Raipur, February 01, 2011
India has journeyed a long distance in space science in past four decades and at present it is the sixth major space research hub across the world. India’s biggest achievement is that it has emerged as a role mode for other countries in space applications. The two significant guiding principles of the Indian space programme are space for application and space for self reliance. The information about the country’s space exploration programmes was imparted by the ace scientist and chairman of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr DK Radhakrishnan while he was delivering lecture on ‘Indian space programme’ at National Institute of Technology (NIT) on Tuesday.
He informed the space research works and experiments in India started back in 1962 as the scientists were driven by the quest for science and objective to explore the high medium like space to benefit the common man. He informed that the first Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) was established in Thumba (near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala) in 1962. Later, the first sounding rocket was launched from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) on November 21, 1963 followed by commencement of Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) formed by the Department of Atomic Energy.
“Basically, there are three regimes of space exploration - first - study of space from earth through ground based instruments, second – study of earth from space through satellites and remote sensing and third – study of space in space like space stations,” said Dr Radhakrishnan.
India’s space vision 2025
He informed that the country’s vision 2025 encompasses satellite based communication and navigation systems for rural connectivity, security needs and mobile services, enhanced imaging capability for natural resource management, weather and climate change studies, space science missions for better understanding of solar system and universe, planetary exploration, and development of heavy lift launcher.
The vision 2025 also includes developing an advanced technology save heavy expenditure in space research programmes through Reusable Launch Vehicles - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) missions leading to Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO). The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion. Dr Radhakrishnan informed that the first in the series of demonstration trials is the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX).
The vision 2025 further comprises of a proposal for a management plan for Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP) that was prepared after the approval of pre-project activities. The program envisages development of a fully autonomous orbital vehicle carrying two or three crew members to about 300 km low earth orbit and their safe return. It is planned to realise the programme in 2015-16 timeframe, he said.
Chandrayaan-2
Dr Radhakrishnan said Chandrayaan-1 mission was a major success and the highlight was discovery of presence of water molecules and water in ice form in the environment of moon. “Now, Chandrayaan-2 mission is planned to have an orbiter/lander/rover configuration. The mission is expected to be realised by 2012-13. The science goals of the mission is to further improve our understanding of origin and evolution of the moon using instruments onboard orbiter and in-situ analysis of lunar samples and studies of lunar regolith properties (remote & direct analysis) using robots or rovers,” he said.
YOUTHSAT
He informed that the YOUTHSAT is a participatory scientific mission with payloads from both Russia and India. “It would be carrying three scientific payloads one from Russia and two from India. It is a micro satellite carrying scientific payloads with participation from universities at graduate, postgraduate and research scholar level and would participate from testing of the payloads in laboratory to the utilisation of the data from payloads. Participation of young scientists will inculcate interest in space related activities and provide opportunities for realisation of future scientific payloads at the university level. YOUTHSAT is expected to be launched as auxiliary satellite along with Indian remote sensing satellite before May 2011,” he said.
Satellite navigation
Dr Radhakrishnan informed that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to implement an indigenous Satellite-Based Regional GPS Augmentation System which is also known as Space-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) as part of the Satellite-Based Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS)/Air Traffic Management (ATM) plan for civil aviation.
“The Indian SBAS system has been given an acronym GAGAN - GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation. A national plan for satellite navigation including implementation of Technology Demonstration System (TDS) over the Indian air space as a proof of concept has been prepared jointly by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and ISRO. TDS was successfully completed during 2007 by installing eight Indian Reference Stations (INRES) at eight Indian airports and linked to the Master Control Center (MCC) located near Bangalore,” he said.
“The first GAGAN navigation payload has been fabricated and it was proposed to be flown on GSAT-4 during Apr 2010. However, GSAT-4 was not placed in orbit as GSLV-D3 could not complete the mission. Two more GAGAN payloads will be subsequently flown, one each on two geostationary satellites, GSAT-8 and GSAT-10 in next couple of months,” he added.
RESPOND
The ISRO has evolved a programme through which financial support is provided for conducting research and development activities related to Space Science, Space Technology and Space Application in academia in India. This programme of Research Sponsored by ISRO is called RESPOND. In special cases research and development projects proposed by non-academic R&D laboratories can also be supported through this programme. The aim of RESPOND is to encourage quality research in areas of relevance to the Indian space programme.
“The primary objective of the Indian space programme is to harness the advanced research areas of space science and technology for national development and to derive the maximum benefit for the people of India,” he said.
“The main objectives of the RESPOND programme are to establish strong links with academic institutions to carry out quality research and developmental projects which are of relevance to space and derive useful outputs of such R&D to support ISRO programmes. RESPOND programme will enhance academic base, generate quality human resources and infrastructure at the academic Institution to support the space programme,” he added.
