ISRO - Nocturnalknight's Lair

PSLV launch successful, 5 satellites placed in orbit

By Ramkumar Sundarakalatharan | July 21, 2010 | Comments 0 Comment

In a textbook launch, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Monday successfully placed into orbit remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and four other satellites after a perfect lift off from the spaceport here.

At the end of an over 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 metre-tall four-stage PSLV-C-15, costing Rs260 crore, blasted off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with ignition of the core first stage and placed the satellites in orbit one after the other.

Visibly relieved scientists, headed by Isro chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan, cheered as Isro’s workhorse PSLV soared into clear skies at 9.22 AM from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai.

The PSLV launch assumes significance as it comes about three months after Isro suffered a major setback on 15 April when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), which was launched using an Indian-designed and built cryogenic engine for the first time, failed and fell into the Bay of Bengal.

Cartosat-2B is an advanced remote sensing satellite built by Isro. This is the latest in the Indian remote sensing satellite series and the 17th in this series.

Cartosat-2B is mainly intended to augment remote sensing data services to the users of multiple spot scene imagery with 0.8 metre spatial resolution and 9.6 km swath in the panchromatic.

Cartosat-2 and 2A, two Indian remote sensing satellites in orbit, are currently providing such services.

A set of four satellites including Studsat built by students of seven engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Alsat from Algeria, two nano satellites from Canada and Switzerland, and a pico (very small) satellite called Oceansat 2 accompanied Cartosat 2 on its trip to orbit.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahuluwalia, and former Isro chief Dr K Kasturirangan witnessed the launch.

“It has been a wonderful experience. The Isro has made the country proud,” Ahluwalia said, congratulating the scientists after the perfect take off.

Attributing the success of PSLV C-15 to the entire team behind the mission, Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said, “We had an excellent flight. It injected precisely the five satellites. The entire Isro team is behind the success”.

In an apparent reference to the failure of GSLV D3 cryogenic stage, the space agency’s first mission after he took over as its chief, he said his team of scientists were inspired to work “especially after the last few weeks after a serious problem that we faced.”

“And I also want to say we have understood the problem with regard to the indigenous cryogenic engine and stage. We will confirm it in a few weeks with a few tests and then we will come back”, he said.

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India to take second moon shot by 2012, eyes Mars

By Ramkumar Sundarakalatharan | November 19, 2008 | Comments 0 Comment

Buoyed by the success of its maiden lunar mission, India on Thursday said it will send a second unmanned spacecraft to the moon by 2012.
The announcement came less than a week after Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft, entered lunar orbit for the start of a two-year mission.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the second spacecraft would also place a probe on the moon’s surface.

“Chandrayaan-II will be launched by 2012,” ISRO chairman Madavan Nair told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar in the southern Indian city of Chennai.

“We will have a lander that will drop a small robot on the moon, which will pick samples, analyse data and send the data back,” the Press Trust of India quoted Nair as saying.

He said Chandrayaan-1 will on Friday drop a probe, painted in India’s national colours, on the moon.

“Already 95 percent of the mission has been completed. The total success of the mission would be known only after the remaining work is completed,” he said.

During its mission, Chandrayaan-1 will provide a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the moon’s surface.

India hopes the lunar missions will boost its space programme into the same league as regional powerhouses Japan and China.

“We cannot be lagging behind in terms of our capability to access space. China, the US and Japan are going ahead with huge plans for space,” the ISRO chairman said.

Nair also dismissed criticism the 80-million dollar Chandrayaan-1 project was beyond ISRO’s budget and said the agency would use the infrastructure created for the lunar mission for more ambitious programmes.

“Most of the expenses have gone to create infrastructural facilities, which will be used for our plans to send satellites to Mars and Venus,” Nair said, adding the organisation would also launch a satellite to solar emissions.

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College Students Develop "Rocket Motors" In Tamil Nadu

By Ramkumar Sundarakalatharan | September 15, 2008 | Comments 0 Comment

Applause

Well, Its not really a rocket motor , but a motor used onboard rockets,

And its by a team composing of faculty and students of VIT and AU.

Appreciation and Critical Point

Yes its an achievement for the stdent folk and needs to be appreciated, but I’ll certainly say the staff of the universites shouldn’t get sloppy after 2-3 innovations to account for the DRDO/ISRO Collobration funds in addition to CSIR funds, we need more and more turnkey solutions coming out of our universities to mainstearm Indian economy.

The News Piece:

Students of an engineering college here have developed for the first time in the country, two special brushless motors, which will form an important part in the soon to be launched GSLV rocket. These motors were previously being imported by Indian Space Research Organisation.

A prototype of this motor was displayed by the students of Sona College of Technology to ISRO scientists at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VVSC) and ISRO’s inertial systems unit (IISU) at Thiruvanthapuram.

The first motor, which will be placed in the rocket nozzle for controlling its direction, is a 32 newton metre, 1000 rotations per minute quadruplex brushless DC torque motor, Director of Sona Special Power Electronics and Electric Drives (SSPEED) said.

The second, for controlling the rotation of the panels in a satellite, is a 2 newton metre, 50 rotations per minute slotless brushless DC motor. It will be used in the scan mechanism of microwave analysis detection of rain and atmospheric structures for the Megha Tropiques Spacecraft.

ISRO’s inertial systems unit needed ‘cog free’ motors to enhance the performance of precision scanning mechanisms in spacecraft and SSPEED had met all the required parameters, he said.

Prof Kannan said this was a “unique” achievement by an institution, which designed and developed an aerospace quality component for actual use in ISRO’s satellites and rockets. “This would save precious foreign exchange and provide valuable technical know how,” he said.

Source: Press Trust of India

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