As part of 75th year of independence, ISRO to launch 75 satellites built by Indian academiaIndian academia is gearing up to build 75 satellites, that are expected to be launched by ISRO rockets between August 15, 2022, and 2023.Efforts in this regard are being carried out to commemorate the 75th year of Indian independence. The project is being carried out under the technical guidance of Dr Mayilsamy Annadurai, a former Director of the Indian Space Research Organisation's lead centre for the design and development of satellites.
Initiated by the Indian Technology Congress Association (ITCA), the project aims to bring together universities, engineering colleges and schools that will design, build, integrate and test their student-built satellites.
According to Dr Annadurai, some of the major lessons that students learned from building UNITYSat are being implemented in the ongoing project of building 75 satellites.
To cut short the time to fabricate 75 satellites and make the mission frugal, the start-up is expected to provide satellite-building kits, to the students. Once placed in orbit by the PSLV rocket, each satellite is designed to remain in earth orbit for up to a year and provide data to the ground stations.
While each of the 75 satellites is meant to have an individual objective, such as capturing images, collecting data, monitoring radiation, other parameters, that will not be the only task at hand. The constellation of 75 nano-satellites will also be used to test concepts such as the internet of things, low-earth communication, inter-satellite communication, among others.
Retired ISRO official promoted Sisir Radar to make SAR for drones, satellitesChennai, Mar 10 (IANS): Space sector startup Sisir Radar Private Ltd will make synthetic aperture radars (SAR) that can be fixed on drones for imaging smaller land areas, said a senior space scientist and a top company official."SARs need not always be satellite based. It can also be drone based to get clearer and accurate images of smaller land areas, say to measure farms, crops and other aspects," Tapan Misra, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Sisir Radar Private Ltd, told IANS.
According to Misra, Sisir Radar will also make a constellation of 32 SAR satellites based on new technology so that the cost of good satellite images come down drastically from $60 per sq km.He said the company named in memory of late Indian physicist Sisir K Mitra plans to make S-band SAR with 0.5 metre resolution at its manufacturing facility to be set up in Kolkata. The company has raised initial funds from angel investors.
Former ISRO scientist’s startup to make low-altitude, high-resolution radars“Initially we are developing a drone-based SAR. It will be a very high-resolution SAR which can provide very clear pictures even from low altitudes. I do not think there is anyone who is offering a drone-based SAR, because in the low atmosphere there is a lot of disturbance that interferes with the quality of the image. Usually, SARs are mounted on moving platforms like a reconnaissance aircraft or on satellites,” said Misra...
“If I make the same SAR that the ISRO is making, why will people come to me? We are trying to develop an SAR that can provide continuous imaging at a very high resolution. This is not possible for a normal SAR. We expect our product to be ready within the next two years,” said Misra...
“Though registered in Ahmedabad, we are currently based in Kolkata. The city has provided us with angel investors and it also has a number of microwave engineers, which is hard to find in Gujarat. My son and daughter-in-law have given up well-paying jobs to help me start this venture. My son is a graduate from IIT-Kanpur and has experience with startups,” Misra said...
Satish Dhawan Centre For Space Sciences Inaugurated at CUJ, JammuISRO, Department of Space and Central University of Jammu (CUJ) has jointly established a space science centre for carrying out research in space science and technology in the Central University campus, Jammu. The Centre is named after the renowned Space Scientist, teacher and former Chairman, ISRO, Prof. Satish Dhawan, who hailed from Jammu & Kashmir. The Satish Dhawan Space Science Centre was inaugurated by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State (MoS) for Space, in the presence of Shri Somanath S, Chairman, ISRO/ Secretary DOS, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan Former Chairman, ISRO & Member, Space Commission and Prof. Sanjeev Jain, VC-CUJ, on March 12, 2022. Dr. Jitendra Singh mentioned that the institute will open up new vistas in the region for academicians, industrialists and start-ups in the space domain. He also opined that the space applications cut across all the technology domains, and space will become an unavoidable technology in the years to come in all walks of life. The Centre houses different labs/ facilities related to geospatial data analysis, materials, astrophysics, natural disasters and avionics. Inauguration is followed by a two days conference on “Frontiers of Space Technology and Applications for Humanity” with technical sessions where Directors of IIRS, PRL, NARL, SPL and Sr. ISRO scientists and Sr. faculty from Central University of Jammu delivered talks related the above areas of research.
