I watched the landing of Chandrayaan 3 at home with my wife and children. I also celebrated with them.
Once completed, we had a Zoom call with members of Chalchitra Talks where we spoke for half an hour about the landing and I answered questions regarding the mission to the best of my ability.
The lack of images since the landing has been frustrating. There were many conspiracy theories to try and explain the lack of images. There was speculation that the images were kept on hold for the Prime Minister to release them. This turned out to be unfounded. The images have still not been released!
During an interaction with the Malayalam media (translated by me from Malayalam on Twitter and Mastodon), it became clear that this is simply because of poor camera angles and direction of sunlight at the landing site!
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Exciting news awaits as Chandrayaan 3 initiates its descent to the lunar surface today at 4:45 PM (IST)!
I have the privilege of joining a lively group at Chalchitra Talks to watch the highly anticipated webcast. Sharing this experience with others always amplifies the thrill!
For the most up-to-date and reliable information about the landing, make sure to visit the vibrant community at r/ISRO: r/ISRO Chandrayaan 3 Updates. Get ready to witness history in the making!
I got a lot of writing done this week. I was happy with the progress made in the space and philosophy spirals. A lot of work writing also got done. This is a good foundation for the upcoming week.
Reading took a back seat again. But, I bought a bunch of books from the Pune independent book store, Pagdandi. This mostly adds to my TBR book stack. Need to dynamite this stack to get going.
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I watched the Malayalam movie Padmini, and a horror-thriller-young adult series Lockwood & Co. I would recommend both.
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I recently discovered the beautiful poetry of Tukaram, one of the Poet Saints of Maharashtra. This poetry resonates deeply with me, especially living in the Lohegaon area of Pune.
I found a book titled, Life and Teachings of Tukaram on the Internet Archive. The book is written by J Nelson Fraser and Rev. J F Edwards. The book contains a brilliant Foreward by Dr. Sir Narayan G. Chandavarkar (I want to learn more about him). While I suggest that you read the Foreword in full, I have pasted some of my favourite excerpts from the Foreword so that it may entice you to read the Foreword in full.
This Foreword presented a much better introduction to the School of Devotion than that I read in the book on Indian Philosophy. It provides a much better perspective and understanding about the School when set in it’s historical context.
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Today we take a look at the third layer of the Roadmap – Gaganyaan, India’s Human Spaceflight programme.
ISRO has posted several updates related to various hardware testing of the Gaganyaan components.
The Gaganyaan missions will initially be unmanned, followed by missions to Low Earth Orbit with the eventual goal of establishing an Indian Space Station.
The Artemis Accords will pave the way for human missions to the Moon after gaining experience in Low Earth Orbit.
Technologies for planetary habitation is somewhere in the realm between science fiction and early technology demonstration of these technologies on analog stations on Earth.
It will require the development of a heavy launcher to send larger structures to Low Earth orbit to build the Indian Space Station and to reduce the time needed (from more than a month to a few days) to send a spacecraft to the Moon. ISRO has a heavy launcher plan on the drawing boards at this stage.
It will also need to develop a module (similar to the Russian Progress or SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon) that could carry payload to the Indian Space Station or even the Artemis Gateway.
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The term “flexible COMSAT” refers to a type of satellite that can change its coverage, bandwidth, and frequency. This technology is being developed by ISRO, as mentioned in a PTI story published on the NDTV website.
The term “full EPS satellite” is a reference to a type of satellite that uses only electric propulsion systems (EPS). The EPS system was first flown on the South Asia Satellite or GSAT-9, launched in 2017. The note says that this would reduce the mass of satellite from approximately 6 ton to 4 ton for the same capability.
Quantum and Optical COMSATs are in various stages of development. Urbasi Sinha and her team in QuIC lab, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru and an ISRO team at the Space Applications Center (SAC) are working on the building blocks of quantum satellites. The first optical communication payload was carried on the GSAT-29 mission.
Inter-planetary networks hold immense potential for the future of humanity! Imagine a world where communication seamlessly spans across celestial bodies, connecting Earth with other planets. The vision of becoming a multi-planet species becomes more tangible as these networks evolve. It all starts with the Earth-Moon system, but the possibilities for expansion are limitless. With initiatives like Artemis and the International Lunar Research Station, we are paving the way for a future where inter-planetary communication becomes a reality!
ISRO may not focus as much on Earth observation satellites because there are many Indian space companies (Pixxel, SatSure, Dhruva etc.) working on remote sensing capabilities. They may continue with Earth observation missions until the startups can offer similar levels of data. On the other hand, there are fewer startups in the field of communications satellites technologies. The only one that comes to mind is Astrome among the NewSpace companies.
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Reddit user u/Blazing_Phoenix_100 shared this screenshot of India’s space road map shared at the G20 summit. I plan on using this chart not to point out times where ISRO has fell behind this timeline. They have done that plenty of times but to understand the general direction they are headed in.
In the absence of an official roadmap on the ISRO website, this becomes an important indicator of priorities until an official roadmap appears.
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Most of the week was spent in the hospital with my 7 m.o. who had a lower abdominal infection. I got little to no writing or reading done this week and all of my focus had been on my 7 m.o.
Last week, everything was going smoothly at home and work. However, this week has been quite challenging due to the hospitalization. As a result, a lot of tasks have been left unfinished. Today, we focused on catching up with the undone tasks at home, and I’ll soon do the same at work.
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Heart of Stone (English)
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I missed writing the thirtieth Weekly Notes last week. Thejesh had shared in his Weekly Notes yesterday that he writes his notes throughout the week. This does not work for me. I complete a week and then look back at the long threads I worked on. I like to think in terms of spirals.
Reading
I am currently reading/listening to:
The Beginning of the Infinity – David Deutsch (audible/physical book)
I thought that since Indofuturism, seems inspired by Afrofuturism, I should look there for a definition. Wikipedia defines Afrofuturism as:
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences.
I would define Indofuturism by replacing Afro with Indo:
Indofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the Indian diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the Indian diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Indo-diasporic experiences.
It seems to make sense to me as a first draft of a definition. I have not even touched what this means to me yet.
In the meantime, you can follow some of the Indofuturism content that Prateek shares on Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram.
Parallel Spirals 