(ISRO Press Release)
Scientists Discuss Indian Manned Space Mission
November 7, 2006
A meeting to discuss the issues related to Indian Manned Space Mission was organized by ISRO at its Headquarters in Antariksh Bhavan, Bangalore, today (November 7, 2006). About 80 senior scientists from across the country participated in the meeting.
Dr B N Suresh, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) presented to the gathering of scientists, the studies carried out by ISRO in the last four years to examine the technological challenges of a manned space mission and the Indian capability to undertake such a mission. Mr Madan Lal, Deputy Director, VSSC, made a detailed presentation on the various aspects of the mission.
The concept for the manned space mission include the development of an autonomous Orbital Vehicle which could be launched by India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-Mk II, or GSLV-Mk III. The study highlighted that ISRO has maturity in many technologies required for manned space mission. However, new developments are required in life support systems, improved reliability and safety, crew escape system, etc. While some of the facilities required are available in the country and could be used with augmentation, a few have to be established afresh. The preliminary estimated cost for the Manned Space Mission is Rs.10,000 crore spread over a period of 8 years.
The gathering of scientists attending the meeting today was highly appreciative of the study conducted by ISRO and unanimous in suggesting that the time is appropriate for India to undertake a manned mission. They had lengthy discussions on various technical aspects. They stressed the need for reliability and safety aspects of the mission and suggested many issues to be studied further.
Among those who attended the meeting today were Prof U R Rao, Prof Yash Pal, Prof R Narasimha, Dr R M Vasagam, Shri N Pant, Dr P S Goel, Wg Cmdr Rakesh Sharma, Dr N Balakrishnan, Dr A R Upadhya, Dr T S Prahlad, Dr S Vasantha, Prof G N V Rao, Prof V Radhakrishnan, Mr A K Saxena, K V S S Prasad, Mr Avinash Chander, AVM D C Kumaria, Lt Gen Vijan, Dr Pankaj Tyagi besides Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO, directors and senior scientists of ISRO Centres.
Let's not declare a race before the government approves the money.
French weekly Air & Cosmos says this week that the Indian capsule will be a two-seater. I wonder where they got that from.
I thought so far that it would be another adapted Soyuz design, now who knows?
The article I read said that the manned/lunar effort would see a tripling of ISRO's budget. That's a major infusion of cash.
It'll take more than the GSLV3 to get them to the moon, 10-20 10t launches is unreasonable. They need a 20-30t launcher minimum. With 3x the budget though, the GSLV4 could begin development. Perhaps they could buy RD-171s or RD-180s and develop their own atlas/angara CBC.
Tripling is far too low for a Moon mission. They will be able to do the human craft, but I think that a human mission to the Moon requires far more money than that.
hektor - 10/11/2006 5:54 AM
French weekly Air & Cosmos says this week that the Indian capsule will be a two-seater. I wonder where they got that from.
Space.com says that too:
http://www.space.com/news/061110_india_mannedspace.html The same article reports the projected cost is $ 2.5 billion to $3 billion per year, rather than over the life of the program as the Hindustan Times article implied, and that a test reentry vehicle has been built and will be flown in January '07.
Space.com - 11/11/2006
"While ISRO is just now revealing its plans, it has been quietly preparing for manned space missions ever since China put an astronaut in space in 2003. It has redesigned an existing satellite launcher – the GSLV — to carry a crew of two and has already built a space recovery capsule, said B.N. Suresh, director of the ISRO centre in Trivandrum..."
Looks like the IRSO has been planning this for a while. Does this mean that the GSLV III will be man rated?