Queried about the status of the RFP issued last year by NSIL for making ISRO's another rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) by consortium of industries, Somanath said: "A decision has to be taken on the modalities."He said earlier it was planned to source five PSLV rockets from the selected industry but whether the industry players will be enthused to make investments to make that number is the question.The Indian space agency has been making the PSLV for the past several decades and how the PSLV technology is to be transferred to the selected industry has to be worked out."How to involve the industry on a continued basis in making PSLV, has to be thought out," Somanath added.The PSLV was an ongoing programme for ISRO. The initial thinking was the ISRO and the private industry making the rockets.The NSIL officials had also said they would tender out the manufacturing of ISRO's medium heavy rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).Like PSLV, the Indian space agency has been making the GSLV rockets to launch the communication satellites.The issue of how the industry could be involved in production of GSLV has also to be thought out.ISRO has built its rocket manufacturing facilities with huge investment and is manned by a large number of people.
Space observatory at SUK to study upper atmospheric changesKolhapur: The Space Research Centre of the Shivaji University Kolhapur (SUK), which is located at Panhala, will play an instrumental role in studying the reasons for loss of satellite signals by studying the dynamics of upper atmospheric stratas.The centre will be the third in India to have high-end spectrometers after the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, and the Space Research Centre in Hyderabad. SUK had signed an MoU with PRL Ahmedabad in 2021. A sum of Rs 1 crore will be spent on procuring the spectrometers and other devices. SUK has allocated Rs 20 lakh for the project.
Space PSU NSIL asks industries if they want tech for small satellite platformBENGALURU: Space PSU NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), authorised by the Department of Space (DoS), has floated an interest exploratory note (IEN) on transfer of technology of the small satellite platform — Indian Mini Satellite-1 (IMS-1) Bus — developed by the UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC).
At present, NSIL is looking to only transfer the technology for IMS-1. “The IMS-1 bus has been developed as a versatile bus of 100kg class which includes a payload capability of around 30kg. The bus has been developed using various miniaturisation techniques,” according to Isro.
Ex-SAC director gets patent for SAR techAhmedabad: Former director of Space Applications Centre (SAC) Tapan Misra was granted a patent for his work during his service at ISRO for developing a technology called the Spotlight Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system configuration.
Explaining the technology Misra said, “Typically, a spotlight SAR gives imaging on 5km x 5km spot with better than 1m resolution. In RISAT-1, the spot size was increased with innovation of sliding spotlight in C band, to 10km, across flight direction, and 100km along the flight direction; the resolution was 0.6m.“Now with this patented technology, the swath can be as high as 30km with a resolution of 0.6m but imaging extent along flight direction will remain theoretically unlimited.”
ISRO To Chalk Out Plans To Increase Number Of Launches, Satellite ManufacturingChennai, March 16 : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is chalking out the crucial tasks to be done in 2022 and the steps to be taken to increase the Number of Satellite Launches and its manufacturing, said a top official.
“ISRO is looking at the important tasks that can be done this year and the steps to be taken to increase the Number of Launches and also to increase Satellite manufacturing,” S.Somanath, Chairman ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space told IANS.
Most of the Launches get bunched in the second half of the year and ISRO is looking at expanding it.The Indian space agency has to launch OCEANSAT-3, INS-2B, ANAND- by PSLV-C53 and Micro SAT by the newly developed small rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) in May.Further, the launch of four ton communication Satellite GSAT-24 is also scheduled during the first quarter of this year using Ariane 5 rocket owned by Arianespace.
The space agency is also looking at the government policy to increase the manufacturing of satellites.It is said the government has put ISRO on hold from manufacturing satellites without signing up the users upfront.
Launching of Deep Ocean MissionPosted On: 16 MAR 2022 3:20PM by PIB DelhiThe Ministry of Earth Sciences has launched the Deep Ocean Mission (DOM). Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is one of the collaborators of the Ministry of Earth Sciences for implementation of Deep Ocean Mission.National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences is developing a manned submersible with a capacity to carry three human beings to 6000 m ocean depth. The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) of ISRO is involved in developing a titanium alloy human sphere of 2.1 m diameter for the manned submersible.The overall estimated cost of the Deep Ocean Mission is Rs. 4077 crores for a period of five years (2021 to 2026). This information was given by the Minister of State (I/C) for M/o Earth Sciences and M/o Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
Mr. Sivan said that if the SSLV was launched from Sriharikota carrying a 500-kg satellite to orbit, the capacity of the vehicle will be zero and the entire payload capacity would be lost. The launchpad at Kulasekarapattinam is aimed at eliminating this disadvantage.
