U.R. Rao, genial genius of ISROUdupi Ramachandra Rao, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, acclaimed space scientist acknowledged as the father of Indian satellite technology, is no more.The celebrated cosmic ray scientist with an MIT scholarship and experience with early NASA projects in the 1960s is best remembered as the man who gave the country its first spacecraft Aryabhata from out of modest un-space-like industrial sheds of Peenya in Bengaluru.His demise at age 85 somewhat brings the curtain on the starry era of pioneering space troika of Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and U.R. Rao.Regulars at Antariksh Bhavan, the headquarters of ISRO and the Department of Space, will miss the gentle genius. A workaholic, Dr. Rao was active until about two weeks back in his office at Antariksh Bhavan, recalled ISRO Publications and Public Relations Director Deviprasad Karnik.Guided by SarabhaiWhen Dr. Rao returned in 1966 to India from stints in the US, the Americans and the Russians were flying their spacecraft of their rockets and had reached Moon. Over here, they were the days of low budgets, small human resource but high spirits and goals.Dr. Rao’s space journey blossomed under the tutelage of Vikram Sarabhai, his doctoral guide and later boss at ISRO: in 1972, Sarabhai tasked the young Rao — fresh from MIT and the only Indian then who had worked on NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer satellite projects — with building an Indian satellite.Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had come down to see the assembled satellite — Aryabhata — which was launched on a Russian rocket in 1975. Indian satellites had started sprouting.As the first director of what is now called ISRO Satellite Centre, Dr. Rao was responsible for 18 early satellites including the landmark Bhaskara, APPLE, the Indian Remote sensing Satellites or IRSs. His mantra was - ‘If others can do, we can do better’.In 1984, Dr. Rao succeeded Satish Dhawan as ISRO Chairman and Secretary, Department of Space, going on to have the second longest tenure in the high post - ten years. (Dr. Dhawan headed it for 12 years.) Dr. Rao was the chairman of the governing council of Physical Research Laboratory until the end, apart from many science ad technology bodies.Shaped many a projectAt ISRO, there has not been a planetary mission that has not been touched or tweaked by Dr. Rao. As the chairman of overseeing body ADCOS or the Advisory Committee on Space Sciences, he finalised, shaped, refined or designed the Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission of 2008; the Mars Orbiter Mission of 2013; and the upcoming Chandrayaan-2 set for 2018."I look for excitement in any field," he had said. One of the current unfinished projects of the cosmic ray scientist is Aditya L1 mission - India's upcoming solar observatory, so to say. Aditya was earlier planned as a near-Earth mission looking at Sun. However, Dr. Rao - close associates say - convinced ISRO to greatly enlarge its feature and scope. For him, the spacecraft must gaze at Sun from an apparently stable point called L1 or Legrangian point. He prevailed and now Aditya-L1, as it is now renamed, will travel million km to do its job from a point undistubed by either Earth or Sun.Associates recall that he was always updated of developments in his field and related sciences. He was forthright, had a "sharp, analytical mind, enormous intellectual ability and [could] quickly make back of the envelop computations for complex solutions," recalled V.Jayaraman, his doctoral student and erstwhile Director of ISRO's Earth Observation Systems and later National Remote Sensing Agency, in an article in Current Science titled Living legends in Indian Science.(Vol. 106, No.. 1588 11, 10 June 2014.)The same article recounts how Dr. Rao ensured that a remote sensing satellite was launched from a Soviet spaceport amidst extraordinary conditions: "Even as [then Soviet] President [Mikhail] Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union on 24 August 1991, and the mighty Soviet Union collapsed in the next few days, IRS-1B was launched without any hitch on 29 August 1991 from Baikonur. The presence of Rao [in spite of advices to stay back] served as a balm, not only for the ISRO team at the launch pad and helping them to stay focussed and keep a high morale, but also as a great relief for their families back home. For us associated with that historic event, it will remain as [a] lesson as to how a leader should behave in times of crisis and to be with his team, ... whatever be the hurdles."Two years back, he was down with cough and fever, yet drove 15 km to his ISRO office to keep his engagements - one of them an appointment with this reporter. When he was told that he could have postponed the meeting, Dr. Rao typically said, "Some people prefer to rest, I prefer to work.All through my life I have worked when I am sick - to forget the sickness. Or else I will be a nuisance to others."As