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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

ISRO's GSAT-15 Communications Satellite successfully launched - Diwali Gift

The ISRO has given its country a perfect Diwali Gift - An indigeneously developed communications Satellite GSAT-15 was successfully launched at 03:04 AM ( IST ) today.  The satellite was launched using one of the largest rockets of the world - The Ariane-5.  The launch took place from Kourou in French Guyana in South America.

The GSAT-15 is 3164 Kg in weight and costed about Rs. 278 crores to make it.   The satellite carries 24 transponders which helps in Direct to Home (DTH) broadcasting.  The GSAT-15 also carries a GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload which operates in L1 and L5 bands which helps in aircraft navigation.   The Ariane-5 rocket was hired at a cost of Rs. 580 crores.  Another satellite ARABSAT communications satellite also accompanied GSAT-15 in the same launch.  The GSAT-15 was launched into a GTO orbit after Arabsat was injected into space.

India has shortage of transponders at present in space.  Only 1/3 of the required capacity is being handled by Indian Satellite System. The rest is being leased from foreign satellite owners.  After a smooth countdown of  11 hours and 30 minutes the Ariane-5 lifted off at the scheduled time./

The live video of the GSAT-15 launch can be seen below.


Friday, September 18, 2015

ESA deploys "Big Iron" to communicate with its deep space missions

ESA deployed "big iron" to communicate with its deep-space missions.  Three 35-m diameter dishes employing some of the world's most advanced tracking technology.  The three Deep Space Antenna stations of ESA located at New Norcia, Australia, Cebreros, Spain and Malargue, Argentina send commands and receive data from spacecrafts travelling hundreds of millions of kilometers into solar system.

The three stations form a part of ESA's Estrack network which is a global system of stations providing links between satellites in orbit and the European Space Operations Center, Darmstadt, Germany,  The core network comprise of 10 stations in 7 countries.

The huge dish antennae whose movable structures weigh around 620 tonnes - can be elevated, rotated and aimed with great accuracy in spite of high winds and heat and transmit radio signals upto 20 KW power - enough to run over 20,000 domestic coffee makers.  They make use of advanced, made in Europe Electronics, including cryogenically cooled low-noise amplifiers ( LNA) and exquisitely machined mirrors made of metal.


Monday, August 31, 2015

ISRO Successfully launches GSLV-D5 carrying GSAT-6 Satellite

ISRO has successfully launched its Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) D6 which carried the India's latest communication satellite GSAT-6.  The countdown for the launch began at 11:52 hrs IST  on wednesday 26th August, 2015.  The launch took place at 16:52 hrs IST on thursday 27th August, 2015 from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.  This is the second success of indigenously made Cryogenic stage after the 5th January, 2014 launch of GSLV=D5.

The success of GSLV-D6 is one of the significant milestones in the history of India's GSLV
programme.  The earlier GSLV-D5 success had propelled India into an elite group of nations boasting of the home grown complex crogenic engine and stage after two failures in 2010.  ISRO is the sixth space agency in the world after USA, Russia, Japan, China and France to have joined the indigenous cryogenic regime, which is very crucial for launch of heavier satellites weighing more than 2 tonnes.

Mission Director Mr R.Uma maheswaran described the success of GSLV-D6 as the "Onam Gift".  Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi congratulated the ISRO team terming the launch as a phenomenal accomplishment.  Here is a video of the GSLV-D6 Launch from Sriharikota.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

NASA's SLS program is Right on Track for journey to MARS

Here is a news about the NASA's Space Launch System program collected from NASA website.

NASA's Space Launch System Program has completed its review - This is a step forward for the program which helps to launch astronauts on missions to an asteroid placed in lunar orbit and then eventually to MARS.  The in-depth review provides a final look at the design and development of the integrated rocket before full-scale fabrication begins.  13 teams including representatives from several NASA field centers worked for 11 weeks and reviewed more than 1000 files of data as part of comprehensive assessment process.

The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for a new era of exploration to destinations beyond Earth's orbits.  The rocket will launch astronauts in the Agency's Orion spacecraft on missions to an asteroid placed in lunar orbit and eventually to MARS.

