour on top and brown at the bottom - weighs around four tonnes. It is about the
size of a small bedroom and can accommodate two - three people.  Isro had earlier carried out a similar experiment on a smaller scale in which the module had orbited around the earth for 15 days before entering back and the current experimental flight of the LMV 3 is a further validation of Isro's human space mission capabilities. Isro chief Dr K Radhjakrishnan confirmed the successful launch of GSLV-Mk III, terming it a very significant day for India. The Isro chief congratulated his team on the highly successful launch. ''Isro has successfully carried out human crew module experiment. The module has safely splashed down into Bay of Bengal off Andaman and Nicobar Islands,'' said Radhakrishnan. "GSLV-Mark III test flight mission successful. It is a significant day in India's space history," Radhakrishnan said after the launch. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Isro for the successful launch of GSLV Mk-III. "Successful launch of GSLV-Mk III is yet another triumph of brilliance and hardwork of our scientists," the Prime Minister tweeted. GSLV-Mk III was launched using a dummy engine as Isro is still in the process of developing the cryogenic engine capable of carrying heavier payloads up to four tonnes, which is expected to be ready within two years, Radhakrishnan said. He said the cryogenic engine was being developed at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The GSLV-Mk III was on Thursday launched with active S200 and L110 propulsive stages and a passive cryogenic stage (C25) with dummy engine. Isro, meanwhile, is gearing up for the launch of another Indian Regional Navigational Satellites System (IRNSS), the fourth in the series of seven satellites of the IRNSS, in the first week of March next year. With the completion of the system, India would join a select group of countries having their own navigation systems. This comes less than three months after Isro successfully launched Mangalyaan – a spacecraft orbiting Mars – catapulting India to the elite club of nations that have successfully sent missions to the red planet (See: MOM Mangalyaan sends pics of Martian dust storm). Source: Article

Read More........→January 04, 2015

India's Mars mission Q&A: what will Mangalyaan discover?

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India becomes fourth nation to celebrate reaching Mars – and the first to manage it on first attempt

