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!
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.
You can read this blog on your favorite RSS feed reader or via e-mail by subscribing below.
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.
You can read this blog on your favorite RSS feed reader or via e-mail by subscribing below.
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.
You can read this blog on your favorite RSS feed reader or via e-mail by subscribing below.
Someone had a question about what happened to the debris related to India’s ASAT test, Mission Shakti in 2019.
Joseph Remis is the person I look to for this information.
Tweet from Joseph Remis: Another consequence of the electromagnetic storm is to bring the fall of the last remaining debris of the Indian ASAT closer.
If you open the image on the tweet, you would see the decay date is 11 May 2022. When I opened the quote tweets on this post, I saw this post from Astro_Neel.
Tweet from Astro_Neel: This piece was otherwise predicted to come down by Aug 2028 (six years later)
Astro_Neel makes the point that the piece of debris was likely to re-enter only in August 2028 (quoting Joseph Remis again). An electromagnetic storm that hit Earth in February 2022, that knocked out 38 Starlink satellites of SpaceX.
The geomagnetic storm also led to reducing the time needed to decay the last piece of debris related to the Mission Shakti from August 2028 to June 2022.
Update
I was remis to not check the r/ISRO sub-Reddit before writing here. When I shared the blog post on the Fediverse, Ohsin pointed to the thread on Microsat-R where he had also been tracking the debris.
@pradx Last tracked piece from Microsat-R debris decayed in 14 June 2022. I was also keeping track of it in PSLV-C44/Microsat-R launch thread over at reddit!
Suhasini Haidar, writing for The Hindu, talks about the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France. A key paragraph to highlight in the article:
India and France are also hoping to strengthen ties over collaboration in space that dates back to the 1960s. Apart from collaborations in launching satellites, the two sides are also looking at training astronauts and partnerships in space industrial engineering, it is learnt.
France provided inputs on solid fuel technology to ISRO with the Centaures rocket in the 1970s. Working together on the Viking liquid engine, under an arrangement with the European Society for Propulsion (SEP), provided valuable inputs to develop India’s workhorse Vikas engine in the 1980s. The French helped in setting up the Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC) at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
Arianespace has provided launch service for various Indian communication satellites, as India struggled with mastering cryogenic technology. ISRO and CNES has worked together on two satellites related to climate studies, Megha-Tropiques and SARAL. A future collaborative mission, Trishna, is slated for launch in 2024.
India and France can play an important role in space science. I would love to see a continuation of co-operation of Earth observation satellites that are built to study Earth’s climatic systems. I believe that collaboration with France particularly with the mission to Venus would be a shot in the arm for the Indian Venus Mission, called Shukrayaan. France has experience with working on the Vega missions with the Soviet Union.
The study of Mars is a rosy colonization dream today. The study of Venus provides an understanding of where the Earth could be headed because of global warming and climate change. I think there must be as many if not more missions to Venus as there are missions to Mars today.
France is also a signatory of the Artemis Accords, and along with Australia is trying to look for an international arrangements to govern access to and resources on the Moon. This is an essential middle path that India must try to support. Global supply chains are important to keep mission costs low.
India must try to book cheaper slots on the Ariane 6. There is a 6 ton and higher category of satellites that Indian launch vehicles can currently not support. India must also try to get more French companies to try to fly on Indian launch vehicles. There could be an opportunity coming up during the period of transition between Ariane V and Ariane 6.
At the industry level, I believe there are opportunities to collaborate in data sharing and data analysis. Indian space startups could try to provide satellite, satellite sub-systems, and propulsion systems to French startups.
Commercial human space travel is something which private players in some countries are offering. Can ISRO do this?
We can, but it is not our job. It is the job of the industry. ISRO is a national agency. ISRO can develop the technology. But the practice of government funding ISRO to develop technology is going to stop. If a technology is needed, it will be developed by ISRO and industry through government-industry funding. So, now, the industry will have to put money into technology development. They have to do some R&D and develop technology.
This is an interesting comment and perhaps provides an insight into how ISRO thinks of its evolving role in the new space policy regime in India post-2019.
NSIL, the Department of Space’s commercial arm signaled the intention to move to a demand-driven model in the space sector. As an example, GSAT-24 was India’s first demand-driven satellite that NSIL/ISRO built for Tata Play (DTH service provider).
If you read through the whole interview, you can see the lengths to which Somanath goes to protect ISRO’s role while trying to push the idea that industry must lead in the future. This is a new tension for ISRO to hold. I don’t think there is enough clarity on how this will happen for him to communicate the message well.
Zoomed in and edited using Snapseed. Image taken using Realme GT Master. Image Credit: Pradeep Mohandas
The question my wife had was how do the planets that are on either side of the Earth are seen together in the night sky.
A drawing to explain how Venus and Jupiter whose orbit is on either side of Earth can be seen together in the night sky. Drawing: Pradeep Mohandas
When we see from Earth, Jupiter must be on the other side of the Sun. Whereas, Venus could be between the Sun and Earth or between the Sun and Jupiter.
This is the first time that I tried to capture a celestial event with a mobile phone camera and edited it.
It was the sight of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope by the Space Shuttle Discovery on Discovery Channel that shifted my interest from archaeology to astronomy. After the lift-off the Discovery Channel proceeded to show some of the fascinating images that the Hubble captured. I was in awe.
