I had shared Anshuman’s post on X here in an earlier post.
I saw a reply from Indranil Roy about why the increase in diameter from 5 m to 6.5 m is a big deal. This is because we were not able to manufacture rocket casings of the diameter in India.
Here’s his thread on X:
This increase of diameter from 5m to 6.5m for ISRO's upcoming LMLV/NGLV launch vehicle is a very major development!
Not just for ISRO. It reflects on India's national industrial capability.
I looked up who was making rocket casings in India and found out that Walchandnagar Industries makes them. They have the capability to make 5 m diameter rocket casings according to their website.
But, their brochure which seems to be more updated shows this capability to machine with wider diameters. So, the news about the 6.5 m diameter is a bigger deal than just an improvement in diameter. It is a deep improvement in capacity.
Gareeb Scientist had interviewed former ISRO Chairman, Dr. S Somanath, where he also spoke about this limitation. You can find it around the 6 min 30 sec to the 7 min mark.
We started off with the New Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV,). Then, there was Lunar Module Launch Vehicle. Then, NGLV was named Soorya. There is confusion about whether the NGLV and LMLV are different vehicles or the same vehicle. ISRO keeps changing nomenclature. This is the latest avatar of LMLV according to Anshuman.
This is a version with 3 stages, 99.77 m height and 6.5 m diameter. This looks like a version they are developing of NGLV for lunar missions. Just like LVM3 and HLVM3 and hence interchangibly used.
There was this interview with M Mohanan, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Center (LPSC). As with all ISRO interviews, I don’t take their timelines very seriously but they usually point to the proper direction in terms of technology advancement.
The interview in Malayalam was done by Asianet’s Arun Raj on the sidelines of National Space Day, held to commemorate the landing of Chandrayaan 3 near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023. A series of programmes were held discussing the future of the various ISRO missions that I am still going through.
There seem to be many people who were asking for a translation of this interview on X and Reddit. Hence, decided to do it here.
I think ISRO is in an important transition from solid to liquid propellants for their launch vehicles. In this back drop, I think this is an important interview to track.
Interview with M Mohanan, who took over as Director, LPSC from V Narayanan, who became ISRO Chairman.
LPSC’s role in Chandrayaan 3 included the development of the landing motors that helped it to land successfully.
What after Chandrayaan 3? Chandrayaan Follow-on programme.
The ultimate mission is landing an Indian on the Moon by 2040, as per the Prime Minister’s vision. Work on this is in progress.
Chandrayaan 4 – sample return mission – landing a rover on the Moon – rover will excavate or drill a sample (rock or soil) from the lunar surface, take it back to lander, put it in a module which will take it to the orbiter and then return it to Earth.
Chandrayaan 5 – similar to Chandrayaan 4 but will be done in collaboration with JAXA (the Japanese space agency). Launch will be done by JAXA. New satellite propulsion systems are necessary because of the increased mass of the payload. The payload mass for this mission is approximately 6,500 kg. Indian payload masses have been close to 3,000 – 4,000 kg. We are developing the thrusters which are now in the qualification phase.
Semi-cryogenic engine:
We have developed two cryogenic engines successfully – GSLV CUS – 8 ton and LVM3 – 20 ton. SCE capability is comparitively very high. Semicryogenic engine propellant loading is 200 tons and the engine develops a thrust of 100 ton. We are developing a heavy launcher for this purpose in the future.
SCE is going to use liquid oxygen and pure kerosene (that we call ISROsene.
Engine manufacturing is complex: The temperature regimes and material used for this engine is very different. We have faced issue with qualification and manufacturing with the material used for the engine. We have overcome those issues and have started testing with the Power Head Test Article (PHTA, called the “brain” of the engine). We have successfully completed 4 tests. We are now moving to testing the engine as a whole.
We are first going to build the thrust chamber by the end of this year. We are going to build the stage by the end of next year. We are then going to test it in the LVM3. We will replace the L110 engine on the LVM3 with a 1-to-1 replacement. But, the engine will have comparitively higher thrust, that will let us carry a heavier payload to orbit – from the current 4 tons to 5.5 tons. That is our first aim, that we are trying to achieve by end of 2026 or early 2027.
Bharatiya Antariksh Station – We are planning to launch this on the LVM3 starting from 2028 and complete the commissioning of 5 modules by 2035. He seemed to imply that we will only be using LVM3 for this.