India's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft has shared its first images of Mars after entering the red planet's orbit on its very first attempt. The country's space agency became the fourth to successfully put a satellite in orbit around Mars – and the first to manage it on its first try. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a national day of celebration as it began circling Mars. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) later uploaded a picture (above) of the planet on its Mars Orbiter twitter account with the caption: "The view is nice up here." The image, which was taken from a height of 7,300km, was printed out and presented to Prime Minister Modi, who had previously joked that the mission's budget was lower than the sci-fi film Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock. The Mars Orbiter Mission – known as Mangalyaanor or Mom – has been lauded for its relatively low price tag – just £45m, less than the cost of a Premier League footballer. The satellite will study the Martian atmosphere from orbit and will not land on the surface of the planet, says the Daily Telegraph. The Mars Orbiter Mission joins the US's Maven satellite in orbit around Mars. Maven, which is also studying the atmosphere, reached the red planet on Monday. Nasa's Curiosity Rover is also in residence on the Martian surface – and still active. Nasa's PR team greeted the fellow traveller with a tweet from Curiosity's 'personal' Twitter account. Namaste, @MarsOrbiter! Congratulations to @ISRO and India's first interplanetary mission upon achieving Mars orbit. — Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) September 24, 2014 ISRO replied in kind: "Howdy @MarsCuriosity? Keep in touch. I'll be around." The BBC says there was an "atmosphere of excitement and tension" early on Wednesday at ISRO's mission centre in Bangalore where the scientists "many of them women and several of them young" were tracking the craft. The first breakthrough was when the satellite fired up its liquid engine to start entering orbit. There followed an "agonising" 20 minutes when Mangalyaan passed behind Mars and was therefore out of radio contact. When it returned and was confirmed to have begun an elliptical orbit around the planet, "the scientists all rose as one, cheered, clapped, hugged each other and exchanged high fives". With the odds "stacked against us," said Modi, "we have navigated our craft through a route known to very few". He added that just as the nation celebrates its cricketing victories, so it should celebrate this "historic occasion". Only the US, Russia and Europe have successfully sent missions to Mars. Japan and China have attempted to do so but failed. Here are five key questions about the historic mission: Why is it so significant? India's space programme began 44 years ago, but this is the first time it has sent a mission "to study a celestial body outside Earth's sphere of influence", explains the Times of India. In reaching the red planet, India's space agency becomes the fourth in the world after those of the US, Russia and Europe to undertake a successful Mars mission. Some observers are viewing Mom "as the latest salvo in a burgeoning space race between the Asian powers of India, China, Japan, South Korea and others", says the BBC. What exactly is the Mars Orbiter?  The Orbiter, which is also known by the informal name of Mangalyaan (Mars-craft), is a 1,337 kilogram satellite "about the size of a small car", says Indian website Zee News. The Mom carries five scientific instruments weighing about 15 kilograms. They include a sensor that will measure the levels of methane in the Martian atmosphere, a colour camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer to gauge the temperature of the planet's surface. How long did it take to reach Mars? The Mom has completed a 300-day marathon to make the 200-million-kilometre journey to Mars. That included the 20-25 days it spent in the Earth's orbit "building up the necessary velocity to break free from our planet's gravitational pull", explains Zee. What scientific evidence is the MOM hoping to collect? The search for methane in the Martian atmosphere is probably the most significant part of the Mom mission. Martian methane has been detected by sensors on Earth, but NASA's robotic rover Curiosity has failed to find the gas during its time on the planet. The Indian spacecraft will also examine the rate of loss of atmospheric gases to outer space, says the BBC. "This could provide insights into the planet's history; billions of years ago, the envelope of gases around Mars is thought to have been more substantial." How much has the mission cost? The Mom, which is seen as a demonstration of India's low-cost space technology, is costing an estimated £45m. That's "a fraction of foreign equivalents", says Zee. But the budget price hasn't stopped critics asking if a country with "one of the highest rankings for childhood malnutrition in the world" should be involved in the space race, says the BBC. Others question the scientific purpose of the mission. A spokesman for the Delhi Science Forum, said: "This is a highly suboptimal mission with limited scientific objectives". Meanwhile, the economist-activist Jean Dreze, said the mission "seems to be part of the Indian elite's delusional quest for superpower status". For further concise, balanced comment and analysis on the week's news, try The Week magazine. Subscribe today and get 6 issues completely free. Source: The Week UK

Read More........→September 26, 2014

India eyeing global satellite market with successful GSLV-D5 launch

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Rocketry is often a leap of faith. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) knows this only too well as it begins the countdown on Saturday for the scheduled launch of the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-D5 on Sunday from Sriharikota. Barring bad weather or any last-minute technical glitch, the rocket should put into orbit the GSAT 14 communication satellite. But more importantly, Isro is desperate to break a jinx that doomed the heavy-lift GSLV’s last three launch attempts. In fact, since its first experimental flight in 2001, there have been four failures in seven launches of the GSLV. The last attempt, in August 2013, was dramatically scrubbed a couple of hours before liftoff, when launch officials detected a leak in the hydrazine fuel system on the rocket’s second stage. So a successful return-to-flight of the GSLV