Thoothukudi Member of Parliament Kanimozhi, who had been seeking the launchpad at Kulasekarapattinam since her earlier tenure in the Rajya Sabha, concurred. “This launchpad will be an important development for the south of Tamil Nadu. Many allied industries will come up and the economy of the region will also develop”. She added that as an extension of this, the airport and port facilities will have to improve.Land acquisition for the spaceport is in its final stages and the government is likely to hand over the land to the ISRO by the end of this year, she said.
According to Mr. Sivan, once land acquisition and handing over was complete, the ISRO would begin construction of the launchpad. While it could take about a year for the launchpad to be set up, other priorities and the budget allocation would have to be taken into account by the ISRO.
HEC conducts trial run of wheel bogie systemRanchi: Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd. (HEC) Ranchi, on Thursday, successfully conducted a trial run of a wheel bogie system that was witnessed live by the scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
“The wheel bogie system was designed and manufactured indigenously by The HEC. The system, which moves on a rail track of 1.5 km and is driven by a dedicated hauler vehicle, is capable of transporting the mobile launch pad that weighs around 900 tonne. The trial run was conducted at HEC’s Heavy Machine Buildings Plant (HMBP) in Ranchi,” J P Prasad, general manager, HMBP, told TOI.
[Exclusive] Indian Army likely to get independent communication satellite capabilityNew Delhi: The Indian Army is likely to get independent communication satellite capability very shortly. The Rs 4,000 crore project involves having two indigenously developed and built satellites and once they are delivered, one will be in the air with a spare also available. Currently, the army was having to share satellite facilities with the Navy and Air Force.
GSAT-7A will be operated primarily by the IAF, while 30 per cent of its capacity will be shared by the Army. It is the country’s second dedicated defence satellite after the GSAT-7. GSAT-7B is expected to be built soon, primarily for the Army, while the subsequent GSAT-7C will boost all operations.
‘Where’s the research?’ Why space institute IIST’s tailor-made graduates don’t stay at ISROBengaluru: When the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) was founded in 2007, it was meant to launch a new generation of young space scientists into the control rooms of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The reality is turning out to be somewhat of a misfire.Starting from the very first batch that joined ISRO in 2011, former IIST students have been quitting the organisation, even before their stipulated contract ends, paying lakhs out of their pocket to leave.
The absence of a culture of innovation and a lack of focus on research were among the issues that cropped up when ThePrint spoke to IIST graduates and former ISRO employees, to understand the daily working lives of the students who go from India’s space university to India’s space agency.
“We were absolutely not given any choice with respect to work. It was randomly assigned, or at least the assignment procedure for roles wasn’t disclosed,” said Chohan. “This was unfair because you graduate with a speciality and should at least be allowed to work in it.”
“On the technical side of things, it feels like being inside a big production house,” said Chohan. “There are so many things happening. Everywhere you go, you learn something new and get to see projects from conception to fitting in the launch vehicle and going to space. It’s an amazing feeling.”
“But people quit for other reasons. In Sriharikota where I was posted, there are no hours, there are regular launches throughout the year, it’s extremely stressful, very hot, and the attrition rate is very very high,”
“There is a huge aversion to risk and attempting anything new,” said a Germany-based space engineer who worked at ISRO for five years. “There is a real lack of innovation. There have been unfortunate failures in the past for which people were penalised, including the unfortunate Devas incident where people were taken to court, so there is a fear of taking ownership for anything new.”
ISRO runs like a factory, said the graduates, with emphasis on production and launch numbers. “The entire emphasis is on how many launches we can make in a year, and then repeatedly doing the same thing over and over again,” said Chohan. “It’s called the Indian Space Research Organisation, but where’s the research?”
“There were many MoUs signed,” said the Germany-based engineer. “But there has been no update on any of them. Not to mention, any time there is a new chairperson, all focus gets reoriented. There isn’t much freedom to dabble in anything new either.” The engineer had fulfilled the contractually obligatory five years at ISRO, and immediately quit to pursue a graduate degree and then work in Europe.
