Satellites: India
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Aryabhata: India’s first satellite into space
India Today.in , Once an astronomer, then a satellite “India Today” 15/12/2016
1975
Aryabhata
Once an astronomer, then a satellite
India launched its first satellite into space on April 19, 1975. Named after the ancient Indian astronomer, Aryabhata was constructed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and rode into space aboard a Kosmos-3M launch vehicle from Kapustin Yar, the then Soviet Union's rocket launch and development site. It was constructed with the aim of gaining experience in building and operating satellites, but was also equipped with a suite of instruments to conduct experiments in x-ray astronomy and solar physics, among others. Aryabhata was designed as a 26-sided polyhedron, with a diameter of just over four-and-a-half feet, and was powered by solar panels, which were laid over 24 of the 26 sides of the satellite. Unfortunately, Aryabhata's mission was shortlived-a power failure caused the mission to end after four days, after the satellite had completed just 60 orbits of the Earth.
Bhaskara-I: India’s first low orbit Obsevation Satellite
India Today.in , Keeping an eye on earth “India Today” 15/12/2016
Chandrayaan-1:India’s first unmanned space mission
India Today.in , To put a man on the moon “India Today” 15/12/2016
2008
Chandrayaan-1
To put a man on the moon
India's space programme came of age in 2008, with the first unmanned space mission, Chandrayaan-1, reaching the moon. It included a lunar orbiter and an impactor, and was launched by a modified version of the PSLV on October 22, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the spaceport at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. It attained lunar orbit on November 8. The goals of the mission included high-resolution mapping of the moon in visible, near infrared, low energy X-ray and high-energy X-ray spectra, and the preparation of a three-dimensional atlas of regions of scientific interest. For this, Chandrayaan-1 carried six indigenous Indian scientific instruments, as well as two from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), three instruments from the European Space Agency and another from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. This mission gave momentum to plans for a modified GSLV for India's proposed manned mission.
Geosynchronous satellites
Rukmini (GSAT-7): India's first military satellite
India's first military satellite successfully launched
Rajat Pandit, TNN | Aug 30, 2013
NEW DELHI: India's first military satellite GSAT-7 or " Rukmini", which will boost the Navy's blue-water combat capabilities with a 2,000-nautical mile footprint over the crucial Indian Ocean Region (IOR), was successfully launched from Kourou Island in French Guiana in the early hours on Friday.
Injected into the "geosynchronous transfer orbit" by European space consortium Arianespace's launch rocket around 2am, GSAT-7 promptly deployed its solar panels to generate 2,900 watt, even as ISRO master control facility at Hassan in Karnataka began acquiring its signals.
The naval communication and surveillance satellite will now undergo "three orbit-raising operations" over the next five days to place it in the geostationary orbit of almost 36,000-km above the equator. Once positioned in its orbital slot of 74 degree East Longitude by September 14, its all-important UHF, S, Ku and C-band transponders will begin beaming signals after they are switched on.
It will then become "a potent force-multiplier", networking all Indian warships, submarines and aircraft with operational centres ashore through high-speed encrypted data-links. This is the first time a high-power UHF (ultra high-frequency) transponder forms part of an Indian communication satellite like INSAT or GSAT.
The Navy has been leasing transponders of domestic and foreign satellites over the years for reconnaissance, navigation, communication and other purposes. Now, it will have a "dedicated" satellite of its own to keep tabs over almost the entire IOR — stretching from the African east coast to Malacca Strait, where China is assiduously expanding its strategic footprint.
From the individual "I see, I kill" operation, the entire Navy will now be "seamlessly" networked to get "a composite, clear picture of all the actors" in the IOR. It will transform from "a platform-centric" Navy to "a network-enabled" force. Shorn of military lingo, this means the ability to detect and share emerging maritime threats "in real-time" so that a counter to "neutralise" them can be swiftly launched, said sources.
The Navy has already tested the "ship-end" for "network-centric operations" through the massive Tropex (theatre-level readiness and operational exercise) manoeuvres, with both the eastern and western fleets accompanied by fighters, spy drones and helicopters out at sea.
India might not want "militarisation of space" but effective use of this final frontier for reconnaissance and communication missions to keep tabs on enemy troop movements, missile silos, airbases and the like across land and maritime borders cannot be overstressed. "Satellites can also help in missile early-warning, delivery of precision-guided munitions and jamming enemy networks," said an official.
