Indian Space Projects

GSAT-7/INSAT-4F is proposed as a multi-band satellite carrying payloads in UHF, S-band, C-band and Ku-band.

It will also carry the second GPS aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) payload. The satellite is expected to be launched in the second half of 2010 and will be positioned at 55 degrees east longitude.

GSAT - 10

In August 2009, Indian government approved the development of GSAT-10  at a cost of Rs 735 crore with a foreign exchange component of Rs 634 crore..

The satellite will have 12 high power Ku-band transponders, 12 C-band and 12 extended C-band India coverage transponders which would create additional capacity for Direct-to-Home like operations.

The 3.3 ton satellite will be part of an effort to develop a GPS based navigation system. It will replace INSAT 2E and INSAT-3B.

GSAT - 11

In July 2009, the government gave approval to develop GSAT-11, the heaviest communication Indian built satellite so far. At 4.5 tons it will weigh more than twice as much as the biggest Indian satellite in orbit now.

Budgeted at Rs.5-billion (Rs.500 crore), it will carry 40 transponders in Ku/Ka band.

Design work on the satellite commenced in July 2009 with a launch scheduled for mid-2011 on board the 630-ton GSLV-Mark III.

GSAT 11 will feature 16 high capacity multi-beams in Ku/Ka band, providing much faster uplinks for a host of communications and broadcasting services, including direct-to-home (DTH television).

With a dry mass of 2.1 tons, the spacecraft will provide 10 GHz of bandwidth, which will be equivalent to about 220 transponders of 36 MHz.

The advanced satellite will employ a new 1-4K Bus (computer network). It will be configured with two-sided large solar array panels generating 11 KW of power.

GSLV Mk 2

GSLV Mk 2, earlier referred to as GSLV D3, will carry an Indian developed cryogenic third stage which will eventually be capable of launching 2,500 kg into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).

The cryogenic engines that have powered the GSLV rocket so far were sold to India by Russia. Of the seven cryogenic engines supplied, five have now been used. Eventually, all GSLVs will use the Indian Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) that develops 9 ton of thrust against 7.5 ton of the Russian CUS and carries 15 ton of propellant against 12.5 ton

A human flight rated version of GSLV Mk 2 with a capsule escape rocket is proposed to be used initially for India's manned space mission.

The GSLV Mk 2 is expected to be launched in in late 2009 carrying the 2.4 ton GSAT - 4.

GSLV Mk-3 (LVM3)

A scale model of GSLV MkIII at Aero India 2009

Weight	629 ton
Height	49 m
GTO Weight	10 ton
GEO Weight	4.5 - 5 ton

GSLV-Mk III will launch a four ton payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit and up to 10-ton satellites in low Earth orbit. The launcher was initially expected to become operational by 2010/2011 with first flight in 2009-10.  However, in October 2009, outgoing ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair said that first flight of the launcher had been rescheduled for 2011, because of ISRO's focus on the Manned Space Program. 

The launcher will be eventually used for the Indian manned space flight program. It will allow the Indian Manned Spacecraft to carry three astronauts instead of the two planned with the GSLV Mk II.
 
The launcher is not a derivative of GSLV. It is a completely new design.

It is a three-stage launcher with a 110 ton core liquid propellant stage (L-110) using two Vikas engines, a strap-on stage with two solid propellant H200 motors, each with 200 ton propellant (S-200), and a cryogenic upper stage with a propellant loading of 25 tonne (C-25). 

The H200 motors are the third largest solid propellant boosters. They are being manufactured in a largely automated plant in Shreeharikota built by Indian engineers and industry.

GSLV Mk-III will have a lift-off weight of about 629 ton and will be 49 m tall. The payload fairing, with a diameter of 5 m and 5 m cylindrical height, will provide for about 110 cubic meter of payload volume.

The launcher is under development with a $500 million budget and a Russian cryogenic stage, which will eventually be replaced with an Indian Cryogenic Engine (ICE). Both the variants are expected to be ready in 2009 for first flight.

The Cryogenic Upper Stage of GSLV features a propellant loading of 12.5 tons and that of GSLV Mk II, 15 tons. The Mk III, as indicated above, carries 25 tons of LOX/LH2.

The LVM3 designation refers to the configuration of the launcher, which can be easily upgraded.

IAF Satellite

The satellite was initially scheduled to be launched in July 2009, according to a PTI report on November 18, 2008. In early January 2009, the IAF Chief said the IAF satellite will be launched in 2010.

According to IAF Chief Fali H. Major, the satellite will serve as the air force's eye in the skies. It will link up the six AWACS that the IAF is acquiring with each other as well as other ground and airbased radars.

