Indian Space Program Discussions / ISRO Plans

aaaditya

New Member
the hstv stands for hypersonic technology vehicle,i had already posted an image of it in this forum ,it is a drdo project for the indian airforce,it differs in terms of design to the avatar,it would weigh the same as a mig25 (in the range of 20-30 tons),will have hypersonic speeds,and will be used by the air force as a uav/ucav.besides this not much literature on this project is openly available.

the avatar on the other hand is designed for satellite launch purposes,would be unmanned/manned(like a space shuttle),will weigh around 330 tons with a 30 ton payload and is expected to reduce the cost of satellite launch by 90% to the exixting launchers.
 

vrus

New Member
Whatever happened to the GSLV-Mk I/II's indigenous Upper Liquid cryogenic stage ? The last update I found was that it had been ground tested for 1000s , (when it was required to only do 720 s, showing good performance).

I think you mentioned (aditya) that there would be a test with it on a test bed vehicle or something. I think a sounding rocket. You seem to have the most updated updates :D on everything, so got anything on this ?
 

aaaditya

New Member
vrus said:
Whatever happened to the GSLV-Mk I/II's indigenous Upper Liquid cryogenic stage ? The last update I found was that it had been ground tested for 1000s , (when it was required to only do 720 s, showing good performance).

I think you mentioned (aditya) that there would be a test with it on a test bed vehicle or something. I think a sounding rocket. You seem to have the most updated updates :D on everything, so got anything on this ?
the indigenous cryogenic engine is to be tested on board the gslv mk3 in 2008-2009,revised from the earlier target of 2007-2008,the next year these will be a lot of satellite launches using the russian cryo engine.
 

aaaditya

New Member
here is another example of isro's growing ambitions,seems that they want to create a satellite industry in india whereby private companies can manufacture satellites for foreign countries and companises and then launch them through isro.

here check out this link:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ISRO_Pushing_For_Indian_Satellite_Industry.html

ISRO is looking to jump-start an Indian satellite industry by inviting prospective domestic contractors to work with the agency until they can develop independent manufacturing capabilities.

On Sunday, the space agency concluded its first round of accepting proposals from domestic companies to build telecommunications satellites based on ISRO's designs - whether or not those companies have prior experience in the field. Officials now will begin reviewing the proposals and deciding whether to award a contract to a single company, contracts to multiple companies, or no contracts at all in this first round.
ISRO said the effort is intended yield up to 10 Indian-built telecom satellites over the next four or five years. "ISRO, on its part, will provide hand-holding and on-the-job training to the selected (company) at both ISRO's and the party's facilities in the initial phase," the agency said.
The design phase of the commercial satellite program "will be followed by over-the-shoulder supervision," ISRO said. Then, as a contractor acquires more experience, "ISRO's role will be limited to reviewing the acceptance test results and reliability and quality aspects."
If ISRO approves a proposal, the first satellite in the process would be built jointly by the agency and the selected contractor, including assembly of the space platform and subsystems, and integration and testing.
Meanwhile, ISRO has invited proposals - again, exclusively from Indian institutions - for experiments on board its proposed fleet of small research satellites. The plan is to launch a constellation of spacecraft in the 100 kilogram (220 pound) class, carrying research packages no heavier than 30 kilograms (66 pounds). The agency said its success with requesting experiments for the Chandrayaan-1, ASTROSAT and Megha Tropiques missions encouraged this second round covering small satellites.
 

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys , here is an interesting article about the isro's gagan project (indian space based navigation system) and the status of the project.

here check out this link:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1716398,0004.htm


Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) are at work to provide a modern navigation system over the Indian airspace.
The system, christened GAGAN or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation, will be a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS).
GAGAN will be operational by end 2007. For Delhi Airport it would mean less delays during the winter months when fog throws air traffic out of gear. GAGAN will operate like Category IIIA Instrument Landing System, helping flights land in near zero visibility conditions. Its accuracy will be within 1 metre. It will provide both lateral and vertical guidance.
Worldwide, ships and aircraft use two core constellations to determine their position - the GPS system of the US and a similar Russian system.
These set of satellites send a time-stamped message to the aircraft and ship, helping it fix its location and route. The position accuracy achievable with these core constellations (GPS and GLONASS) is 30 metres and not good enough for precision approach and landing requirements of civil aviation in India. These need to be augmented. GAGAN, with its satellites and ground-based transmitters will fill this gap over the Indian airspace.
There are three types of augmentation systems - Ground Based (GBAS), Aircraft Based (ABAS) Space/Satellite Based (SBAS). The ground and aircraft based systems have several handicaps - not available over the oceanic (Indian Ocean) airspace, unable to cover India's territorial airspace, performance dependent on terrain conditions, expensive to maintain and require periodic calibration.
GAGAN is being implemented in three stages:
Stage I: Technology Demonstration System — is complete.
Stage II: Initial Experimentation Phase — year-long, under process.
Stage III: Final Operational Phase — scheduled for 2007.
 

