Indian Space News thread.

[Indianfighter]

ISRO to Venture In Launch Vehicle Technology

Tuesday, January 17, 2006: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is venturing into the business of launch vehicle and targets a 10 per cent market share over the next five years.

"We are going to carry a European satellite on board of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) this year. That will give a turnover of $10 million. We hope to get one or two launches per year. I will consider it as a better entry into the market. It will be a great opportunity for us if we can capture at least 10 per cent in the launch business in the next five years," said G. Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO.

ISRO will release the country’s first fully commercial satellite in April or May this year. The launch vehicle technology business is valued to be around $2 billion globally and ISRO plans to become self-sufficient in the sector by 2008.

Under an agreement with the Russian space agency, ISRO will launch two of its satellites for its global navigational system, GLONASS. The space agency will also be launching an Indonesian micro-satellite this year.

"We are in the process of holding discussions with some people. We decided to go ahead with this business," said Nair.

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To admins,

Would it be possible to lock the thread "After Moon, India aims for Mars" ?
I plan to post all Indian space news in this thread.
I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Indianfighter]

India's ISRO to launch indigenous cryogenic engine this year

MUMBAI: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it will launch Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with a home-grown cryogenic engine by this year-end.

"Work is in an advanced stage. May be soon we will have a hot test and after that we will take a decision.Most probably, the launch will take place by the end of this year," ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told reporters.

The GSLV can send satellites into orbits nearly 36,000 km above the earth and the indigenous cryogenic engine will boost payload capability from the present 2,000 kg to 2,500 kg.

The cryogenic engine for the indigenous upper stage of GSLV has been successfully qualified, Nair said adding the launch will replace the Russian cryogenic engines that India currently uses for launches.

About GSLV Mk III, Nair said the project was on schedule and the launch will take place by 2008. GSLV-Mk III will have a capability to launch a four-tonne satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GOT).

It is a three-stage vehicle with a 110-tonne core liquid propellant stage and a strap-on stage with two solid propellant motors, each with 200-tonne propellant. The upper stage will be a cryogenic with a propellant loading of two tonnes.


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Manned Spaceflight Plans For India To The ISS And Beyond

Some excerpts:

India is at a crossroads in its national space development program, having to decide if it will invest more of its small budget on manned space flight - which could be very lucrative, long-term, but which depends on certain conditions beyond its present control- or on continued robotic and scientific missions designed to benefit national development goals.
Indian Space Research Organisation's Chairman, G Madhavan Nair, recently announced that his country will decide in a year's time on whether to develop a manned space mission.

"We have to first decide how far such a manned mission is beneficial and whether we can afford to remain without it. Only a national debate can throw up answers for a consensus to go for a manned mission," he said. Such a program is expected to cost up to Rs 15,000 to 20,000 crore.

The Geostationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) that ISRO has already successfully used three times can put at least two or three tons into low Earth orbit (LEO). From its launch site on the Bay of Bengal, it could reach the ISS with a reasonable load of fuel, water, or other supplies. This India Space Logistics Vehicle (ISLV) could be designed by India's own space industry, with minimal help from the US or Russia, and prove to be far more cost effective than existing craft.

India may even want to design the ISLV so that it could evolve to deliver cargo anywhere within cislunar space, including, eventually, the surface of the Moon. A low-cost, Earth-to-Moon supply carrier, launched by a future version of the GSLV, might be a valuable business niche for India's future, giving the country a strong claim for participation in the Vision for Space Exploration.

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[Indianfighter]

ISRO sees mobile TV as new money-spinner

Friday, 27 January , 2006, 08:06

Bangalore: In the world of entertainment, what after digital radio and DTH? Don't tell this yet to the cops who flag you down for touching the cell phone while driving - in around three years from now, you could be watching television while you move around in your car, on highways, ships or what have you, if national space agency ISRO has its way. Today in Sify Finance


If DTH broadcasts beam pictures directly into fixed, single-focus platforms like homes, the revolutionary thing in the offing is a to have digitally coded signals beamed on to any automobile moving on the ground and fitted with a suitable antenna.

ISRO is working on a specially-loaded satellite that would have a large, unfurlable antenna, the complex technology to vastly compress data (to MPEG4 for small screens) and the extremely high power to enable the omni-directional transmission.

"It is a unique experiment to provide TV signals for people on the move," the Chairman of ISRO, G. Madhavan Nair, told Business Line in a recent interview. "We are now in the process of finalising the satellite design; it will have a new technology for data compression, on-board antenna that will be at least 5 metres in diameter, high power and mostly S-band communication."