Indian Mars Mission

ISRO is planning to launch a orbiter mission to Mars using a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). Government has sanctioned seed money of Rs 10 crore to carry out various studies on experiments to be conducted,

The 500 kg Mars orbiter will join the international effort of assessing the suitability of Mars to life by searching for subsurface groundwater trapped in aquifers for thousands of years. It will also study the effect of solar wind on the Mars' atmosphere and its surface magnetic field.

"Next year we will be able to finalize and by 2013 it can take off," Isro Chairman G Madhavan Nair told PTI on the sidelines of a felicitation of the Chandrayaan-I team by CII on December 23.

"Already mission studies have been completed. Now we are trying to collect scientific proposals and scientific objectives," he told reporters on the sidelines of a day-long workshop of the Astronautical Society of India in August. 

ISRO has invited scientific payload proposals for the orbiter' from agencies all over the world, ISRO chief G Mahdavan Nair said on Monday, August 31, at the start of the Eight International Conference on Low Cost Planetary Missions in Panaji.

“We have given a call to international agencies to submit their proposals. We will be able to plan our mission depending on the type of experiments they propose to conduct,” he said. .

ISRO  is now looking at a launch window between 2013-2015.

Ref: ISRO eyes mission to Mars; Govt sanctions Rs 10 cr

Indian Human Spaceflight Program

A manned space flight is proposed before 2015, at a budget of Rs 12.4 billion ($242 million), using a fully autonomous orbital vehicle carrying two or three crew members to 400km (250 miles) low Earth orbit for up to 7 days and back.

The planning commission has already approved the mission.

The Indian Government has sanctioned Rs 95 crore to study all aspects of the manned space mission.

A 100 acre astronaut training is planned to be completed on the outskirts of Bangalore by 2012 by ISRO in collaboration with IAM Bangalore at a cost of Rs 10 billion.

For more information on this project visit the knoll for Indian Human Spaceflight Program.

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System is planned as a constellation of seven satellites, 3 in GEO and 4 in GSO orbit. The first satellite is planned to be launched in 2009-10.

The IRNSS is expected to provide position accuracies similar to the Global Positioning System (10m over Indian landmass and 20m over the Indian Ocean) in a region centered around the country with a coverage extending up to 1,500 km from India.

Details of the IRNSS and GAGAN

Insat 3D

Oceansat - 2

Oceansat-2 was launched  at 11.51 am from Sriharikota on Wednesday, September 23, using a core alone version of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launcher.

The 960-kg Oceansat 2 was placed in orbit, along with six nano-satellites weighing a total of 20 kgs, by the 44.4-metre tall, 230-ton PSLV-C-14. Four nano-satellites are from Germany, one from Switzerland and one from Turkey.

The satellite was placed into a near polar sun-synchronous orbit of 720 km with equatorial crossing time of 12 noon.

Oceansat-2, ISRO's 16th remote sensing satellite, will provide continuity to the services and applications of Oceansat-1. It will study oceans as well as interaction of oceans and atmosphere. The satellite will map fishing zones around India, measure ocean surface windspeeds as well as atmospheric temperature and humidity.

Its payload includes a follow-up version of the Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) carried on Oceansat-1, a Ku-band pencil beam Scatterometer (SCAT) and an Italian payload called Radio Occultation Sounder for the Atmosphere (ROSA).

It will provide continuity to the services and applications of the Oceansat-1 with the Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) 2. It will additionally feature a Ku-band pencil beam Scatterometer (SCAT) and an Italian payload called Radio Occultation Sounder for the Atmosphere (ROSA).

OCM-2

OCM-2 will be used for potential fishing zones (PFZs) forecast and feature a solid-state camera operating in push broom scanning mode, using linear array Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) as detectors. This camera has eight narrow spectral bands operating in visible and near infrared (NIR) bands (402-885 nm). Since the ocean observation is planned at the local time of equator crossing time of 1200 hrs noon, the camera can be tilted up to ± 20° in the along track direction to avoid sun glint.

OCM data will be available in two spatial resolutions: Local Area Coverage (LAC) of 360 m and Global Area Coverage (GAC) of 4 km.

SCAT

SCAT an active microwave device designed and developed at ISRO/SAC, Ahmedabad. It will be used to determine ocean surface level wind vectors through estimation of radar back-scatter.

The scatterometer system has a 1-m parabolic dish antenna and a dual feed assembly to generate two pencil beams and is scanned at a rate of 20.5 rpm to cover the entire swath.

The inner beam makes an incidence angle of 48.90° and the outer beam makes an incidence angle of 57.60° on the ground. It covers a continuous swath of 1400 km for inner beam and 1840 km for outer beam respectively. The inner and outer beams are configured in horizontal and vertical polarization respectively for both transmit and receive modes.

The aim is to provide global ocean coverage and wind vector retrieval with a revisit time of 2 days.

ROSA

ROSA is a new GPS occultation receiver provided by ASI (Italian Space Agency). The objective is to characterize the lower atmosphere and the ionosphere, opening the possibilities for the development of several scientific activities exploiting these new radio occultation data sets.

