Month: July 2006

ISRO And DRDO Deal Differently With Disastrous Launches

ISRO And DRDO Deal Differently With Disastrous Launches

ISRO And DRDO Deal Differently With Disastrous Launches
File photo: The doomed Agni-III missile.by Staff WritersNew Delhi, India (PTI) Jul 18, 2006It was a Black Sunday and an even worse Monday for India’s aerospace ambitions. Two much-hyped rocket systems – one the guided missile Agni-III, and another the GSLV-FO2 launch vehicle carrying a satellite – built by two famed institutions, (RDO and ISRO, landed in the sea, drowning with them years of effort and hundreds of crores of rupees.

It was a rare back-to-back failure and ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair was forthright on what could have gone wrong: “The pressure in one of the four strap-on motors dropped to zero and did not develop enough thrust, as a result the vehicle veered off the trajectory,” he said, adding that the failure was “a rarest phenomena”.

“One of the liquid strap-ons had a workmanship problem with the engine valve, leading to a shutdown after one second,” a source revealed.

Unlike ISRO, who even after the failure showed a genuine eagerness to share available information, there was total silence from the DRDO. An indifferent defense minister summed up the situation: “The take-off was successful … but there was some problem later.”
Repeated efforts to talk to DRDO officials in Hyderabad met with no success, though one scientist did say there could have been a “component flaw, but even that would be premature to say”.

ISRO and DRDO are studies in contrast, two high-profile organizations heavily funded by public money and trying to meet India’s goals of self-reliance in critical technology. The difference is one seems to have learned from its failures and has a brilliant track record, while the other seems lost.

Much of ISRO’s talent and innovation has been used by DRDO for its missile program, “but the spirit and resilience of ISRO was never transferred to DRDO even though conceptually there is proximity between the two,” said a scientist who has worked in both organizations.
What makes ISRO different? “The one great thing about ISRO is that it is extremely open, people are committed, they have faith in themselves and a failure is seen as a learning curve. Our reviews are open,” said ex-ISRO chairman U.R. Rao.

“Nowhere in the world will you find another organization like ISRO,” said another official. “Everything is done here from end to end. We do R&D; build satellites and launch vehicles; meet the specific requirements of our users and also process data.”
Of the 21 launches ISRO has attempted in India, only five have failed, the last in April 1994. This is a highly respected success rate, even globally. At DRDO, however, the missile program has been the only effort that has met with some success.

Now, with Agni-III’s failure, the Integrated Guided Missile Program, which began in 1983, has suffered a major setback. The Agni test, said DRDO sources, was supposed to give a technical push to the intercontinental missile program.

“DRDO has got into the problem of talking big and delivering little,” said a scientist, recalling how in 2003 the much touted short-range surface-to-air missile Trishul was dumped. DRDO had worked on it for 18 years and spent nearly Rs 300 crore. Other missiles in the IGM program – Akash and Nag (promised long ago and yet to be delivered) – already have consumed thousands of crores.

It is ironic the DRDO was set up to cut down on arms imports via indigenization. A few years ago, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had spoken of 70 percent self-reliance in defense requirements by 2005. That date and year have passed, and India is still a long way away from that goal.

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China To Develop Deep Space Exploration In 5 Years

China To Develop Deep Space Exploration In 5 Years

China To Develop Deep Space Exploration In 5 Years
China hopes to send its spacecraft beyond the moon
Beijing, China (SPX) Jul 20, 2006
A senior Chinese space agency official said Wednesday that China would actively plan its deep space exploration over the next five years, focusing on lunar and Mars exploration.

Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration, said China would study the distribution and utilization of lunar resources and terrestrial planetary science as well as exploring scientific measures for supporting mankind’s sustainable survival on Earth.

Key research areas will also include astronomy and solar physics, space physics and solar system exploration, micro-gravity sciences and space life science.
Sun urged Chinese scientists to increase their understanding of star and universe evolution through the observation and study of the sun and black holes.

In the next five years, Sun said, China will independently develop and launch an astronomical satellite.

China will advance its exploration of the integral behavior of the chain reaction of solar-terrestrial space, establish a space weather forecast pattern on which a weather support system for space flight safety and communication will be based, he told the 36th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research.

Sun said, “Priorities shall be given to innovative projects on major scientific problems, and the emphases will be laid on Sun-Earth space environment study, solar system exploration and space astronomy.”

Sun’s administration is striving to establish an open, fair and scientific competition system for the selection of all space science projects, he said.
“We need to avoid unorganized competition by publicly collecting and evaluating proposals, and carrying out feasibility studies,” Sun said.

“We’ll also encourage and support other countries to join in the programs initiated by China in space science, and Chinese scientists will participate in international space science programs,” the administrator said.

During the 11th Five-Year (2006-2010) Program period, research into micro-gravity science will be coordinated with national scientific and technological strategic objectives.
This will promote the development of high technology for biological engineering and new materials and basic research on gravity theory and life science.

Chinese scientists have already conducted space experiments in astronomy, environment, microgravity fluid physics, material science, life science and earth science.
In February 2004, China initiated the Lunar Exploration Mission and started the research and development of the Chang’e lunar probe.

In October 2005, Shenzhou VI for the first time operated manned space lab experiments. China also launched four recoverable satellites.The results achieved through many years of research have laid a foundation for the fulfillment of space science development goals set out in the 11th Five-Year Program. After over ten years of advanced research on Space Solar Telescope and Space Hard X-Ray Modulation Telescope, scientists have tackled problems on key technologies and manufactured models of main components.