When we need to carry 20 ton payload to orbit or send humans to the Moon and bring them back, we need heavier launch vehicle with the capability to carry 100-120 ton to LEO. Hence, we are building NGLV as well as another launch vehicle in a modular format so that we can add an extra stage if necessary.
We are currently planning to use a 7 to 9 engine configuration in the first stage of the NGLV(Not sure if he meant this about the SCE or the LOX Methane engine).
We have got approval to develop a single 110 ton LOX Methane engine. We have started testing it since last week. Another test was held on the day of the interview. We will complete the development by the middle of next year at an engine level. Stage building will start as part of the NGLV project and is yet to begin.
Electric Propulsion – We are getting a PSLV built by outsourcing it to an industry consortium. The first launch mission is called PSLV-N1. PSLV-N1 will carry Technology Development Satellite (TDS-01). Ordinarily a satellite is put into a 150 x 36,000 orbit. But, this satellite will be placed in a 240 x 18,000 km orbit. The orbit raising of this satellite for circularisation of the orbit of 36,000 km will be done by electric propulsion. This has many advantages. A small thrust can be applied over a longer duration. Also, ordinarily 70-80% of the satellite mass is usually the propellant (fuel and oxidiser). With the use of electric propulsion, we can reduce the mass of the propulsion system from 3200 kg in a 4 ton satellite to a total of 100-150 kg. This includes a battery, an electric propulsion thrusters, and avionics. We have developed, qualifed, and delivered the thrusters successfully. The avionics have been qualified and will be sent for flight testing by the end of this month.
PSLV-N1 is scheduled for the end of this year. This mission carries a 300 mN thruster with a 4 kW power. Once this test is successful, we will increase the capacity to a 1 N thrust and 20 kW power system for an all electric propelled satellite. This requires a different battery and new technologies that will need to be developed. This will depend on the success of this mission.
Question on Gaganyaan since Mohanan had earlier worked with HSFC. Gaganyaan delays have been because of various reasons. Configuration and readiness of the G1 mission is completed. We plan to have 3 uncrewed missions before the crewed mission. We plan to do the first uncrewed mission, G1, by the end of this year.
The HLVM3 stages for the G1 mission are already in Sriharikota. The Crew Module that will help humans stay comfortably in orbit for several days and which can dock with ISS in the future is under preparation. ECLSS sytem is already done. Continued in the point below this.
We need to simulate the conditions of the parachute that will be used to return the crew module safely that begins 7 to 8 km over the surface of water.
Integrated Air Drop Test with a helicopter – For the first test we will use a helicopter with a simulated crew module and recover from the sea. This will be done this month.
Integrated Air Drop Test with a Test Vehicle – We will use a Test Vehicle carry an Orbital Module to a height of 15-17 km. We will drop it and control its descent with a parachute. This will be done in the next 2-3 months.
After we do these two tests, we will get a complete idea of landing mission sequence, parachute performance, and mission computer operation. G1 mission will be done following this.
Crew Module is getting assembled in URSC, Bangalore. LPSC is working on the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) of the Crew Module which will carry the crew. ECLSS will maintain a temperature of 22 degrees C and a RH of 50%, control oxygen, carbon dioxide, oxygen percentage etc. The Cabin Pressure Control System and the Thermal and Humidity Control system is delivered and its integration is in progress. The thrusters of the propulsion system on the crew module and the service module have been tested under various conditions. It’s integration is also complete.
Crew Module and Service Module together is Orbital Module. After the integration at UPSC it will be moved to Sriharikota and the mission will be ready to launch.
No place for risk. Ordinarily, we focus on quality. A loss of quality is a loss of mission. But, in this case, there is a requirement for a layer of safety over and above just the quality requirements. This has more stringent certification requirements. There is a separate board for clearance of these missions just like for aeroplanes. We are discussing and holding meetings for safety approvals for the G1 just as if it was a crewed mission to prepare for the crewed mission.
Instead of TV-D2 for landing tests, we are doing it as a separate project that we call Vertical Take-off and Landing Experiment. The configuration will be similar to the Test Vehicle. The important part of this vehicle will be a throttalable version of the Vikas engine. This version can reduce the thrust of the Vikas engine to 30% of its power by throttling using valves and electronics. We have completed the test of the throttalable engine. We have to build the stage with landing legs and grids (to increase the drag)so that the stage can land. We will begin work on this next year and the landing test can be done within the next 2 years. We have to work out how high it needs to go for the test. The test with this vehicle will demonstrate the technologies needed for reusability of the first stage of the NGLV.