There appear to be differences between ISRO and ASI over the transfer of technology for the ROSA payload. ISRO ChiefMadhavan Nair was in Italy in May 2009 to resolve these differences.

Megha-Tropiques Weather Satellite

The Megha-Tropiques tropical weather and climate monitoring satellites, a joint project of ISRO and the French Space agency CNES, is scheduled for launch during 2009-10.

The Megha-Tropiques mission will be used to study the water cycle in the tropical atmosphere in the context of climate change. It will help scientists monitor the complex interaction between solar radiation, water vapor, clouds, precipitation and atmospheric motion and understand how these impact the life cycle of convective systems in the tropical region and influence the Indian monsoon.

Megha-Tropiques knol

PSLV lite satellite launcher

ISRO plans to develop a new three stage variant of the PSLV to place satellites weighing less than 500kg into 400-500km low-earth orbit (LEO).

The new launcher will address a growing need for launching small satellites like the 300kg Israeli spy satellite, Tecsar, which ISRO launched in January, and the 352kg Italian astronomical satellite, Agile, which it launched in April 2007.

A low earth orbit allows a satellite to return to map a targeted region on earth at more frequent intervals.

"This (launcher) is for strategic reasons. There is also demand from international customers," said an ISRO official, who did not want to be named.

The new launcher is expected to take six months to develop.

Semi Cryogenic Engine

 India will develop a semi cryogenic engine using liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene under a Rs. 1,798 crore six year project cleared by the Union Cabinet on December 19, 2008.

 The project envisages foreign collaboration with a foreign exchange component of Rs. 588 crores.

 The liquid stages of PSLV and GSLV engines use toxic propellants that are harmful to the environment. The trend worldwide is to change over to eco-friendly propellants.

 Liquid engines working with cryogenic propellants (liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen) and semi cryogenic engines using liquid oxygen and kerosene are considered relatively environment friendly, non-toxic and non corrosive. In addition, the propellants for semi-cryogenic engine are safer to handle and store. It will also reduce the cost of launch operations.

This advanced propulsion technology is now available only with Russia and USA. The world’s most powerful liquid engine, the Russian RD 170, is powered by a LOX - kerosene combination.

LOX - Kerosene engines have powered several American launchers as well, including Saturn V, which carried American astronauts to the moon. For India it is the beginning to rise in to the moons and the stars.

The semi cryogenic engine will facilitate applications for future space missions such as the Reusable Launch Vehicle, Unified Launch Vehicle and vehicle for interplanetary missions.

Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT 1)

The radar imaging satellite is scheduled for launch by the end of FY 2009.

The 1,780-kg Risat features a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) operating in a multi-polarization and multi-resolution mode. It has a 6 x 2 meter planar active array.

The radar will be able to provide day and night imaging through dust, cloud and smoke.

The satellite provide 3-50 meters spatial resolution. Various modes such as Scan SAR and strip and spot modes are planned to provide images with coarse, fine and high spatial resolutions.

Some of the new technological elements in RISAT are: 160 x 4 Mbps data handling system, 0.3 Nm (50 Nms) reaction wheels, SAR antenna deployment mechanism, 70 V power bus, thermal control of SAR antenna and phased array antenna (with Dual Polarization).

Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT 2)

ISRO successfully launched RISAT 2, a 300 kg radar imaging satellite equipped with a X-Band synthetic aperture radar, at 6:45 am IST (0115 UT)  on April 20.

The satellite was placed in orbit using a core along version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C12; along with a 38 kg mini communication satellite, Anusat, built by Anna University, Chennai.
 
The 44 meter tall PSLV-C12 weighing 230 ton was launched from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at SDSC SHAR.

It placed RISAT 2 in a 550 km height orbit with an inclination of 41 deg to the equator and an orbital period of about 90 minutes.

The launch marked the first operational use of the indigenous Advanced Mission Computers and Advanced Telemetry System, which guided the vehicle from lift-off till the injection of the two satellites in the desired orbit. The new computer replaces a 30-year-old computer system,

RISAT 2 is a dual (civil and military) use off the shelf Israeli TecSAR acquired for surveillance that can take 1 m resolution images at night and through clouds.

ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair told the press that RISAT-2 has been positioned at a 41 degree inclination to enable it revisit a spot at frequent intervals. Typically, RISAT-2 will take two to four days to return to a specific location on earth.

According to former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, RISAT-2 matches the resolution of American satellites which is 65 to 80 centimeters. This means they are able to clearly see anything the size a lunch box.

Also the frequency of the satellite has been so fine-tuned that "we can go as low as the soil and even a few meters below the soil," Mr Nair said, adding, this satellite would enhance ISRO’s capability for mapping the earth particularly during floods, cyclones, landslides and in natural disasters management.