“Now that we’ve completed our review, we will brief NASA leadership, along with the independent review team, about the results and readiness to proceed to the next phase. After that step is complete, we’ll move on to design certification,” said Todd May, SLS program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “Critical design review represents a major commitment by the agency to human exploration, and through these reviews, we ensure the SLS design is on track to being a safe, sustainable and evolvable launch vehicle that will meet the agency’s goals and missions.
“It’s an exciting time for NASA and our nation,” May continued, “as we prepare to go to places in deep space that we’ve never been before.”
The critical design review is for the first of three configurations planned for SLS, referred to as SLS Block 1. It will stand 322 feet tall, provide 8.4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, weigh 5.5 million pounds and carry 70 metric tons or 154,000 pounds of payload, equivalent to approximately 77 one-ton pickup trucks’ worth of cargo. Its first mission — Exploration Mission-1 — will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to demonstrate the integrated system performance of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft before a crewed flight.
Block 1 requires many critical parts to get it off the ground and safely into space, including twin solid rocket boosters, powerful engines, flight computers, avionics and the core stage. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet, will carry cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s four RS-25 engines.
The team turned in its work to a Standing Review Board composed of seasoned experts from NASA and industry who are independent of the program. The board will review and assess the program’s readiness and confirm it remains on target to meet the established schedule and cost goals.
“Much of the benefit of this review is what we do to prepare for it because that’s where we really bring things out,” said Jim Reuter, head of the Standing Review Board. “And you can tell it in the spirit of the people here. They are excited about what they’re doing. They can see that this is the review that’s going to make it real.”
SLS Program managers will present the results from the critical design review board and Standing Review Board to Marshall’s Center Management Council. After receiving the council’s concurrence, the results then will be briefed to the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
Element-level critical design reviews for the SLS core stage, boosters and engines have been completed successfully. The integrated spacecraft and payloads are nearing completion on their critical design review.
The Engineering Directorate at Marshall, where the SLS program is managed, provided the majority of the initial phase CDR documents, including drawings and data.
“A thorough review requires a wide range of engineering skills and experts to assess everything from avionics and software that fly the vehicle to ground transportation and integrated systems testing designs and plans,” said Preston Jones, deputy director of Marshall’s Engineering Directorate. “We have gone through every design interface and rechecked analysis to ensure we are meeting all SLS mission performance and crew safety requirements.”
The Orion Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Ground Systems Development Office at Kennedy Space Center in Florida also will undergo similar reviews this year. After those reviews are done, NASA will set a date for Exploration Mission-1.
“We’ve nailed our review schedules,” said Garry Lyles, chief engineer for the SLS Program Office at the Marshall Center. “The team is performing at a really high level. And I’m unbelievably positive in the structural robustness of this vehicle; it has tremendous performance. We’ve picked the right vehicle for the journey to Mars.”

ISRO to launch 9 nano and micro Satellites of USA

This is the news published in NDTV website about ISRO to launch USA satellites for the first time.  I am just reproducing the news posted in NDTV website here.

ISRO will be launching 9 nano/micro satellites for the United States during the year 2015-16. ANTRIX corporation which is the commercial arm of ISRO has signed an agreement to launch about nine nano / micro satellite of USA during the year 2015-16.  These satellites will go as piggy back on PSLV.

Till now 45 satellites belonging to various International Customers from 19 countries have been launched successfully by ISRO launch vehicles.   ISRO is also planning to demonstrate its first Reusable Launch Vehicle ( RLV ) technology by the end of 2015.




Signs of an ancient lake found on MARS

Researchers from New York discovered evidence of an ancient lake on the Red Planet MARS which most likely represents some of the potentially habitable surface water ever to exist on the Red Planet.

The researchers from University of Colorado examined a chloride salt deposit of 18 square mile size in the Planet's Meridiani region which is very near to Mars Opportunity Rover's landing site.  Large scale salt deposits are considered as the evidence of evaporated water.    Digital terrain mapping and minerological analysis of the area surrounding the salt deposit indicate that this lake is no older than 3.6 billion years old.  The planetary scientists believe that our Solar System was formed 4.5 billion years ago.

Based on the thickness of the salt, the researchers estimate that the lake was only 8% s salty as the oceans on Earth and so it might have been hospitable to microbial life.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Newly discovered Jupiter twin hints of a new solar system to our solar system

A group of astronomers used ESO 3.6 meter telescope to identify a planet similar to our Jupiter orbiting a Sun-like star at the same distance similar to our Jupiter from Sun.  The star name is HIP-11915.

As per the present theories, the formation of Jupiter like heavy mass planets play an important role in shaping the architecture of planetary systems.   The existence of a Jupiter like planet in a Jupiter-like orbit around a Sun-like star opens up the possibility of a system of planets around that star may be similar to our Solar System.   The Star HIP 11915 is about the same age as our Sun and its composition is similar to Sun which suggests that there may be rocky planets orbiting around that star.

As per the most recent theories, the arrangement of our Solar System, so supportive to life, was made possible due to the presence of Jupiter and the gravitational influence of this gas giant exerted on our Solar System during the formative years.  There fore it would seem that finding a Jupiter twin is an important milestone in finding a planetary system similar to our own Solar System.

The Jupiter twin is 200 light years from our Earth.  The image below shows an artist's impression of the Jupiter twin orbiting around the Sun like star..

An artist's impression shows Jupiter's twin, a gas giant planet, in orbit around sun-like star HIP 11915.


Friday, July 10, 2015

ISRO's heaviest commercial launch successful by the launch of PSLV-C28 carrying 5 UK satellites

ISRO has once again demonstrated their capability to launch commercial satellites.  The ISRO's commercial launch capability has raised to a new height when the PSLV-C28 launch vehicle successfully 5 UK satellites into their orbits.  