programme this  weekend would loft into orbit much more than a communication satellite: the rocket would carry aloft the spirit of India’s space scientists. Standing 161 feet tall and weighing 640 tonne at liftoff, the GSLV-D5 belongs to the GSLV-Mk III series and is the heaviest rocket built in India. After the last launch attempt failed, Isro engineers worked tirelessly to redesign the launcher’s liquid hydrogen-fuelled second stage. They seem to be leaving nothing to chance this time round, swarming all over the launcher with technical tooth combs to ensure an uninterrupted countdown and liftoff. "The solid first stage and core base shroud have also been inspected and the affected elements replaced. The vehicle’s four strap-on engines, too, have been replaced," says S Somnath, GSLV-Mk III’s project director. The most important objectiveof the GSLV-D5  mission, however, is to flight-test the rocket’s all-important third stage: the indigenously-built cryogenic upper stage (CUS). The CUS, expected to be the mainstay of future GSLV flights, replaces the Russian cryogenic engine which was used in the rocket’s earlier experimental flights. There will be a lot of crossed fingers at Sriharikota during the launch, considering the new engine had a disastrous maiden flight in April 2010, shutting down less than a second after ignition, with the rocket plunging into the sea. The GSLV’s significance lies in the fact that the future of the global satellite market lies in the field of communications. The GSAT 14 satellite piggybacking the GSLV-D5 carries six Ku-band and six extended C-band transponders to help in digital audio broadcasting and other communications across the entiresubcontinent. Designed to last for a dozen years in its orbit, the satellite will replace the GSAT-3 (EDUSAT) which has been in orbit for 10 years. The big boosters in the GSLV series can hoist heavy communication satellites into geosynchronous orbits 36,000 km above the equator. In this position, the satellite keeps pace with Earth’s rotation and, as a result, appears stationary from the ground. This makes it easier to build simpler antennas on the ground, which do not have to track moving satellites in the sky. But powerful GSLV Mark IIIs (like the GSLV-D5) that can carry five-tonne satellites need cryogenic engines. These engines use fuels like oxygen and hydrogen inliquid form — stored at extremely low temperatures — to produce enormous amounts of thrust per unit mass (engineering parlance for the mass of fuel the engine requires to provide maximum thrust for a specific period such as, say, pounds of fuel per hour per pound of thrust). Rockets powered by cryogenic motors, therefore, need to carry much less fuel than would otherwise be required. Cryogenic fuels are also extremely clean as they give out only water while burning. A successful GSLV-D5 flight will make India only the sixth nation to possess this cutting edge technology, joining the United States, Russia, France, Japan and China in an elite club. India’s cryogenicmotor development encountered some rough weather in 1993 when exaggerated US jitters — that India might utilise its space capabilities for military purposes — led to Moscow chickening out of a cryo-engine technology transfer deal with New Delhi. Of course, the real reason for guarding cryogenic engine technology so zealously probably had more to do with economics than national security. India’s arrival in the global heavy-lift launch market as a low cost launch source would have threatened the business interests of Europe, Russia, and the US. In hindsight, though, it seems to have been a disguised blessing for Indian scientists who were forced to developthe technology on their own. The GSLV will reduce India’s dependence on foreign launchers like the ESA’s Ariane to launch INSAT-class satellites. Isro sources speak of plans to fly two more GSLVs at six-month-intervals before using the third one for the Chandrayaan-2 Moon mission. The GSLV-Mark III is also earmarked for launching human space flights in future and building orbiting space stations. Isro has built up an impressive portfolio of comparatively cheap space products and services that are attractive to foreign space agencies that want to outsource space missions. Together with the old workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the GSLV can bolsterIndia’s launch capability, which already boasts 30 to 35% cheaper launches than other countries. That said, however, the space agency cannot afford to ignore the fact that other players jostling in the international space market are constantly pushing the bar still higher. For the moment, though, all eyes will be on the GSLV-D5 mission, which will determine how soon Isro can claim its rightful share of the $300 billion global space market. GSLV D5 successfully places GSAT-14 on orbit: Sriharikota: The Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO achieved another milestone today as it successfully launched the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle or GSLV-D5 from the space port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The advanced GSAT-14 communications satellite that GSLV-D5 is carrying has also been separated from the

rocket. If  launched into orbit successfully, the Rs. 350-crore mission will mark India's entry into the multi-billion dollar commercial launcher market on a fully indigenous large rocket. An India-made cryogenic engine powers the GSLV-D5, which stands almost 50 meters tall (as high as a 17-storey building) and weighs a whopping 415 tons (as much 80 full grown elephants). "I am happy to saythat Team ISRO has done it," ISRO chief Dr K Radhakrishnan said after what was called a make-or-break launch owing to two failures earlier. The GSLV program had suffered twin back-to-back failures three years ago and its last launch in August was aborted minutes before lift-off. On August 19, 2013, a major mishap was averted and the launch of the GSLV was aborted 74 minutes before lift-off after ISRO scientists found that about 750 kilograms of highly inflammable and explosive fuel had leaked out in the second stage. Source: Article1, Images: http://antariksh-space.blogspot.in