Education and training
He further informed that how education and training in space science and technology are an integral part of the Indian space programme. To develop human capital for in the area of space science and technology, he informed that the Department of Space (DOS) is making several efforts including capacity building under which it has established Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) that offers, Bachelors degree in Space Technology with specialisation in Avionics, Aerospace Engineering and Physical Sciences.
“Similarly, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) under National Remote Sensing Centre, is a premier training and educational institute set up for developing trained professional in the field of Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics and GPS Technology for Natural Resources and Disaster Management. IIRS has trained thousands of scientists / engineers from India and hundreds of foreign students from various countries of Asia and Africa,” he said.
International cooperation
“Having realised that international cooperation has a greater role to play in space-related advances, ISRO has shown keen interest in pursuing bilateral and multilateral relations with space agencies and space related bodies with the aim of building and strengthening existing ties between countries, taking up new scientific and technological challenges, refining space policies and defining international frameworks for exploitation and utilisation of outer space for peaceful purposes,” Dr Radhakrishnan said.
“Internationally India is viewed by space faring nations as an emerging space power capable of achieving its goals in a more cost effective and time-efficient manner. Specifically the developing countries look to India for assistance in building up their capabilities to derive benefits of space technology. The scope of international cooperation has become wider and diverse, as ISRO has made tremendous progress in recent time,” he said.
He said the ISRO’s maiden mission to Moon, the Chandrayaan-1, was an exemplary example of international cooperation with its international payloads. “Though the mission served for less than a year, it has achieved its mission objective to the satisfaction of global scientific community. It has also earned several national and international laurels and was instrumental in the ISRO-NASA joint discovery of water molecules on the moon surface, unattained by any of the previous missions of such nature. Follow-on mission, Chandrayaan-2 will be jointly developed with Russia. There would also be opportunities for scientific instruments from other countries in Chandrayaan-2 mission,” he said.
“Besides, the recently launched OCEANSAT-2 carried an atmospheric sounder called Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmospheric Studies (ROSA) from Italy apart from the main payloads, namely, Ocean Colour Monitor and Scatterometer. The data from this satellite is highly sought of by international scientific community and in this respect a letter of intent on cooperation in OCEANSAT-2 data has been signed with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),” he added.
“Similarly, the Indo-French joint satellite mission called MEGHA-TROPIQUES for the study of the tropical atmosphere and climate related to aspects such as monsoons, cyclones, etc., is making steady progress,” he said.
“In addition, the ISRO and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working on the development of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) planned on ISRO’s multi wavelength astronomy satellite ASTROSAT,” he said.
India has journeyed a long distance in space science in past four decades and at present it is the sixth major space research hub across the world. India’s biggest achievement is that it has emerged as a role mode for other countries in space applications. The two significant guiding principles of the Indian space programme are space for application and space for self reliance. The information about the country’s space exploration programmes was imparted by the ace scientist and chairman of Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr DK Radhakrishnan while he was delivering lecture on ‘Indian space programme’ at National Institute of Technology (NIT) on Tuesday.
He informed the space research works and experiments in India started back in 1962 as the scientists were driven by the quest for science and objective to explore the high medium like space to benefit the common man. He informed that the first Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) was established in Thumba (near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala) in 1962. Later, the first sounding rocket was launched from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) on November 21, 1963 followed by commencement of Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) formed by the Department of Atomic Energy.
“Basically, there are three regimes of space exploration - first - study of space from earth through ground based instruments, second – study of earth from space through satellites and remote sensing and third – study of space in space like space stations,” said Dr Radhakrishnan.
India’s space vision 2025
He informed that the country’s vision 2025 encompasses satellite based communication and navigation systems for rural connectivity, security needs and mobile services, enhanced imaging capability for natural resource management, weather and climate change studies, space science missions for better understanding of solar system and universe, planetary exploration, and development of heavy lift launcher.
The vision 2025 also includes developing an advanced technology save heavy expenditure in space research programmes through Reusable Launch Vehicles - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) missions leading to Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO). The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air breathing propulsion. Dr Radhakrishnan informed that the first in the series of demonstration trials is the hypersonic flight experiment (HEX).
The vision 2025 further comprises of a proposal for a management plan for Human Spaceflight Programme (HSP) that was prepared after the approval of pre-project activities. The program envisages development of a fully autonomous orbital vehicle carrying two or three crew members to about 300 km low earth orbit and their safe return. It is planned to realise the programme in 2015-16 timeframe, he said.
Chandrayaan-2
Dr Radhakrishnan said Chandrayaan-1 mission was a major success and the highlight was discovery of presence of water molecules and water in ice form in the environment of moon. “Now, Chandrayaan-2 mission is planned to have an orbiter/lander/rover configuration. The mission is expected to be realised by 2012-13. The science goals of the mission is to further improve our understanding of origin and evolution of the moon using instruments onboard orbiter and in-situ analysis of lunar samples and studies of lunar regolith properties (remote & direct analysis) using robots or rovers,” he said.