- GSAT-7 launched from French Guiana, off Pacific Coast, on Friday morning. Will become fully-operational by mid-September, networking all 140 Indian warships, 14 submarines and 200 aircraft, among other platforms. Its footprint will cover almost the entire IOR.
- Satellite delayed by almost a decade. Absence of operational GSLV to launch the 2.6-tonne satellite a major factor. Overall cost, including manufacture and launch, of GSAT-7 around Rs 950 crore. GSAT-7A for IAF and Army to follow by 2014-15.
- India is a late starter in military space arena despite expansive civil programme. Armed forces forced to depend on civilian "dual-use" satellites or leasing foreign transponders. Government reluctant to approve a full-fledged Aerospace Command.
- Around 300 dedicated or dual-use military satellites currently in orbit, with the US owning 50% of them, followed by Russia and China. Beijing even testing ASAT (anti-satellite) weapons since January 2007, apart from active kinetic and directed-energy laser weapons as well as nano-satellite programmes. Wants space station with military applications by 2020
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
2013
GSLV has had a chequered past
The Times of India 2013/08/20
Arun Ram TNN
India’s efforts to power Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle with indigenous cryogenic engine continue to be jinxed.
The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) in Aug 2013 called off the launch of the GSLV-D5 after scientists detected a leak in the second stage liquid propellant tank.
The GSLV-D5 launch is crucial as it would demonstrate the country’s ability to develop and use cryogenic engines that are a requisite for the launch of big telecommunication satellites and Isro’s ambitious projects, including manned missions. PSLVs, which India has mastered, can only carry satellites weighing less than 1,500kg.
History
Postponing GSLV flights at the last moment is not new to the somewhat-jinxed three-stage rocket.
The first mission of this rocket was scrubbed following a technical snag and a fire when the countdown hit the zero mark at Sriharikota 12 years ago on March 30, 2001. The countdown was progressing smoothly, and since it was the maiden flight of a new rocket, foreign countries were keenly watching the mission.
The mood was a mixture of excitement and nervous apprehension, till the countdown hit the zero mark and an Isro official announced ‘fire, fire’ over the public address system and declared that the launch was scrubbed. The rocket was back on the launchpad within two weeks and was launched on April 18, 2001. It was only a partial success because the satellite, GSat-1, failed to achieve its orbit. The postponement of the launch on Monday has also raised serious questions about the schedule of India’s second lunar mission, Chandryaan-2, which will use this rocket. Provisionally, it is slated for lift off in 2016.
If this rocket had maintained a good track record, India would not have depended upon Arianespace to launch its two to 2.5-tonne communication satellites. Of the seven flights between 2001 and 2010, only two have been fully successful.
GSLV-D5
India Today.in , This is rocket science “India Today” 15/12/2016
2014
GSLV-D5
Rocket science poses extraordinary challenges. An example is that it took exactly 25 years for India, after developing a rocket that could lob a satellite successfully into orbit, to develop an indigenous cryogenic engine. On January 5, the GSLV-D 5 rocket, which launched the GSAT-14 communications satellite, was powered for the first time by an Indian-made liquid fuelled cryogenic engine. It is a rocket engine that uses a cryogenic, or super-cooled, fuel or oxidiser, which are gases liquefied and stored at very low temperatures. These are super-cooled, comparatively lighter engines than those which use solid fuel propellant, allowing heavier payloads to be delivered into high geostationary orbits or farther into space. In fact, engines such as these were one of the main factors in NASA's success in reaching moon on the Saturn V rocket. When it comes to India, ISRO scientists and engineers, after beginning work at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu, spent more than two decades developing cryogenic engineering technology.
2015: Indigenous cryogenic engine
The Times of India, Aug 28 2015
India exercises cryogenic ghost with successful GSLV-D6 lift-off
Arun Ram & Janani Sampath
On January 5, 2014, when Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) launched GSAT-14 using its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5), the score card of its success using an indigenous cryogenic engine read: 1-1.
Isro broke the tie in style, clearing all doubts on its cryogenic capabilities by successfully firing GSLV-D6 carrying GSAT-6 into orbit. The first launch using an indigenous cryogenic engine, on April 15, 2010, was a failure.