Read More........→December 04, 2013

NASA-Funded Scientists Detect Water on Moon's Surface that Hints at Water Below

Chandrayaan-1 Moon mission description

NASA-funded lunar research has yielded evidence of water locked in mineral grains on the surface of the 

moon from an unknown source deep beneath the surface. Using data from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists remotely detected magmatic water, or water that originates from deep within the moon's interior, on the surface of the moon. The findings, published Aug. 25 in Nature Geoscience, represent the first detection of this form of water from lunar orbit. Earlier studies had shown the existence of magmatic water in lunar samples returned during the Apollo program. M3 imaged the lunar impact crater Bullialdus, which lies near the lunar equator. Scientists were interested in studying this area because they could better quantify the amount of water inside the rocks due to the crater's location and the type of rocks it held. The central peak of the crater is made up of a type of rock that forms deep within the lunar crust and mantle when magma is trapped underground. "This rock, which normally resides deep beneath the surface, was excavated from the lunar depths by the impact that formed Bullialdus crater," said Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist at the Johns Hopkins University

NASA patch / NASA / ISRO - Chandrayaan-1 Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) patch's.

Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md. "Compared to its surroundings, we found that the central portion of this crater contains a significant amount of hydroxyl - a molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom -- which is evidence that the rocks in this crater contain water that originated beneath the lunar surface," Klima said. In 2009, M3 provided the first mineralogical map of the lunar surface and discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the moon. This water is thought to be a thin layer formed from solar wind hitting the moon's surface. Bullialdus crater is in a region with an unfavorable environment for solar wind to produce significant amounts of water on the surface. "NASA missions like Lunar Prospector and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and instruments like M3 have gathered crucial data that fundamentally changed our understanding of whether water exists on the surface of the moon," said S. Pete Worden, center director at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Similarly, we hope that

LADEE Mission poster

upcoming NASA missions such as the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, or LADEE, will change our understanding of the lunar sky." The detection of internal water from orbit means scientists can begin to test some of the findings from sample studies in a broader context, including in regions that are far from where the Apollo sites are clustered on the near side of the moon. For many years, researchers believed that the rocks from the moon were bone-dry and any water detected in the Apollo samples had to be contamination from Earth. "Now that we have detected water that is likely from the interior of the moon, we can start to compare this water with other characteristics of the lunar surface," said Klima. "This internal magmatic water also provides clues about the moon's volcanic processes and internal composition, which helps us address questions about how the moon formed, and how magmatic processes changed as it cooled." APL is a not-for-profit division of Johns Hopkins University. Joshua Cahill and David Lawrence of APL and Justin Hagerty of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Ariz., co-authored the paper. NASA's Lunar Advanced Science and Engineering Program, the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) at Ames and the NASA Planetary Mission Data Analysis Program supported the research. NLSI is a virtual organization jointly funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate and NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in Washington, to enable collaborative, interdisciplinary research in support of NASA lunar science programs. For more information about NASA programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. Images, Text, Credit: NASA / JPL / ISRO. Greetings, Orbiter.ch. Source: Orbiter.ch Space News

Read More........→October 16, 2013

NASA, ISRO in talks to jointly develop a satellite for the first time

US space agency NASA and India's premier space agency ISRO are in talks for jointly building a satellite for the first time. "Now, there is a feasibility study going on whether we can jointly make a satellite, with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) payloads working on two frequency bands - L-band and S-band", Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) K Radhakrishnan told PTI in Bangalore. Charles F Bolden Jr, Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of United States, visited the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of ISRO in Ahmedabad on June 25.He had a meeting with Mr Radhakrishnan, also Secretary, Department of Space, along with senior officials of ISRO to discuss the ongoing cooperative activities between ISRO and NASA and also the potential areas of future cooperation. "...the joint satellite mission is an important step. It's not making an instrument and plugging it actually. It's working together. That's what we are discussing. It (working together) should happen in the next few months", Radhakrishnan said. "Both organisations are coming together and saying let's develop it together...use your strength, use my strength. That's a good way of working", he said. "It (the proposed satellite) is interesting from scientific point of view, it's interesting from normal resource management point of view," he said. Mr Radhakrishnan said NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory would make the radar system "if it (in case of NASA, ISRO deciding to work together on the mission) is getting through". On ISRO's role, he said, "We will be working together. Some will be built by us, some will be built by them. So, this (work-sharing) has to be finalised", adding, data generated by the mission would be used by both ISRO and NASA. Source: Article

Read More........→August 08, 2013