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys here is an interesting news article about india's indigenous spy satellite.

here check out this link:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200606190315.htm

IAF to acquire 'military satellite' soon

Hyderabad, June 19 (UNI): In view of the growing importance of satellite network in the armed forces, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is planning to acquire 'military satellite' with the assistance of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal, Ajit Bhavanani, said on Sunday.
Addressing a programme of the 'Aero Space Manufacturers Association' organised by Aeronautical Society of India here, he said an exclusive military satellite would provide information, which was inevitable for defence forces to utilise modern weapons.
Air Marshal Bhavanani said air space power, particularly in the area of civil and military aviation, would lead to the growth of the country. The IAF would acquire Air Borne Warning and Control System (AWACS) and
 

aaaditya

New Member
heer is another interesting article on the indian hyper plane project:

here check out this link:

http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/19/stories/2006061919870400.htm

Hyperplane project: DRDO on lookout for partners

Special Correspondent Test flight of scramjet engine likely by 2009, says official


HYDERABAD: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will look for partners from the private sector and other countries to develop the ambitious hyperplane project, estimated to cost Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 18,000 crores.
DRDO Chief Controller (R&D) V.K. Saraswat told a press conference organised in connection with the launch of the Aerospace Manufacturers' Association (ASMA) at a meeting of the Aeronautical Society of India, Hyderabad branch, that the test flight of the experimental scramjet engine as part of the project was expected to be ready by 2009.
Besides, DRDO was also interested in private participation in the indigenous development of low altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), small surveillance systems and aerostats.
He said the Services were looking for UAVs. The cost of an UAV ranges from Rs. 25 lakhs to over Rs. 1 crore, depending on the instruments on board. "Our industry has necessary infrastructure and technical skills to take up such projects," he added.
Level-playing field

Since a majority of defence equipment was imported, the objective was to produce it indigenously while providing a level-playing field for the private sector. "Industries in aerospace will be considered as major players for doing this," he observed. Formation of ASMA would help build a potent aerospace industry. ASMA had sought land for setting up an aeropark at Shamshabad where 40 to 50 major industries would be located.
W. Selva Murthy, Chief Controller R &D (life sciences and human resources), DRDO, in a lecture at the meeting gave an overview of the organisation's contribution to the Indian Air Force. He said to improve a pilot's efficiency, an aptitude battery test had been handed over to the force. DRDO had also developed flying overalls and anti-G suits for pilots.
Life support system

He said an integrated life support system with on-board oxygen generator was being developed for the light combat aircraft. Its demonstration was over. It would be integrated in future LCAs. Currently only the U.S., the U.K., France and Israel had such systems.
With G-induced loss of consciousness being one of the factors for aircraft accidents, he said DRDO was developing a smart vest which would activate the auto pilot by receiving signals from the physiological pattern. Vice Chief of the Air Staff Ajit Bhavnani spoke.
 

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys ,it is a major milestone ,but india's indigenous cryogenic engine has been sucessfully tested.i believe that this is the uprated one.

here check out this link:

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=4&articleid=63020060390937630200603846500

Test on GSLV engine successful


PTI


Nagercoil: The liquefied thrust engine for the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III, one of India’s most powerful satellite launch rockets, has been successfully tested, ISRO sources said on Thursday.

The test was carried out on Wednesday night by scientists at the Liquid Propulsions Systems Centre (LPSC) at Mahendragiri near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu.

Thus far, ISRO had been importing this engine. The successful test would enable India to manufacture its own liquid thrust engine in future and help save precious foreign exchange.
 

aaaditya

New Member
here is an interesting article on the indigenous resusable space vehicle ( the indian space shuttle).

