Under the ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ launched by the government, a manned scientific submersible has been proposed to be developed for deep ocean exploration and the project is named ‘Samudrayaan…reports Asian Lite News.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that is known for sending satellites out into space, including the manned mission Gaganyaan, is now helping to build a specialised sphere for a manned mission to 6,000 metres deep into the ocean, the Parliament was told on Thursday.
Under the ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ launched by the government, a manned scientific submersible has been proposed to be developed for deep ocean exploration and the project is named ‘Samudrayaan’, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The National Institute of Ocean Technology, an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, had earlier developed and tested a “personnel sphere” for a manned submersible system for 500 metre water depth rating, he said.
“That personnel sphere of 2.1m diameter to be used as a crew module up to 500 m water depth has been developed using mild steel and tested up to 600 m water depth in the Bay of Bengal using the research Vessel Sagar Nidhi during October 2021.
“One Titanium alloy personnel sphere for manned submersible system for 6,000 metre water depth rating, is under development in association with Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram,” he added.
India has planned to send a manned mission to space and to the bottom of the ocean at the same time – roughly, 2024 – with the funding to the tune of Rs 4,100 crore for Deep Ocean Mission setting the tone.
‘India will launch industry-led policies in space sector’
ISRO Chief K. Sivan emphasised that recent reforms in the sector has ensured that the role of the private sector has evolved from being just suppliers to partners in the process…reports Asian Lite News
India is revising its existing policies and is also in the process of bringing in new ones to increase industry participation in the space sector, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Dr K. Sivan said on Sunday.
Sivan, who is Secretary, Department of Space, said this, via a video message during the inaugural session on ‘Future of Space-International Participations and Collaborations’ at The India Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai.
Dr K. Sivan during his virtual address
He emphasised that the recent reforms in the sector has ensured that the role of the private sector has evolved from being just suppliers to partners in the process. He also highlighted that space is one of the significant areas that India is looking at for international cooperation.
“I hope space cooperation will further strengthen with commercial and technological collaborations,” said Sivan, adding that Indian industry has to play a big role in the space sector globally.
India is planning to boost the space sector in the global market. With an aim to make the country an economic space hub in the future, it also recently launched a new industry body, the Indian Space Association (ISpA).
Sivan said that the government is open to inviting private players in the space sector and ISRO is tying up with start-ups and industries.
“India is focussing on international collaborations, including bilateral and multilateral partnerships,” he said.
In the recent past, the ISRO has also joined hands with Niti Aayog, and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to encourage space start-ups in the country.
However, Sivan emphasised on the need to make outer space safe and that it is a collective responsibility of the government and non-government agencies to ensure that.
The six-month-long Expo 2020 Dubai, which began early on October 1, will run till March 31, next year. Among the 192 participating countries, India has the biggest pavilion in the expo. Fifteen states and nine central ministries from India are participating in this expo.
The India Pavilion features an innovative kinetic facade made up of 600 individual colourful blocks. It is developed as a mosaic of rotating panels that will depict different themes as they rotate on their axis. It represents the theme of ‘India on the move’ and is a unique amalgam of the rich heritage and technological advances of the nation, according to an official statement.
Earlier, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre’s (IN-SPACe) Chairman-designate Pawan Kumar Goenka had said that he would soon fix a target for Indian private players’ share in the global space market and bring in corporate culture to achieve it.
He also said issuing the regulatory clearances for the private sector will be his priority. IN-SPACe is the regulator for the private players in the Indian space sector and Goenka has been named as its Chairman.
Goenka said: “The global space sector market is about $440 billion and India’s share is less than two per cent.”
He said in the coming days he will fix the target for India’s share in the global space market and work towards that.
‘India will launch industry-led policies in space sector’
Goenka, a former Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd said in the corporate world, a strategy would be defined, market share target will be fixed, and responsibility for achieving it will also be fixed. A similar model will be implemented for the private space sector.
In the coming days, Goenka said he would fix the target, define the timeline and the action plans to achieve the same.
According to him, the total investment by the private space start-ups is only $21 million while the opportunity for suppliers at the global level is large.
Citing products like lithium-ion batteries developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Goenka said he would look at spreading that technology amongst the automobile sector.
“More than 40 proposals from private space sector companies have come, which are being examined,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K.Sivan said.
Sivan said the FDI policy is getting revised which would open up huge opportunities for foreign companies to invest in India…reports Asian Lite News
India will soon come out with a new foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for the space sector, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K. Sivan said on Monday.