Industry one step closer to getting contract for 5 PSLVsBENGALURU: Space PSU NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) has completed the techno-commercial evaluation of the three shortlisted bids seeking to get the contract for manufacturing five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) — Isro’s workhorse for nearly three decades — taking the process of Indian industry building the launch vehicle for the first time one step closer to realisation.
As reported by TOI earlier, the three entities are: A consortium of HAL and L&T; a consortium comprising BEL, Adani-led Alpha Design and BEML, and the third is BHEL, which is competing as a single firm.
A senior official from NSIL told TOI: “...PSLV is a very complex system. Doing the entire costing and identifying the responsibilities and thereby the share of cost, is being worked out. Because eventually the total mission cost will include all of these things.”
“While the industry will realise each of the four stages, some strategic items like separation systems, pyro systems, inertial systems etc will lie with Isro. Processes relating to mission operations, such as mission trajectory design, launch campaign etc will have to be done by Isro,” the source said.
https://theprint.in/science/wheres-the-research-why-space-institute-iists-tailor-made-graduates-dont-stay-at-isro/881293/Quote‘Where’s the research?’ Why space institute IIST’s tailor-made graduates don’t stay at ISRO
‘Where’s the research?’ Why space institute IIST’s tailor-made graduates don’t stay at ISRO
The Print has a large online audience, many of whom who trust it as a provider of an unbiased and well-rounded take on topics. This article cites the views of only four individuals, who chose to leave ISRO after working for a few years. Apart from being a poor sample size (four!), it is also a skewed choice for an article that states, ‘The Print spoke to IIST graduates and former ISRO employees, to understand the daily working lives of the students who go from India’s space university to India’s space agency.’
You want to understand the ‘daily working lives’ of IIST graduates working at India’s space agency? At least reach out to people having diverse viewpoints and experiences! Please ask my fellow IIST-ian colleague who resumed working at VSSC after obtaining his Masters’ degree from Purdue University, why he chose to return. Please talk to my friend who is working on her second journal paper within her first 15 months of joining LEOS. Please talk to the majority who choose to stay, not just the ones who left.
Talk to the young team at Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) designing the crew module and the environment control and life support system and find out if they experience any of the negative sentiments stated in the article...
If you feel that your learning has stalled, please share your views with your team. Maybe they can help you see new projects or activities that you could take up. Maybe you can get started on that Technology Demonstration Project (TDP). You know you can ask around and find help if you ever get stuck; after all, you work at a place with a lot of friendly, talented people. Maybe it is time to move laterally (move to a different team) and start afresh. Not sure how to go about it? I can connect you with people from all ISRO centres who’ve requested for and moved to new teams (slowly starting to show off the perks of being an IIST-ian at ISRO: you always know someone who knows someone).
https://www.timesnownews.com/india/exclusive-indian-army-likely-to-get-independent-communication-satellite-capability-article-90182535Quote[Exclusive] Indian Army likely to get independent communication satellite capabilityThis could be GSAT-7B as noted here: https://theprint.in/science/isro-to-launch-advanced-gsat-7a-satellite-for-iaf-and-army-today/165548/
[Exclusive] Indian Army likely to get independent communication satellite capability
India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on March 22 initiated the development of GSAT-7B, the nation’s third dedicated military satellite, while granting ‘Acceptance of Necessity (AON)’ for military procurements worth Rs 8,357 Crore ($1.1 Billion). The AON is the first major step of approval, which sets the stage for the funding, development and acquisition process to be rolled out.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the lead agency in developing the GSAT-7 series satellites and launching these into a geosynchronous orbit.
50% land for India's new spaceport in Tamil Nadu handed over to ISRO, says ex-chairman SivanDr K Sivan, the former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has revealed that 1,200 acres of land in southern Tamil Nadu state have been acquired and handed over to the Indian space agency for the construction of the country's second spaceport.
The former chairman expressed hope that the remaining acquisition could be completed in about two months, following which the construction work would commence.
Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said two consortia, one comprising Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Larsen & Toubro, and another involving Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), have submitted techno-commercial proposals for building PSLV.
State-run Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited too has submitted a techno-commercial proposal for end-to-end realisation of PSLV, he told the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by NCP member Vandana Chavan.