This anecdote also holds the confusion I held for the longest time. I did not know if I wanted to do astronomy or build rockets that would launch people and telescopes into orbit. I am not sure if I still have an answer to this question. The move towards engineering was pragmatic and not based on interest.
After marriage, my wife was interested in the bright objects in the night sky and did not mind me watching rocket launches because Indian rocket launches were few and far between. They were not as frequent as the SpaceX launches of today of almost one a week.
When our daughter was born in 2017, I told my wife that I will introduce our daughter to the night sky but wouldn’t try to push my hobbies on her. Keeping my promise, I had only introduced my 5 year-old daughter to the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Of these, my daughter only has trouble distinguishing between Jupiter and Saturn when they are both present in the night sky.
When the astronomy club in Pune, Jyotirvidya Parisanstha (JVP) organized a star party for the public, I forgot this promise to my wife and registered both of us (our daughter and myself) for the same. My wife could not travel as she had just given birth to our son last December.
I decided against going by car as I was not familiar with the location. We decided to travel in the bus provided by JVP.
We landed up around 4 pm at Shalimar Furniture at Swar Gate in Pune. We arrived there travelling in an Uber. My daughter was already impatient with the slow progress of our journey to the location of the Star Party.
I had told my daughter that we were going for a star party. The only other party she had attended thus far were three to four hour long birthday parties of her friends who all stayed in our neighborhood, which she reached in 20 minutes at the most. She would spend time at the birthday party playing with her friends or having samosas and snacks. She was excited nonetheless.
This Star Party was not her kind of party.
We travelled in a Tata Motors bus to a village in the outskirts of Pune called Naigaon. This was on the Pune – Bangalore Highway a little beyond the gate of Khed Shivpur about an hour from Swar Gate. The Star Party was held at Manali Agro Farm.
First up, it lived up to it’s name. It was probably colder than it was in Manali. My daughter had to wear her thermals, t-shirt, sweater and a blanket before she could shiver and speak. I only had an athleisure t-shirt and a sweater protecting me. JVP had warned in their email invitation and the programme that it would be very cold. The name also should have given ample warning and we should have probably prepared with winter wear we might have carried had we travelled to Manali.
As the team at JVP was setting up their telescopes (2 Cassegarian, 2 Newtonians and a Dobsonian), we spotted a few fast moving satellites in their orbit. They were most likely Earth observation satellites taking pictures of Earth from their perch in space. I also spotted the planet Venus with my daughter.
Venus was the first planet that the telescopes pointed to as people formed lines in front of them. We missed seeing the planet through the telescope. As the planet set in the western sky, we had the opportunity to see Jupiter and three of its moons through the telescope. I was not sure my daughter would be able to see the moons through the telescope but was happy when she could spot them easily.
Sarang then showed the constellations in the night sky with a pointer. We saw the body of Pegasus the Winged Horse, Cetus the Sea Monster, and spoke to us about Raashis and Nakshatras. I had heard these terms and now knew their significance and meaning.
He later shared stories from Indian and Greek mythologies. He had immense energy that comes from knowledge and passion. He spoke endlessly through the evening and then later in the night. He flawlessly mixed sharing the science of the night sky, the art of storytelling, and a healthy skepticism.
My daughter and I were able to see the Moon through the telescope. She described it as seeming like cheese. I told her about craters without delving too much into its violent history. She saw both the Moon and Jupiter through one of the Cassegarins. The other Cassegarin of the pair was having a hard time tracking in the beginning though the volunteers were able to fix it later in the night.
She did not eat any food at night. I ate the delicious Marathi dinner at the farm. There were a few slides and swings in the park but they were too cold to even sit on. She was immensely disappointed and spent the rest of the night sleeping on my lap. I did not feel confident about laying the mat on the floor and letting her sleep there ergo many people did.
I missed seeing the Pleiades (Rohini) and the Orion nebula through the telescope they had set out at night.
We reached in time as one of the JVP team members talked about imaging the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and how he stacked images one on top of the other and used software to get an image of the comet. The comet’s tail had grown faint in the image and it’s core also seemed to have broken. It was great to see a comet but were disappointed that we missed seeing it in all its glory.
A little past four in the morning, I wasn’t sure our cold protection systems could keep us protected from the cold any longer. So, I headed to the bus with a few of the other parents and caught up on some sleep. Although I was awake most of the night, I am not sure if I could stay awake most of the night.
Some of the other people missed Sarang’s story sessions and caught some well deserved sleep and spent the early morning watching the sky. We missed that part but I was happy that I could brush up on both my astronomy and mythological knowledge.
The star party was over at 7 in the morning and we headed back to Swar Gate around 7:30 am.
The space sector is compliance heavy. It needs to comply with various national and international laws. In the absence of national laws, compliance requirements are a la carte right now.
India’s private sector space regulator gave a few green signals this year. It authorised the launch of Skyroot’s sounding rocket from the Sounding Rocket Complex. It authorised the launch of satellites from Pixxel and Dhruva Space on the PSLV.
Right now, the regulator regulates only the private sector. It does not seem to regulate launches from NSIL. This is like the RBI not regulating public sector banks. This comparison does not stand up much because NSIL provides much better service and because the private sector is in its infancy.
Given that the space sector is so compliance heavy, wondering what capacity building that @INSPACeIND is doing.
The question to ask is how is the regulator, IN-SPACe building capacity to do its job? When there is a proliferation of startups in a sector that the Government has just opened up, how does a regulator provide adequate regulation?
Parallel Spirals 