GSLV-D6 lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 4.52pm. About 17 minutes later, the rocket injected the 2,117kg satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.“This shows that our previous success was not a fluke,“ said Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar. He wasn't, however, exulting when he added: “We have understood the intricacies of a cryogenic engine. If we don't make errors, GSLV will be a good candidate for commercial launches.“
What went unelaborated were the military capabilities of the communication satellite (used also for television, telephone, radio and internet) with S-band and C-band transponders that cover the entire country -and a little beyond its boundaries. Besides the utility of GSAT, scientists were happy about the second consecutive success of the indigenous cryogenic engine. After India used up six of the seven engines bought from Russia, Isro's big missions now rest on the success of its cryogenic capabilities.
All eyes were on the “ador able boy“ (cryogenic engine) as the rocket's second stage burned out after about five minutes of flight. When the cryogenic engine ignited, there was a roaring applause.The next 12 minutes, when the engine propelled the satellite into space, were marked by a calm suspense that ended with the satellite being put into an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Private sector satellites
IRNSS-1H to have replaced Faulty Atomic Clocks
Surendra Singh & Chethan Kumar, August 31, 2017: The Times of India
The launch of India's eighth navigation satellite, IRNSS1H, on [31 Aug 2017 was to have opened] a new chapter in the country's history of space exploration as, for the first time, the private sector has been actively involved in assembling and testing of a satellite. [The launch was unsuccessful.] Earlier, the private sector's role was limited only to supplying components.
The 1,425-kg satellite [was] all set to start its voyage from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, riding the Indian Space Research Organisation's trusted launch vehicle PSLV-XL. A consortium led by Bengaluru-based Alpha Design Technologies successfully completed 25% of the development work of IRNSS-1H, under the guidance of Isro scientists.
Isro chairman A S Kiran Kumar told TOI, “For the first time, a private company has been involved in the integration of a satellite. Progressively, we will involve more and more companies in satellite assembly activities.“ Kiran Kumar said, “Subsystems of the payload and launch vehicle are already being developed in collaboration with the industry .“
Alpha Design CMD HS Shankar said the consortium had bagged the orders to build IRNSS-1I and work had already begun. The launch of IRNSS-1I is scheduled for April 2018. Incidentally , in another first, a crucial part of the development of IRNSS-1H happened at the newly developed Isro space park in Whitefield.
Isro felt the need to launch IRNSS-1H after three atomic clocks of its first navigational satellite IRNSS-1A, launched in 2013, stopped functioning.These rubidium atomic clocks, which are imported from European aerospace manufacturer Astrium, are meant to provide accurate locational data.
Tapan Misra, director of Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre, said, “We need to know the position of a satellite in order to find the position of an object on earth.And to find a satellite's position, we have to measure it with the help of time. To find the satellite's position with an accuracy of 0.5 metre, atomic clocks are therefore used for precise timing.“ When the time signal is missing, getting true positional accuracy be comes a problem. “Poor the accuracy of these atomic clocks, less the accuracy of the distance calculated.“
Isro had imported 27 sophisticated timekeepers for the nine satellites of the Rs 1,420-crore Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (operational name NaVIC -Navigation with Indian Constellation). Out of which, seven of the satellites are in the orbit. NaVIC, which has become operational but is yet to be commercialised, has several key applications. It can help merchant ships navigate to their destination, help in real-time tracking of train movements, help government agencies manage resources efficiently using geotagging techniques, help provide location-based services to people and can be used by fishermen reach potential fishing zones at sea.
The satellite will be launched into a sub geosynchronous transfer orbit. After injection into this preliminary orbit, two solar panels of IRNSS-1H will be automatically deployed, and the master control facility at Hassan will perform orbit raising manoeuvres of the satellite.
Satellite TV
India Today.in , A SITE for sore eyes “India Today” 15/12/2016
1975
Satellite TV
A SITE for sore eyes
The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) began on August 1 in that year. For the first time, 2,400 black-and-white community TV sets came alive in as many villages, clustered in six states across the country. This was long before urban India, including the metros, experienced television. The project, undertaken by ISRO, was designed and implemented in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States. This was one of the largest experiments of its kind, with the aim of demonstrating the potential of satellite technology as an effective medium of mass communication for a developing country. Educational programmes made in India were beamed by the Application Technology Satellite (ATS-6) of the US. The year-long SITE project established that the extension of communications infrastructure to remote areas was not only feasible, but that it could also make a contribution to promoting national development.
See also
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Satellites: India