chairman, Dr. Rao accelerated the rocket development programmes but with mixed luck. He presided over the fruition of the ASLV early rocket, much of the development of the now-famous PSLV. He laid the foundation for the GSLV by signing a pact with the Russians in 1991 for the cryogenic engine technology for its third stage. Dr. Rao's joy was blunted as the PSLV clicked after his tenure while the Russians reneged on the cryogenic pact.The credit for kickstarting the now working GSLV, however, is undeniably Dr. Rao's, say ISRO oldtimers.U.R.Rao was born on March 10, 1932, to Lakshminarayana Acharya and Krishnaveni Amma in Adamaru near Udupi - a small town that hosts one of the eight famous `Madhwa math's sacred to Kannada Brahmins. He studied in Udupi's Christian High School and later did his intermediate course in Bellary's Veerashaiva College. A B.Sc at the Government Arts and Science College, Ananthapur, then under Madras University. He completed his M.Sc in Physics from BanarasHindu University 1953 and briefly taught in Ahmednagar and Mysore. But space sicence was beckoning and he enrolled for a PhD under none other than Vikram Sarabhai at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, and got the doctoral degree in 1960 from Gujarat University.The article by Dr. Jayaraman says the story of a small-town boy's rise "to a lofty position as Chairman of ISRO, a prestigious organisation and of international fame, should be a motivational force to many young aspirants in our country."
The work on the building is nearly complete and by the end of this year, it will become operational.
"We have not reached the limit of two launchpads. With the new assembly facility, we will be able to assemble more vehicles. Once we are able to assemble more rockets but not able to launch them even by reducing launch timings, then we will start work on the third launchpad. But for that, we first need (government's) approval. So, we are gradually working to eliminate all bottlenecks to increase the frequency of launches." With the new facility, Isro can achieve launch 12 rockets in a year from the seven at present.
On missions planned in the second half of this year, the Isro chairman said, "We are trying for 3 to 4 launches by the year-end. The replacement satellite for the first navigational satellite IRNSS-1A will be launched by the end of this month."
Today, at SmallSat 2017, NanoRacks is pleased to announce that the Company is adding polar orbit launches of small satellites into its portfolio of commercial launch opportunities. NanoRacks will work with Berlin-based Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH (Astrofein) to manufacture and supply deployers. Additionally, NanoRacks is working on seeking Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Launch Services from Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). “We have received significant customer demand for polar orbits,” says NanoRacks Senior Vice President of Business Development, Richard Pournelle. “And we’ve also received strong feedback for the customer support we offer. So that leads us into this exciting opportunity to support PSLV launches. At NanoRacks, we provide our customers much more than a launch and a deployer - we provide a full program that ensures the customer is equipped and prepared with everything they need to plan for mission success.” These polar orbit opportunities come in addition to NanoRacks’ market leadership in low-Earth orbit, which continues to include deployments from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) and Kaber Deployer on the International Space Station, as well as the External NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (E-NRCSD) mounted on the outside of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says it plans to launch a full-fledged niche Earth observation (EO) satellite — called the Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite or HySIS — using a critical chip it has developed.
"ISRO is endeavouring to enter the domain of operational hyperspectral imaging from earth orbit" with a satellite that can see in 55 spectral or colour bands from 630 km above ground,” the space organisation has said. It said it decided to develop the chip that suited Indian requirements.
ISRO first tried it out in an 83-kg IMS-1 experimental satellite in May 2008. The same year, a hyperspectral camera was put on Chandrayaan-1 and used to map lunar mineral resources.
National Knowledge Network (NKN) conceptualized by Government of India in 2010 has been successfully connecting educational and research institutions in the country and is currently perceived globally as a leading research and education network (REN).As part of this initiative, a high speed data link consisting of National Knowledge Network in India and Internet2 in USA has been planned to be used for exchange of meteorological data between ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA) soon," said Dr. R.Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.