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its thirtieth flight (PSLV-C28) carrying three identical  satellites (DMC3 ) which are optical earth observation satellites built by  Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), United Kingdom (UK) has lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota at 09:58 PM on Friday, 10th July, 2015.  The PSLV-C28 also carried 2 more nano satellites.   .  The three DMC3 satellites, each weighing 447 kg, launched into a 647 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) using the high-end version of PSLV (PSLV-XL) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota (SDSC-SHAR), the spaceport of India. PSLV-C28 will be the ninth flight of  PSLV in ‘XL’ configuration.  

The other two satellites are CBNT-1 which is a mocro satellite and a technology demonstrator nano satellite called as DeorbitSail built by SSTL.   This is the heaviest commercial undertaken by ISRO which makes ISRO as a major player in space industry globally and also is a leading foreign exchange earner for the country.

The overall lift off mass of the five satellites works out to 1440 Kg. which is the heaviest commercial payload undertaken till now. 

Accommodating the three DMC3 satellites each with a height of about 3 metre within the existing payload fairing of PSLV, was a challenge. To mount these satellites onto the launcher, a circular Launcher adaptor called as L-adaptor and a triangular deck called Multiple Satellite Adapter-Version 2 (MSA-V2), were newly designed and realized by ISRO for this specific purpose.
These international customer satellites have been launched as part of the arrangement entered into between DMC International Imaging (DMCii), a wholly owned subsidiary of SSTL, UK; and Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a Government of India Company under Department of Space.

DMC3

The DMC3 constellation, comprising of three advanced mini-satellites DMC3-1, DMC3-2 and DMC3-3, is designed to address the need for simultaneous high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution optical Earth Observation. Launched into a single Low-Earth Orbit plane and phased with a separation of 120° between them, these satellites can image any target on the Earth’s surface every day. Major application areas include surveying the resources on earth and its environment, managing urban infrastructure and monitoring of disasters.
CBNT-1, weighing 91 kg, is an optical Earth Observation technology demonstration micro satellite built by SSTL. The 7 kg De-orbitSail from Surrey Space Centre, is an experimental nano satellite for demonstration of large thin membrane sail and drag deorbiting using this sail.

  Here is a video of the PSLV-C28 launch...


Saturday, March 28, 2015

India launches 4th Navigation Satellite - IRNSS-1D on 28th March, 2015 sucessfully

The fourth navigation satellite, IRNSS-1D was launched by India on saturday evening at 05:19 hrs IST ( 28th March, 2015).  The ISRO's work horse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV gave the country and the ISRO yet another text book launch which lifted off from Sriharikota exactly at 17:19 hrs IST.   The spacecraft was placed into its intended orbit.  

The launch was earlier scheduled for Mach 9, 2015 but was postponed to March 28, 2015 due to technical reasons.  The PSLV-C27 used the 'XL' version of PSLV like the earlier three launches of IRNSS satellites.  This is the 8th time an 'XL' version of PSLV is being flown.  IRNSS-1D is the first orbital launch of the year 2015.

The IRNSS-1D will join the three other satellites already in orbit.  The IRNSS-1D is the fourth in a planned seven satellite constellation which will provide India and its surrounding region with an independent satellite navigation services. 

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) operating in geosynchronous orbit has been under development by ISRO since 2006 with the first satellite reaching orbit in mid 2013.  The IRNSS constellation calls for three geostationary satellites and four more in inclined geosynchronous orbits.   The geostationary slots, located at 34, 83 and 132 degrees East will each be occupied by a single satellite, while the two inclined stations, at 55 and 111.75 degrees East will each be home to a pair of spacecraft.

When finished, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System ( IRNSS ) will consist of seven satellites in Geostationary and Geosynchronous orbits covering India and surrounding areas to provide India with independent access to navigation data without depending on foreign programs like GPS or GLONASS.

The IRNSS system is designed to be compatible with the US Global Positioning System and Europe's Galileo constellation using navigation signals in S-Band and at L5 band.  The IRNSS satellites will cover only India and its surroundings with high accuracy services available about 1500 Kilometers beyond the Indian region.

Saturday's launch was preceded by a 59.5-hour countdown sequence that started at 0:19 UTC on Thursday morning and included all the necessary events to load the PSLV with propellants and prepare all systems on the launcher and the ground for the launch. 

Flying in its XL configuration, PSLV consists of the standard PS1 first stage that has six stretched boosters attached to it and a liquid-fueled second stage atop which sits the solid third and the dual-engine liquid-fueled fourth stage. Overall, the rocket stands 44.5 meters tall, has a diameter of 2.8 meters and a liftoff mass of 320,000 Kilograms. 


Here is a video showing the activities during the launch of PSLV-C27.