In his address at the International Space Conference and Exhibition, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), on the theme ‘Building NewSpace in India’, Sivan, who is also Secretary of the Department of Space, said with India opening up its space sector for private players, there has been a lot of interest by the foreign companies to invest in India.
There is enormous scope for foreign companies to tie up with Indian companies in the space sector, he added.
Sivan said the FDI policy is getting revised which would open up huge opportunities for foreign companies to invest in India.
Presently all FDI in the space sector has to be cleared by the government while the industry wants the investment under the automatic route.
The Space Bill is being reviewed by various other ministries.
The Netherlands is interested in collaborating with India on miniaturization of satellites, nano satellites, components and subsystems, said Nico van Putten of Netherlands Space Office.
According to NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) Chairman and Managing Director D.Radhakrishnan, part of India’s space sector reforms is that the company works on a demand driven model from the earlier supply driven model.
He said the demand driven model will bring in more accountability and also better usage of the space assets.
Radhakrishnan said soon the India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will be made by Indian industries and other rockets will also follow.
He said NSIL has also started transferring technology to private sector players.
Business Standard: India to revise FDI policy for space sector, says Isro chief Sivan.https://t.co/pOhVL68s26
In his opening remarks, Antrix Corporation CMD and Chairman, CII National Committee on Space, Rakesh Sasibhushan, said last year the global space sector grew by four per cent to $447 billion.
He said 49 per cent of that is accounted for by the commercial sector and India’s share is only two per cent.
Sasibhushan also said some of the Indian space sector start-ups are readying to go global.
Gaganyaan is the name for India’s human space mission….reports Asian Lite News
Indian space agency ISRO said on Saturday that it has successfully conducted the first hot test of the System Demonstration Model of the Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the hot test was conducted for a duration of 450 seconds at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
Gaganyaan is the name for India’s human space mission.
“The system performance met the test objectives and there was a close match with the pre-test predictions. Further, a series of hot tests are planned to simulate various mission conditions as well as off-nominal conditions,” ISRO said.
The Service Module is part of the Gaganyaan Orbital Module and is located below the crew module and remains connected to it until re-entry.
The Service Module Propulsion System consists of a unified bipropellant system comprising five 440 N thrust engines and 16 100 N Reaction Control system (RCS) thrusters with MON-3 (mixed oxides of nitrogen) and MMH (mono methyl hydrazine) as oxidizer and fuel, respectively.
The System Demonstration Model, consisting of five 440 N engines and eight 100 N thrusters, was realised to qualify the propulsion system performance on ground.
A new test facility has been established at IPRC, Mahendragiri, for testing System Demonstration Model.
ISRO set to transfer ‘Shwaas’ technology to industries
ISRO to test solid fuel engine for small rocket
The Indian space agency is gearing up to test the solid fuel motor of its small rocket under development, said a senior official.
The official also said the space agency is planning to fly the small rocket — Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) — before the end of this year itself with an Indian earth observation satellite.
The SSLV is being designed to have a carrying capacity of about 500kg targeting the small satellite launch market.
As a matter of fact, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting orders from foreign parties to launch small satellites.
The first static test of SSLV’s solid fuel motor was unsuccessful as there were some issues with the engine’s nozzle.
An official had earlier told IANS that the second test will be with the engine that was kept for the rocket. A new first stage engine for the rocket has to be built.
The other two stages/engines for the proposed SSLV have been tested earlier, an ISRO official had said.
The 34 metre tall with a lift off mass of 120 ton, the SSLV is a three staged/engine rocket all powered by solid fuel.
Currently the Indian space agency loads the small satellites as piggyback luggage to its bigger satellite launched with its rocket — Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
The ISRO at times also gets orders to launch bigger satellites for which it uses one of the PSLV variants.
India presently has three fully operational rockets — the four stage/engine PSLV and its variants and two GSLV variants — GSLV-Mk II with a carrying capacity of 2.5 tonnes and GSLV-MkIII with a payload capacity of four ton.
The GSLV is a three stage/engine rocket. The core of the first stage is fired with solid fuel and the strap-on motors by liquid fuel. The second is the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine developed indigenously. (includes report from Venkatachari Jagannathan)
The satellite will play a strategic role in the nation’s defence with its capability to operate in day, night and all weather conditions with a mission life of five years….reports Venkatachari Jagannathan
Indian space agency ISRO is gearing up to put two eyes in the sky to look at the country soon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working towards sending up two earth observation satellites — EOS-3 and EOS-4.
The EOS-4 or Risat-1A is a radar imaging satellite with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that can take pictures during day and night looking through the clouds.
The satellite weighing over 1,800 kg will be carried by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) this September, said ISRO.