The mobile video technologies would be 30 months away and are to be packed on to the 2-tonne Insat-4E (or Gsat-6, the series for home-launched satellites). The recently approved satellite would also have provision for C band communication and a few routine uses.

If the DTH platform leased to Tata Sky on Insat-4A alone is going to generate Rs 40 crore a year for ISRO's commercial arm Antrix, according to Nair, the mobile platform is the next big business opportunity and ISRO does not want to be left out of it. |Read more Finance news.|

The applications are not far behind: An NRI-promoted company in the US is ready to take all this forward in the Indian market with its own services, called Digital Enabled Video Audio Service (DEVAS), complete with a suitable ground system. The company is in talks with ISRO to lease bulk of the satellite on a long term, Nair said, adding, "We are trying to work out the commercial basis of it."

The challenge before the team at ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore is to raise the power onboard the satellite 4-5 times the normal and vastly shrink the bandwidth. The prototype is being evaluated.

South Korea and Japan, according to ISRO officials, already just started sampling these services through MBS at while Europe and the US are looking at it. As for the Indian market, the private sector DEVAS player would have to build it up around a network of ground infrastructure, content providers and distribution channels. After all, "If our technology can find its use, then that is the best bargain for us," they said.

Meanwhile, the cops can figure out their mobile rules.


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[Indianfighter]

Manned GSLV studied
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set up an internal review to decide in 2007 whether India will place a man in orbit by 2015. The expected means is India’s uprated Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III, expected to fly in 2008.

As well as the internal review, other Indian research institutions and academic centres will contribute to the study, which will consider the cost of developing a manned spaceflight capability. ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair has also called for a national debate.

“We have done the basic studies,” says B N Suresh, director of ISRO’s space vehicles development facility at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. “The idea is that, in case there is a demand by the Indian government’s space department for putting a man into space, we should not be left behind.”

If India opts to develop a manned space programme, ISRO would have to invest in new facilities including parabolic flight aircraft to simulate zero gravity for astronaut training. India may seek international help.

Since China launched its first astronaut in October 2003 there have been calls within India for a manned space programme. India’s first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, flew with the Soviet Union in 1984 aboard a Soyuz capsule.

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[Indianfighter]

Eutelsat selects EADS Astrium, India's ISRO to build W2M satellite
02.01.2006, 08:06 AM

PARIS (AFX) - Eutelsat Communications said it has selected a consortium of EADS Astrium and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to build its new satellite W2M.

No financial details were given.

The contract will be signed in India on Feb 20 in the presence of the presidents of India and France, the company said.

W2M is scheduled for delivery within 26 months and is scheduled for launch in the second half of 2008.

EADS Astrium remains prime contractor, while ISRO's commercial arm Antrix will supply the satellite bus, based on the flight-proven I3K model, and will integrate and test the spacecraft, Eutelsat said.

W2M is the 13th satellite ordered by Eutelsat from EADS Astrium and the first resulting from the alliance of EADS Astrium with Antrix, the company added.

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[Indianfighter]

India aims at doubling remote sensing business in 3 years

Bangalore: India has set a target to double its business in the global remote sensing domain within three years, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

"My reading is that 15 per cent of the (remote sensing) market is with us now. We have got Resourcesat and Cartosat. We should be able to at least double this business within the next three years", Madhavan Nair told PTI.

The size of the global remote sensing market is estimated to be USD 30 million-40 million.

With Landsat series facing "some problems", Bangalore-based ISRO is also seeking to position its own Resourcesat and Cartosat as good "gap-fillers", he said.

Nair also said that ISRO's marketing arm, Antrix Corporation has been growing by 25 per cent annually for the last two years. "The volume of business (of Antrix) is increasing. This year's revenue (of Antrix) was close to Rs 390 crore", he added.

The number of satellite-based village resource centres -- which give villagers information on weather, agriculture and drought management, among others -- in the country is close to 100 now and the number is expected to go up to 250 by March-end, he said.

"This model is emerging well", he said.

Nair said since ISRO has to address societal benefits also, he was of the opinion that a commercial model for the space agency would not work "very well".

"Being a government department, we have to have a mixed model; the present model seems to be quite adequate".

Direct and indirect returns from ISRO is three times the investment made into it during the last 30 years, he said.

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[MIGleader]

30% of the remote sensory market is less than $1 million. I dont see why its such a goal to achieve, as a person could make many times that amount on the stock market.