In the past India had to rely heavily on pictures from a Canadian satellite even during the Kosi floods last year, the ISRO Chief pointed out, adding, ‘RISAT-2’ will be particularly helpful in mapping our rice crop coverage.

ANUSAT is the first experimental communication satellite built by an Indian University under the over all guidance of ISRO. ANUSAT will demonstrate the technologies related to message store and forward operations.

The launch was the fourteenth consecutive success for PSLV. In these launches, PSLV has placed a total of sixteen Indian satellites and sixteen foreign satellites into Polar, Geosynchronous Transfer and Low Earth Orbits.

Ref:
http://kuku.sawf.org/Articles/57295.aspx
http://kuku.sawf.org/Articles/57601.aspx

Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD)

Scale model of RLV-TD and SRE at Aero India 2009

The Indian government gave ISRO the go ahead to develop a scramjet powered Winged Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) in 2004.

The  RLV-TD is a first step towards realizing a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle. 

The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies viz., hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion.

Also part of the technology development effort is the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX).

The RLV has been conceived by ISRO as a space launch system that will significantly cut down launch cost from the present level of around $12,000 / kg.

ISRO displayed a scale model of the RLV-TD at Aero India 2009.

The RLV will possess wings and tail fins, and will be launched atop a 9 ton solid booster called S-9, similar to the ones on the PSLV.

ISRO plans to achieve RLV capability in three phases.

In the first phase, which is currently underway, ISRO will develop re-entry technology, which will cover issues like precise control of the angle of entry into the atmosphere, materials technology to minimize the chance of burn-up at the high temperatures generated during re-entry, and control of the spacecraft to ensure its landing at the desired spot on the ground.

In January 2007 ISRO launched Space Recover Experiment (SRE), a 1,212-pound (550-kg) space capsule into orbit, along with Cartosat-2, using a PSLV. It then deorbited the SRE and successfully guided it to a splash down in the Bay of Bengal, validating manned flight re-entry technology.

A follow-up mission, SRE 2, is planned in the 2010-11 time frame. During the mission, the booster rocket will take the RLV to a specific altitude, release the RLV and fall into the sea. On re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, the RLV will land in the sea, to be recovered.

In the first trial-flight in 2010, the RLV will not be recovered from sea because it will not be cost-effective to do so. ISRO will instead use telemetry data data on the re-entry, deceleration and return.

In the second phase RLV will be tested without its scramjet engine. After burnout, the booster will separate and fall away, and the RLV will go on to make an unpowered ascent.

The RLV will then re-enter the atmosphere at hypersonic speed and use aerodynamic breaking to decelerate. It will be brought to a gliding, unpowered cruise speed of about 0.8 mach, and slowed down further to make a horizontal landing.

Eventually, the RLV will be powered by an air breathing scram jet.

It is hoped that RLV technology will mature by 2015 by which time the solid rocket booster used as the first state will also be recovered and reused.

The RLV and the rocket booster will be separately recovered, with the former making a conventional landing on a runway and booster making a parachute landing.

Unlike NASA's Space Shuttle, which powers itself into orbit around the earth and subsequently de-orbits and re-enters the atmosphere to glide back to a landing, ISRO's RLV is not designed to enter orbit. It is a pure launcher. Not a spacecraft cum launcher.

It will loft a satellite into orbit and immediately re-enter the atmosphere and glide back for a conventional landing.

Resourcesat 2

SARAL Weather Satellite

Saral (Satellite with ARgos and ALtika) is being built jointly by the CNES and ISRO for launch in 2011.

 With signal frequencies in the Ka-band, it will enable better observation of ice, rain, coastal zones, land masses (like forests), and wave heights. The ARgos element helps measure temperature and salinity of oceans while ALtika is a system to measure the height of the ocean, waves and tides.

"With Saral we will be able to realize precise, repetitive global measurements of sea surface height, significant wave heights and wind speed for developing operational oceanography. Saral will also give us a better understanding of climate and help us develop forecasting capabilities. This will greatly contribute to the building of a global ocean observing system. The launch of this mission is planned for 2011, with a life of 3 years (2 years for the nominal phase, and one year for the extended phase). This mission is a 50-50 cooperation between CNES and ISRO," Mr. d’Escatha told The Hindu. "Saral will replace an aging Franco-U.S. satellite which will be phased out shortly. When sailors are in distress at sea they use the ARgos system to help locate them. With this, India will become a full member of the ARgos community."

SRE 2

A follow-up to the Space Capsule Recovery Experiment, or SRE-1, which was tested in January 2007. SRE-2 will be launched in the 2010-11 time frame.

The SRE, a 1,212-pound (550-kg) space capsule, validated technology developed for a manned spacecraft's controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and tested heat-resistant materials developed to ensure a safe ride home for the crew.