In his post, he suggests that ISRO needs to become Batman, because:
Because unlike most superheroes, Batman possesses no innate powers or alien technology. His strength comes from intellect, strategy, and a secret lair filled with gear he developed himself. He transformed through gadgets, resilience, and vision.
He suggests ISRO needs a batcave and calls the private industry as Robin. So, I wanted to try and extend the comparisons.
I think the Indian Government (Central or State) can be Alfred. The Wikipedia page on Alfred says:
Alfred is depicted as Batman’s meticulous, disciplined, loyal and tireless confidante, butler, legal guardian, best friend, aide-de-camp, …
I think the Government must play the role of a confidante, best friend, and legal guardian to both Batman and Robin. Robin may need more help in this regard now. Batman has matured a bit in this role now.
I think NewSpace India Ltd would be the Wayne Corporation. NSIL should ideally play the role of funding for ISRO and private companies. It should ideally play the role of keeping the flywheel of the Indian space programme going. I felt that NSIL was a more natural place to host the INR 1,000 crore Venture Capital Fund than IN-SPACe.
I gave a talk to a small crowd of Takshashila alumni on space technology and policy. A couple of people who could not attend the talk asked for a post for those who could not attend.
We are moving to liquid fuel (including Cryo and Semi-Cryo) engine tech.
We need more investments in science.
We are building the basics of humans in space experience.
From the space robots demonstrated on the SPADEX and the POEM-4 mission to Vyommitra flying on board some of the first human spaceflight missions, I think this year will be more about space robotics than anything else. ISRO has also been conducting robotics competition.
I think we will slowly begin the move from mostly solid to mostly liquid fuel rocket engines like the US and Russia.
I don’t think we are investing enough in science. The first issues we will face because of this is not able to do cutting edge science in the places we are able to go to on the moon and Mars. We will also not be able to use our capabilities to look for minerals and people for any useful thing.
I think of space right now as only a logistical capability. If you can build trains but cannot use it to move people and resources, it is basically useless. I think we will face a similar roadblock with our space missions if we do not invest now in science.
Policy Trends
We need the Space Activities Bill. We are seeing good people do good work at institutions like ISRO, NSIL, and IN-SPACe. However, this needs to be institutionalized so that the work happens despite the people.
Despite various achievements, we have nascent regulators for a nascent space sector. If we are not careful, regulatory capture can kill the new players. There does not seem to be any legal recourse in case this happens now.
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It has been a long time since I had so much fun watching a launch. I did not watch the full thing but the news reports I read thereafter made it seem like just another launch. Hence, I wrote this!
I missed watching the lift-off and the separation of the Super Heavy Booster and Starship.
When I joined the stream on X, it was playing elevator music with the video showing a rotating model of Starship. I loved watching this GIF with background elevator music. We were waiting for the re-acquisition of the signal just like we were waiting for a lift to come to your floor.
The mission was the fourth Integrated Flight Test (IFT-4). In the third flight (IFT-3), Starship had hard landed in the southern Indian Ocean. For this flight, they hoped to soft land in the southern Indian Ocean. While the elevator music was playing on the main webcast, I saw the clips of the launch and Super Heavy Booster separation.
The exhaust from the 33 Raptor engines (powered by liquid oxygen and methane) that powered the Super Heavy Booster formed an asterisk when you looked at it from the top view. It looked like the asterisk one sees in all advertisements that warn about there being various Terms and Conditions that apply.
I also watched the video of the Super Heavy Booster (added in the second link above) falling back and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico in a controlled manner. But this did not prepare me for the drama surrounding the splashdown of Starship.
The IFT-4 mission was collecting data on many parameters. The launch commentators kept repeating that on this mission, data was the payload.
When the signal returned Starship was floating over Africa at an altitude of more than 200 km above sea level and coasting at a speed of more than 26000 km/hr. It then began to descend back to Earth. As it hit the Earth’s atmosphere, we got to see the plasma generated by the atmosphere from an onboard camera under the first flap that controlled the vehicle. These were visible in vibrant colors on the body of Starship. Both speed and altitude numbers on the screen began to fall.