 

[Indianfighter]

IRS may be used to identify quake-prone areas
[ Thursday, February 09, 2006 10:19:31 amPTI ]

NEW DELHI: Indian remote sensing satellite (IRS) has shown the potential for mapping the stress field of the earth's crust that will help to predict areas where powerful earthquakes are most likely, a leading geologist has said.

"We have shown how remote sensing data can be used in the estimation of stress that will be very useful in evaluating the most seismic vulnerable zone across the globe," Professor Ramesh Singh of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur said.

He has reported his work in the prestigious journal "Geophysical Research Letter" published by American Geological Society.

Singh and his colleagues used as a test case the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat that occurred on 26 January 2001. They compared the data obtained from the LISS-III camera on board IRS-1D before and after the earthquake. They report that the study has clearly shown changes in the stress direction after the main earthquake event.

"The present results show the use of lineaments derived from remote sensing data in the evaluation of seismic hazards of any region and will be useful in updating world stress map," they said.

"Understanding of seismicity requires good knowledge of the nature and distribution of stress field in the earth's crust," Singh said.

Lineaments represent tectonic structures that are identified in remote sensing images. Singh said the Bhuj earthquake produced large surface deformations that could be easily mapped using remote sensing data.

"The present results confirm that the lineaments are related to fractures and faults and their orientation and density give an idea about the fracture pattern of rocks," Singh said.

Future satellite study of lineaments throughout the world may yield further data on stress field orientation and add to the existing World Stress Map, Singh said.

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[Indianfighter]

First sale for EADS/ISRO

The alliance between EADS Astrium and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to market 2/3t-class satellites has scored its first success, and will deliver the W2M satellite to European operator Eutelsat Communications for launch in the second quarter of 2008.

A contract will be signed this month by French president Jacques Chirac and Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh. EADS will be prime contractor for the 3t satellite, and build the Ku-band communications payload. ISRO will build, integrate and test the 3t satellite.

Financial details are not available, but the deal is a boost for Bangalore-based Antrix, the commercial arm of ISRO, which tried to forge marketing alliances with Boeing and Lockheed Martin before agreeing the tie-up with EADS in June 2005.

n EADS Astrium is to supply the Algerian National Space Technology Centre with two Earth observation satellites, two ground-control segments and one imaging station. The 150kg (330lb) satellites will provide 2.5m (8.2ft)-resolution panchromatic and 10m multispectral images.

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[Indianfighter]

Chandrayaan spacecraft to carry six instruments from Europe, US

New Delhi | February 26, 2006 12:42:50 PM IST

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has selected four instruments from Europe and two from the United States for inclusion in Chandrayaan-1 (Moon Mission), whose launch is planned for 2007-08, for conducting experiments for the advancement of scientific knowledge about the moon.
The six instruments are in addition to the main Indian scientific instruments to be included in India's first mission to the moon, Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, has said.

He clarified that Chandrayaan-1 was progressing as per plan towards its launch during 200708.

The Preliminary Design Reviews of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and payload systems have been completed.

"The development of the spacecraft, scientific instruments and establishment of deep space network are progressing satisfactorily.

After the successful completion of three flights of Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), the ISRO is now planning to launch a series of 2000 kg class communication satellites in the operational flights of GSLV during 2007-2010.
The first flight in this batch, GSLV-F04, which is aimed at meeting the national requirement in the areas of communication, meteorology, education and health, is planned during mid-2007, Mr Chavan said.
Meanwhile, ISRO sources said it had finalised a plan to set up 100 satellite linked Village Resource Centres (VRC) by March this year.

The cost of setting up one VRC is approximately RS 4.50 lakh.

The VRCs are coming up in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Karnataka accounts for the largest number of them.

On the issue of securing global launch market by India, Mr Chavan said the Indian launch vehicle programme was mainly intended to meet the domestic requirements.

"After meeting the domestic requirements, the residual capacity is made available for commercial launches for other countries," he said.

In this context, he said the present annual forecast in respect of the demand for launch services globally was about 15.20 launches in Geostationary orbits and about three to six launches in other orbits.

Considering the current market scenario and heavy competition, a maximum of five per cent of the global market share can be targeted by India for launch vehicles and related services.

On the reports that the ISRO has developed low-cost reusable space vehicle technology, Mr Chavan said this was not true. However, a few investigative studies and experiments have been taken up which might lead to the development of reusable space vehicles technology.

"It is expected that that this, in turn, will make space transport more affordable on account of the reuse of expensive hardward." UNI SH PA RAI1204

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