The EOS-4 is a repeat microwave remote sensing satellite of Risat-1 and is configured to ensure continuity of SAR in C-Band providing microwave data to the user community for operational services.
The satellite will play a strategic role in the nation’s defence with its capability to operate in day, night and all weather conditions with a mission life of five years.
The satellite has high data handling systems and high storage devices among other things.
According to ISRO, the satellite will provide imaging data for various applications related to land, water and environment which find useful inputs for agriculture, forestry and water resource management, said ISRO.
An ISRO official had earlier said an earth observation satellite will send pictures which will be used by different agencies as per their needs.
The Risat-1 weighing 1,858 kg was launched in 2012 using a PSLV rocket. Its mission life was five years.
However, prior to EOS-4, the satellite that would be launched by ISRO will be EOS-3 or the Geo Imaging Satellite-1 (GISAT-1).
The GISAT-1 will be the country’s first sky eye or earth observation satellite to be placed in geostationary orbit.
As a result the satellite will have a steady eye on the areas of interest (the satellite will move in sync with the rotation of the earth and hence would look stationary) unlike other remote sensing satellites placed in lower orbit that can come to a spot only at regular intervals.
The satellite and the rocket (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle – F10 (GSLV-F10) are ready at the rocket launch centre in Sriharikota.
The Indian space agency is expected to fly the rocket with GISAT-1 sometime middle of August.
Originally the GISAT-1 was slated for launch on March 5, 2020, but hours before the launch ISRO announced postponement of the mission owing to some technical glitch.
Soon after the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown delayed the mission. The rocket had to be dismantled and cleaned up.
Subsequently, the GISAT-1 launch was slated for March 2021 but due to problems in the satellite’s battery side, the flight got delayed.
With the replacement of the battery the satellite and the rocket were being readied for their flight at Sriharikota when the second wave of Covid-19 swept in affecting many at the rocket launch centre.
Queried about launching the satellite using a foreign rockets like Ariane of Arianespace as there is an opportunity cost involved with a fully built satellite on the ground Department of Space Secretary and ISRO Chairman K. Sivan had told IANS: “Only China and the US are launching rockets. Others are not. Anyway we have our own rocket to launch.”
He said once the Covid-19 spread comes down, the satellite will be launched.
The Indian space agency had earlier said the 2,268 kg GISAT-1 would provide a real time image of a large area of region of interest at frequent intervals. It will also enable quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and any short-term events.
The satellite will have payload imaging sensors of six band multi-spectral visible and near infra-red with 42 metres resolution; 158 bands hyper-spectral visible and near infra-red with 318 metres resolution and 256 bands hyper-spectral short wave infra-red with 191 metres resolution.
A four metre diameter Ogive shaped payload fairing (heat shield) has been used in the rocket for the first time, ISRO had said.
The 79-year-old Narayanan waged a legal battle against the Kerala police officers who accused him of being a Pakistan’s spy in 1994…reports Asian Lite News.
At last former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan’s case was handed over to CBI. The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the role of Kerala police officers in framing ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case.
A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar accepted the report of a panel headed by former top court judge D.K. Jain, and asked the CBI to carry out further investigation. The top court said the matter is very serious and it requires a CBI probe.
The bench asked acting CBI Director to take charge of the case and treat the report by Justice Jain panel as a preliminary inquiry report to conduct further investigations into the matter.
The bench also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Krishna Murari also asked the CBI to file status report on its investigations in three months. The top court has ordered that panel’s report should be kept confidential in a sealed cover.
The 79-year-old Narayanan waged a legal battle against the Kerala police officers who accused him of being a Pakistan’s spy in 1994. Besides appointing the panel, the top court had directed the Kerala government to pay Rs 50 lakh compensation to Narayanan for causing him immense humiliation.
In 2018, a bench of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra decided to appoint a committee under Jain and asked the Centre and the Kerala government to name one person each to the committee. While the Centre appointed a top official — D.K. Prasad, the Pinarayi Vijayan government appointed former Additional Chief Secretary V.S. Senthil.
The ISRO spy case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan was arrested on charges of espionage along with another senior official of ISRO, two Maldivian women and a businessman.
The CBI had held that the then top police officials in Kerala were responsible for Narayanan’s illegal arrest. The panel examined the circumstances leading to Narayanan’s arrest. It was alleged that confidential documents on India’s space program was allegedly transferred to foreign countries.
Narayanan had maintained that Kerala police fabricated the case and the technology he was accused to have stolen and sold in 1994 case did not even exist at that time.