Starship then went through regions of maximum temperature and maximum pressure. This exerted so much stress that the camera showed the flap controlling the front of Starship tearing apart. We saw the pictures in real-time and live thanks to the data being sent back by the camera through SpaceX’s Starlink satellite. The camera lens then was filled with debris but was still working and transmitting live images back to us.
I think that at this stage all eyes were on the video. There was no one paying attention to the various statistics displayed on the screen (spacecraft attitude, speed, and altitude). All eyes were on whether the fin would hold.
A little while later, we could see the plasma passing through the rupture on the camera. The debris from within the rupture could be seen flying past the camera and covering the camera’s lens. Kudos to whoever designed or worked on this camera!
The last time (IFT-3), the signal from Starship was lost was when it was 65 km above sea level. The employees at SpaceX rejoiced when they realized that Starship had gone below this altitude. The live feed from the camera got cut off twice this time. Each time it returned, one heard the roar of approval and applause from the employees.
All eyes were still on the fins. They were holding despite the immense damage they suffered as it passed through the atmosphere. The immense temperature and pressure the Starship had survived reduced as it came closer to sea level. Despite the debris on the lens, we could still see the fins intact!
Hope rose every kilometer that Starship descended. As it reached an altitude below 5 km, the grids still seemed to be working and keeping Starship in the right orientation.
Starship flipped and remained vertical for a while just above sea level. The camera showed the flames from the Raptor engines that powered Starship as it floated. You could see the seawater around Starship. As the burn was completed, Starship fell into the southern Indian Ocean. Starship became a ship.
I understand that for the engineers at SpaceX, this was a great achievement and the real work begins now. It was awesome to watch it as a space enthusiast as well. I love watching launch vehicles fly and be tested.
Thank you, SpaceX! This was a great thrill to follow.
It has been a long time since I watched a live webcast on X. I have not always had a good experience watching things on X. But this was completely different.
The next launch (IFT-5) is expected in late June or July 2024. They are expected to try doing a booster tower landing. Starship would then land on land!
Will Starship make everything else redundant?
I heard several people on X say that Starship would remove the need for every other launch vehicle. I do not think this will happen. Miniaturization means an increase in the number of micro and small satellites. There could also be scaled models to test new technologies. These may not prefer to wait for a Starship to be ready for a launch. They may prefer vehicles like SSLV, Agnibaan, Vikram, etc.
There will still be a demand for medium lift vehicles to launch some of the satellite constellations in low Earth orbit if not to launch a few remote sensing satellites. I do not think the demand for these will be reduced.
There may be less demand for other heavy and super heavy-lift launch vehicles given Starship is available but that depends on the number of launches it can do in a year. Reusability reduces the need to manufacture many Starships. I think that it still makes sense for India to develop an NGLV and for rocket entrepreneurs to build small-lift launch vehicles. These are good skills to learn and keep updated.
The lesson to learn from our space history is to not rely on one company or one vehicle to provide all the launch services. We may either have none or unreliable ones.
I was going through some very old emails from the days of SEDS India and Moon Society, India. This is around 2010. There was a student at the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (with the email id – martdeep@ismu.ac.in that keeps bouncing then and now) who wanted to become a member. We wanted to take his help to understand the data from Chandrayaan-I’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3). There is not much of an email trail but there is a mobile number.
ISM, Dhanbad
This reminded me of ISM itself. The Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad is an interesting place which could be the center of focus soon. ISM Dhanbad has been converted into an IIT, but I hope it maintains some of its character as a mine school. This school will very soon be a very important school for space companies and India’s space programme.
The principles of extraction may or may not differ much from Earth to other celestial bodies. So far we have only picked up rocks that were already on the surface of a celestial body. We have dug some holes on some celestial objects as well, but that was mostly to collect samples.
Evidence
I asked on Twitter/X if anyone at ISM, Dhanbad is working on extracting resources from celestial objects. I have not received a reply.
Anyone at @IITISM_DHANBAD working on mining/resource utilisation of Moon, Mars, or the asteroids?
India Today had reported in 2021 that they had plans to start courses on asteroid mining. There is no update about the same. They do now have a center for seabed mining but no center for asteroid mining.
In Edition 81 of The Takshashila Institution’s High Tech Geopolitics newsletter, Ashwin Prasad, Space Power Analyst, talks about the consensus emerging between the United States and China about resource utilization on the Moon.
In a recent episode of SparX podcast by Mukesh Bansal, Pixxel’s Awais Ahmed speaks about how we will begin by extracting water, before moving on to other things.