here check out this link:

http://www.hindustantimes.com//news/181_1732026,0008.htm


In the age of use and throw, Indian space scientists are planning something different — a reusable launch vehicle (RLV). It will speed into space like a rocket but will return to a runway like an aircraft. It will be the marriage of rocket and aircraft technologies. In mundane terms, it will dramatically cut the cost of taking a payload to a tenth of what it is now.
During the initial sequence of test flights — known as technology demonstration (TD) — an SLV-3 will haul an airplane-shaped RLV into the skies. At a particular altitude, the unmanned RLV will break free, dash into space at several times the speed of sound, place a satellite in orbit and return to the earth. The first test flight will be in 2008-09.
"We are working on the reusable launch vehicle,” said M Annamalai, director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. “The SLV will be the ideal launcher as it will facilitate a quick launch mission.”
Now, after a launch, parts of the rocket fall into the sea and are lost. However, in the case of an RLV, since it returns and is fully reusable, it will bring down the cost -- from $12,000-15,000 for a kilo of payload to $1,200-1,500.
A version of this recover-and-reuse plan will be tested for the first time later this year. In ISRO, they call it SRE or the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment. As part of this, a 600-kg satellite will be launched into an orbit 400 km from the earth. It will orbit the earth for about 30 days and return. On its flight down, parachutes will open and direct its landing over the Bay of Bengal from where it will be recovered.
India is not the only one planning an RLV. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the space agencies of China, Japan and Russia are chasing the RLV dream to trim the cost of their space odysseys.
 

aaaditya

New Member
Deeps_rock said:
Does SLV has that Much payload to carry a RLV and Satellite. If yes wht is the payload ?
i believe the initial rlv will be just a prototype weighing anywhere between 500-1000 kilogrammes,the payload capacity of the gslv is 4500-6500 kgs.

there are to be two production variants of the rlv,one for the airforce (being developed by the drdo and known as hstv) ,which would weigh around 30 tons with a 3 ton payload.

the other version would be the avatar for the isro which would weigh around 300 tons with a 3000 kg payload.

the unique feature of the rlv is that it does not require to be launched by a rocket,but that it can be launched vertically like a rocket and land like an aeroplane.
 

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys here is an interesting news article which provides information on the infrastructure available at the sri harikota augmented range ,india's premier satellite launch center.

here check out this link:

http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/02/stories/2006070200081300.htm


Sriharikota: With the past 11 missions being consecutive successes, Sriharikota may soon emerge as the most favoured destination to launch satellites, after French Guiana.
"We are working on a scheme which will facilitate four launches — two Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLV) and two Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) — a year. This is the ideal launch frequency," said M. Annamalai, Director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
Sriharikota, popularly known as SHAR, had more facilities than French Guiana. The Indian spaceport had the capacity to launch commercially. "We are optimising on the cost factor with each mission. This year, with the next PSLV scheduled for September/October, we will be launching a satellite (Lapan) from Indonesia."
World-class launch pad

India was the second best destination for the eastern launch. "French Guiana is five degrees from the equator and SHAR is 13 degrees, which is pretty close. This means the vehicles can take more load. As one moves away from the equator, one has to ensure that the payload in the launch vehicle is not much for, to get into the right orbit, more thrust is required. We are reliable as we have a history of 11 successes. Also, the second launch pad is world-class. It will also prove cost-effective compared to French Guiana," Dr. Annamalai said.
Recovery experiment

Along with the Indonesian satellite, the Indian Space Research Organisation is sending the Satellite Recovery Experiment (SRE).
The 650-kg recoverable satellite will be allowed to go into the orbit for 20-30 days. "It is an experiment to study the recovery aspects. The challenge is to ensure that the satellite does not burn out during re-entry," said an ISRO official.
The SRE would try to move the satellite away from the orbit and measure microgravity. "The data will be recovered when the capsule is recovered. The SRE will also test the thermal systems, deceleration system, guidance, etc," he said.
New facilities

For supporting the GSLV Mk III programme, a number of new facilities are being set up at SHAR.
Under the Rs. 2,500-crore programme, a new plant is being set up with state-of-the-art facilities to process heavier class boosters such as an S-200 booster (with 200 tonnes of solid propellant).
The other facilities include a solid stage assembly building, a technical complex, a spacecraft preparation facility for handling 4T class spacecraft, an S-200 hardware storage building, a flight hardware storage building, extension of the rail track from the existing vehicle assembly building to the proposed solid stage assembly building, earth storable and cryo propellant storage and filling systems and propellant servicing facilities.
Officials at SHAR said the range instrumentation system would be augmented with new facilities including radars, optical tracking systems, a mission control centre, real time computers and wind profilers.
"Most of the civil works under the project have been completed. We will have a trial of the booster in a few months. The project cost includes a substantial amount towards infrastructure development," said Dr. Annamalai.
Mk III programme

N. Satyanarayana, Project Director, Mk III, said the programme was slated for takeoff in 2008-09. More than 50 per cent of the works were completed at SHAR. The solid propellant plant was nearing completion. "It will be ready by the end of this year. The trials of propellant production will start soon, probably October onwards."
Industry participation

Over the past few years, SHAR had been encouraging industry participation, Dr. Satyanarayana said. It had also floated tenders for setting up a few facilities. "ISRO will handle critical operations, while non-critical operations will be outsourced."
 