YOUTHSAT
He informed that the YOUTHSAT is a participatory scientific mission with payloads from both Russia and India. “It would be carrying three scientific payloads one from Russia and two from India. It is a micro satellite carrying scientific payloads with participation from universities at graduate, postgraduate and research scholar level and would participate from testing of the payloads in laboratory to the utilisation of the data from payloads. Participation of young scientists will inculcate interest in space related activities and provide opportunities for realisation of future scientific payloads at the university level. YOUTHSAT is expected to be launched as auxiliary satellite along with Indian remote sensing satellite before May 2011,” he said.
Satellite navigation
Dr Radhakrishnan informed that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to implement an indigenous Satellite-Based Regional GPS Augmentation System which is also known as Space-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) as part of the Satellite-Based Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS)/Air Traffic Management (ATM) plan for civil aviation.
“The Indian SBAS system has been given an acronym GAGAN - GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation. A national plan for satellite navigation including implementation of Technology Demonstration System (TDS) over the Indian air space as a proof of concept has been prepared jointly by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and ISRO. TDS was successfully completed during 2007 by installing eight Indian Reference Stations (INRES) at eight Indian airports and linked to the Master Control Center (MCC) located near Bangalore,” he said.
“The first GAGAN navigation payload has been fabricated and it was proposed to be flown on GSAT-4 during Apr 2010. However, GSAT-4 was not placed in orbit as GSLV-D3 could not complete the mission. Two more GAGAN payloads will be subsequently flown, one each on two geostationary satellites, GSAT-8 and GSAT-10 in next couple of months,” he added.
RESPOND
The ISRO has evolved a programme through which financial support is provided for conducting research and development activities related to Space Science, Space Technology and Space Application in academia in India. This programme of Research Sponsored by ISRO is called RESPOND. In special cases research and development projects proposed by non-academic R&D laboratories can also be supported through this programme. The aim of RESPOND is to encourage quality research in areas of relevance to the Indian space programme.
“The primary objective of the Indian space programme is to harness the advanced research areas of space science and technology for national development and to derive the maximum benefit for the people of India,” he said.
“The main objectives of the RESPOND programme are to establish strong links with academic institutions to carry out quality research and developmental projects which are of relevance to space and derive useful outputs of such R&D to support ISRO programmes. RESPOND programme will enhance academic base, generate quality human resources and infrastructure at the academic Institution to support the space programme,” he added.
Education and training
He further informed that how education and training in space science and technology are an integral part of the Indian space programme. To develop human capital for in the area of space science and technology, he informed that the Department of Space (DOS) is making several efforts including capacity building under which it has established Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) that offers, Bachelors degree in Space Technology with specialisation in Avionics, Aerospace Engineering and Physical Sciences.
“Similarly, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) under National Remote Sensing Centre, is a premier training and educational institute set up for developing trained professional in the field of Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics and GPS Technology for Natural Resources and Disaster Management. IIRS has trained thousands of scientists / engineers from India and hundreds of foreign students from various countries of Asia and Africa,” he said.
International cooperation
“Having realised that international cooperation has a greater role to play in space-related advances, ISRO has shown keen interest in pursuing bilateral and multilateral relations with space agencies and space related bodies with the aim of building and strengthening existing ties between countries, taking up new scientific and technological challenges, refining space policies and defining international frameworks for exploitation and utilisation of outer space for peaceful purposes,” Dr Radhakrishnan said.
“Internationally India is viewed by space faring nations as an emerging space power capable of achieving its goals in a more cost effective and time-efficient manner. Specifically the developing countries look to India for assistance in building up their capabilities to derive benefits of space technology. The scope of international cooperation has become wider and diverse, as ISRO has made tremendous progress in recent time,” he said.
He said the ISRO’s maiden mission to Moon, the Chandrayaan-1, was an exemplary example of international cooperation with its international payloads. “Though the mission served for less than a year, it has achieved its mission objective to the satisfaction of global scientific community. It has also earned several national and international laurels and was instrumental in the ISRO-NASA joint discovery of water molecules on the moon surface, unattained by any of the previous missions of such nature. Follow-on mission, Chandrayaan-2 will be jointly developed with Russia. There would also be opportunities for scientific instruments from other countries in Chandrayaan-2 mission,” he said.
“Besides, the recently launched OCEANSAT-2 carried an atmospheric sounder called Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmospheric Studies (ROSA) from Italy apart from the main payloads, namely, Ocean Colour Monitor and Scatterometer. The data from this satellite is highly sought of by international scientific community and in this respect a letter of intent on cooperation in OCEANSAT-2 data has been signed with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),” he added.
“Similarly, the Indo-French joint satellite mission called MEGHA-TROPIQUES for the study of the tropical atmosphere and climate related to aspects such as monsoons, cyclones, etc., is making steady progress,” he said.
“In addition, the ISRO and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working on the development of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) planned on ISRO’s multi wavelength astronomy satellite ASTROSAT,” he said.
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