Why will this be important?
The consensus emerging between US and China shows how important extraction of space resources is going to be. India is one of the few countries that now has the capability to land on the Moon. But, we also need to build the capability for extracting resources, studying mineral resources, and using those resources on the Moon and back on Earth. ISM, Dhanbad could be the place where we start to learn how to do this and build companies which do this.
A lot has been happening in Indian Human Spaceflight Programme recently. India announced the names of the first four astronauts who fly to orbit in the Gaganyaan programme. ISRO has revealed plans to build a Bharatiya Antariksh Station, an Indian space station in orbit. There was even talk of landing Indians on the Moon. Given this why are we not seeing more Indian private space companies announce startups that build systems and sub-systems that would help India achieve this dream?
Where are the Indian private space companies at?
Indian private space companies are still building small satellites and launch vehicles. There are a few ISRO vendors who are building things but these are ISRO designs and not their own.
What is the scene at ISRO?
ISRO is now focussed on Gaganyaan, where the focus is to get at the most two Indians into orbit and bring them back safely on Earth. To this end, ISRO has been working on various parts of the problem and will bring them together in three demonstration flights without humans. ISRO has not been funded for anything beyond and they have not proposed for anything beyond Gaganyaan yet to the Government of India for the purposes of receiving funding from the Government. ISRO has actually returned funding to the Government, which means it is not yet using the funding given to it for its various programmes.
Where does that leave Indian private space companies?
This means while there is a lot of play in the media about the future of the human spaceflight programme, there is no funding or design yet to pursue this end. However there is time to be prepared for this future. I think the companies must ask these questions:
How do we human-rate our systems/sub-systems?
How do we build redundancy in our systems/sub-systems?
How can we contribute to the human spaceflight programme with our systems/sub-systems?
Will making these changes today enhance our product offering today?
The most fundamental road block is the lack of a national space activities bill. The private space companies are now building based on a trust that many of the things that the Government has promised will fructify. This is not a given.
India has embarked on the third pillar of its space programme – human spaceflight. The Indian Prime Minister announced the names of the four Indian Astronauts. This, more than the hardware tests or astronaut training, tells me that this is happening.
India has a well respected fleet of remote sensing, communications, and meteorological satellites. It is building capability in operating the Positioning, Navigating, and Timing (PNT) satellites. India’s private sector has capability to build small satellites with remote sensing capability. It is building capability in the assembly, integration, and testing of larger satellites.
It has built four launch vehicles for launching these satellites. Its private sector is building launch vehicles for small satellites.
In 1999, India started working on scientific interplanetary exploration. This led to missions like the Chandrayaan series and the Mars Orbiter Mission. It also led to missions like Astrosat, Aditya-L1, and XpoSAT.
Three other countries have similar capabilities. These are the US, Russia, and China. Among these, the US space programme has been the most transparent. It’s struggles to prioritise missions and funding is well known. Russia has gone through periods of immense struggle to raise funding. China is the most recent member of these nations. It seems to be doing a good job of balancing these priorities today.
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) is a GSLV Mk-II. This means that the Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) had an Indian cryogenic engine, and not a Russian cryogenic engine. But, ISRO reverted to calling it a GSLV.
The vehicle had a history of being called a Naughty Boy because of the number of times it fell into the Bay of Bengal instead of to the orbit when flying with the Russian cryogenic engine. With the Indian cryogenic engine, it has been better behaved. With today’s success, it has 8 success and only 2 failures. But, those two failures have been random. The last failure had been two launches before this one.
But, I still love this Naughty Boy.
Launch
This launch was a daytime launch allowing maximum naked eye watching time. I absolutely loved the webcast.
INSAT-3DS
The payload that the GSLV was carrying was the INSAT-3DS. It is a data relay transponder, Advanced Aided Search & Rescue, a six channel imager, and a 19 channel sounder. These are basically a meterological and Search and Rescue mission.
This is a follow on to the INSAT-3DR satellite launched in 2016. This satellite had a 10 year mission span. 3DS was launched while the 3DR is in its eighth year of operation. Kudos to ISRO to launch a replacement well before the expiry of the 3DR.
The naming of this satellite doesn’t make sense. The 3DR stood for INSAT-3D Repeat. So, 3DS stands for Second Repeat? The INSAT-3D launched in 2013 has lost the Sounder since 2020.