It is estimated that in the past decade, China’s space science investment, including infrastructure and programs, had exceeded 900 million yuan ($112.5 million).
The National High-Tech Research and Development Program initiated in the mid 1980s and the Manned Space flight Program begun in 1992 substantially promoted the development of China’s space research.

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GSLV Failure, Yes this does happen., Now & then

GSLV Failure, Yes this does happen., Now & then

The Official Press Release from the ISRO is below and it describes that the GSLV “cannot complete its mission” ie. putting the satelitte on orbit. But, as it came to know the Liquid strap-ons were (seems to be ) the reason for this hitch too., (as was in 1999).

PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Monday, July 10, 2006
Source: Indian Space Research Organisation
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F02), with INSAT-4C on board, was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharihota today (July 10, 2006).

The lift-off took place at 5:38 p.m. IST.
However, GSLV-F02 could not complete the mission.

The detailed analysis of the data received from the vehicle is being analysed to pinpoint the exact reasons.

The Anatomy of the ” Failure “
The second operational flight of the GSLV rocket that was to hurl the country’s heaviest satellite yet built , 36,000 km into space instead plunged into the sea, within a minute of launch from the country’s space port at Sriharikota.
One of the four strap-on motors, attached to the 49-metre-tall, 414 tonne GSLV did not give the required thrust forcing the rocket to deviate from its flight path by about 10 degrees. The project director, who found that the first stage did not separate from the upper two stages, pressed the button to destroy the rocket for safety reasons. “It appears from preliminary data that the pressure had dropped to zero in one of the four strap-on motors and it failed to give the required thrust to the GSLV,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said, after the mishap, the first major incident in 12 launches of the space agency.(considering 9 Succesful launches in Row with 6 Foreign Satelittes/Payloads)
Five years ago, the first experimental GSLV rocket had faced a pressure drop in one of the boosters, but the onboard computers aborted the rocket, barely two seconds before lift-off. ISRO top brass had then claimed that they had perfected the in-built safety systems to prevent a disaster.
On Monday it seemed like ISRO officials had a hint of a problem in the rocket, when they delayed the launch by almost one hour. But, they went ahead at 17:38 hours, to find television sets across the world beam the five-storeyed gigantic machine bursting into flames.
Post-Moterm:

But,The strap-on Boosters is belived to have developed a snag well before the launch, and according to some reliable sources, its actually the executive decession and the political will that made to go ahead with the launch even after the strapons developed some pressure loss., (meaning the motor used for pumping fuel din’t worked upto the mark.) (but the pride of completing the mission on the announced day seems to have rushed the decassion rather than wait for the saftey check to complete) all said and done, such accidents do happen and cannot be parted with, So i personally think the ISRO guys will come up with more robust and efficent “on-board ” security measures……

Knowledge needs to be free!
GSLV Failure, Yes this does happen., Now & then

GSLV Failure, Yes this does happen., Now & then

The Official Press Release from the ISRO is below and it describes that the GSLV “cannot complete its mission” ie. putting the satelitte on orbit. But, as it came to know the Liquid strap-ons were (seems to be ) the reason for this hitch too., (as was in 1999).

PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Monday, July 10, 2006
Source: Indian Space Research Organisation
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F02), with INSAT-4C on board, was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharihota today (July 10, 2006).

The lift-off took place at 5:38 p.m. IST.
However, GSLV-F02 could not complete the mission.

The detailed analysis of the data received from the vehicle is being analysed to pinpoint the exact reasons.

The Anatomy of the ” Failure “
The second operational flight of the GSLV rocket that was to hurl the country’s heaviest satellite yet built , 36,000 km into space instead plunged into the sea, within a minute of launch from the country’s space port at Sriharikota.
One of the four strap-on motors, attached to the 49-metre-tall, 414 tonne GSLV did not give the required thrust forcing the rocket to deviate from its flight path by about 10 degrees. The project director, who found that the first stage did not separate from the upper two stages, pressed the button to destroy the rocket for safety reasons. “It appears from preliminary data that the pressure had dropped to zero in one of the four strap-on motors and it failed to give the required thrust to the GSLV,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said, after the mishap, the first major incident in 12 launches of the space agency.(considering 9 Succesful launches in Row with 6 Foreign Satelittes/Payloads)
Five years ago, the first experimental GSLV rocket had faced a pressure drop in one of the boosters, but the onboard computers aborted the rocket, barely two seconds before lift-off. ISRO top brass had then claimed that they had perfected the in-built safety systems to prevent a disaster.
On Monday it seemed like ISRO officials had a hint of a problem in the rocket, when they delayed the launch by almost one hour. But, they went ahead at 17:38 hours, to find television sets across the world beam the five-storeyed gigantic machine bursting into flames.
Post-Moterm:

But,The strap-on Boosters is belived to have developed a snag well before the launch, and according to some reliable sources, its actually the executive decession and the political will that made to go ahead with the launch even after the strapons developed some pressure loss., (meaning the motor used for pumping fuel din’t worked upto the mark.) (but the pride of completing the mission on the announced day seems to have rushed the decassion rather than wait for the saftey check to complete) all said and done, such accidents do happen and cannot be parted with, So i personally think the ISRO guys will come up with more robust and efficent “on-board ” security measures……

Knowledge needs to be free!
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