Defcol

New Member
Verified Defense Pro
Even though India is making huge progress I think the electronics: mechanical ratio (i.e. the ratio between electronics and mechanical parts) is still skewed towards mechanical. The ratio in technologies developed by West are getting more and more skewed towards electronics
 

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys seems that the next generation of insat satellites is ready,the insat-4 is ready for launch.

here check out this link:

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/04sat.htm

Indian Space Research Organisation has completed all preparation for the launch of INSAT-4C, which will be put into orbit by the Geo-synchronous Satellite Vehicle-5 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
The launch window is between July 10 and 15.
ISRO Chairman N Madhavan Nair on Tuesday said, ''We have moved the vehicle to the launch pad. Except for weather conditions, we are on time for the launch on schedule."
Launch of the satellite from the home-grown rocket would cut the launch cost by more than 30 per cent, he said.
The launch of this satellite, the second in the INSAT-4 series, was seen as a big boost to the Direct-to-Home operators.
This is the first time ISRO was putting into orbit a two-tonne class satellite.
INSAT-4C is equipped with 12 KU band transponders and is designed to mission life of ten years.
 

aaaditya

New Member
a proof of isro's resilience is the fact that it is alreadt getting ready to launch a pslv this year,this pslv will launch an indonesian satellite and the indigenously designed cartosat2 an advanced version of the cartosat-1 intended for use in cartographic and mapping applications.

both the cartosats have three-d multi spectral mapping capability ,but the cartosat-2 has a better resolution of 1m versus cartosat-2's resolution of 10m and will thus have immense millitary potential.
 

aaaditya

New Member
hey guys check out this link,it gives some indications to isro's future plans ,the src(space recovery capsule) test is the most vital of all,since it will test several concepts to be used eventually on the indian hyperplane(heat shield) and the recoverable satellites(the recovery techniques).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1743386.cms

BANGALORE: Undeterred by the failure of Monday's satellite launch, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will go ahead with its next scheduled launch later this year and also carry on with its space programmes as planned.

"There is no change in our future launch programmes. As scheduled, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will be launched by this year-end to deploy Cartosat-2, an Indonesian remote-sensing satellite and a space recovery capsule in lower orbits," a top ISRO official said.

Unlike Monday's aborted Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission, the PSLV will take off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, off the Andhra coast.

Preparations are under way to assemble the 295-tonne PSLV to carry the three payloads, weighing about 1.3 tonnes collectively.

The second launch pad, from where the GSLV-F02 was launched on Monday to carry the INSAT-4C communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit but veered off-course and exploded 60 seconds after lift-off, will be used only for heavier satellites in the two-tonne and four-tonne class for communications and broadcasting services.

"We are planning to launch the PSLV between October and December this year. The launch schedule will be decided once we receive the payloads and integrate them with the 44-metre rocket," said the official, whose organisation's rules do not permit his being identified.

"While the 610-kg space recovery capsule will be built at Sriharikota and the 660-kg Cartosat-2 at our satellite centre in Bangalore, the 56-kg Indonesian mini-satellite, christened Lapan TubSat, will be shipped from Jakarta," he said...

The space recovery capsule will perform micro-gravity experiments in space and descend into the earth's atmosphere after 10-20 days in orbit to plunge into the Bay of Bengal for recovery by the Indian Navy. The experiments will enable the Indian space agency to master the re-entry technology and re-useable rockets.

Cartosat-2 is an advanced remote-sensing satellite with a resolution of one metre for imageries and a swath of about 10 km. Its cameras can provide scene-specific spot imageries for cartographic and a host of other applications.

"Our plans to launch INSAT-4B, the second satellite in the INSAT-4 series, from Kourou in French Guiana on board the Ariane vehicle during February or March 2007 also remain unchanged," the official said.

As per ISRO's contract with Ariane Space, a Paris-based consortium of the European Space Agency, INSAT-4B will be the last of the satellites to be launched outside the country.

Like INSAT-4A, launched by Ariane from Kourou in December 2005, the three-tonne INSAT-4B will also have 24 transponders, including 12 in Ku band and 12 in C band for communication and broadcasting services, especially the direct-to-home service.
 

Grand Danois

Entertainer
This Gagan system, is it a differential GPS with a satellite as a broadcast medium ie it gets the local correction signal and bounces it?
 
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