NEW DELHI: The Afghanistan government has requested India to launch a special satellite exclusively for its use, three months after India launched the South Asian Satellite. The Afghan Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology recently made such a request to the Indian government, officials in the Afghan government told ET.
Afghanistan minister Syed Ahmad Shah Sadat recently met Indian Ambassador Manpreet Vohra in Kabul to make the request. It is not yet clear if Kabul wants to use a dedicated satellite to track terrorist hideouts. The minister and the Indian envoy discussed opening of a terminal for Afghanistan in the South Asia Satellite, another special satellite and India-assisted small development projects.
A MoU would be signed soon to let Afghanistan benefit from South Asia Satellite. Two of the 12 transponders will be provided to Afghanistan and the satellite will be used in areas of telecommunications, television services, agriculture, mines and other sectors. A special satellite station in Kabul is also under construction.
Isro has also said that 2017 will be the last year India will utilise foreign launch vehicles to hurl its satellites into space, suggesting that its in-house capabilities have been tested and proven enough to carry out such missions. India currently uses the Ariane 5 rocket, of Arianespace, the European Space Agency to launch its heavier communication satellites into space.
Cheaper and credible launches and India's overall expertise is driving South American countries towards the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) for launching their satellites. For launching its first homemade palm-sized satellite, the University of Chile got a ride onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C38 rocket recently. The faculty of the university is in talks with professors at IIT-Madras for doing joint missions.
"We are trying to get support for the launch of two 3U Cubesats under construction expected to be ready by 2018. Once the funding comes, we hope to get a ride on the PSLV in 2019 for a launch," said Diaz.
Adding, "Our geographical distances also can be of great advantage. Thus, our projects could take advantage of ground stations in India and Chile." These satellites are for space research and scientific in nature.
ISAC Director M. Annadurai told The Hinduthat the centre expected to select five or six contenders from this exercise “if they are found technically suitable.”
ISAC would sign a three-year contract with the finalists, train, handhold and supervise their teams in making its range of satellites at its facility.
Although the goal is to get vendors to realise satellites “end to end,” ISAC would retain important and scientific missions.
ISAC’s EoI is seen as a first step towards the making of an Indian space industry.
Planned missions of the PSLV rocket and its big brother GSLV would go on as scheduled in the coming months, according to statements made by ISRO Chairman A.S.Kiran Kumar at Sriharikota after the launch and separately by VSSC Director K.Sivan.The next PSLV mission is tentatively due in November or December to launch a Cartosat-2 series remote sensing satellite. It may also carry smaller customer satellites.A GSLV flight may take place later this year to put military communications satellite GSAT-6A to space to support the older GSAT-6. A heavy-lift GSLV Mark III carrying a large communications satellite is also likely in February 2018.
The Indian Space Research Organisation expects to resume launch of satellites in a couple of months once its failure analysis committee releases its report. The committee is conducting tests on why the PSLV-C39 mission of August 31 failed to release a back-up navigation satellite into space.ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar on Friday said the committee would release its report "very soon". The launches would be resumed in November or December after necessary steps are taken. He was speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark 25 years of the formation of Antrix Corporation, which markets ISRO’s products and services.
Top VSSC officers and Paris-based ArianeGroup on Saturday met at VSSC, Thumba, and held discussions to identify areas for possible collaboration. VSSC director K Sivan, who called his meeting with Marc Vales, head, Future Programmes, ArianeGroup, a ‘’brainstorming session’’, said a couple of possible areas for collaboration were explored, including the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) programme. ‘’Our RLV programme is in its preliminary stages. They too have a similar one. It will be of use for both groups,’’ he said. Vales was here for the two-day ASET 2017 international conference organised by the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI).Among other things, ISRO also has shown interest in the ESA’s planned Prometheus rocket engine which uses methane as propellant along with liquid oxygen (LOX). Sivan attributed ISRO’s interest to the reusability potential of the engine.