Preview: The Indian government recently signed off on numerous new projects, including work on a new rocket and new moon and Venus missions. The space programme is thus on the cusp of important new beginnings. India is also preparing to launch the NISAR and Proba-3 satellites, and has received some good news from Astrosat. The private sector is also working on satellite projects of its own.
A slew of approvals
The Union Cabinet on September 18 approved four missions under the ‘Gaganyaan’ human spaceflight programme and four missions to test technologies for India’s first space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station 1, by 2028. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also added one uncrewed Gaganyaan flight in addition to the planned two.
The Cabinet approved an additional funding of Rs 11,170 crore for the four Station-related missions and the additional Gaganyaan flight.
The Cabinet also approved ISRO’s development of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) for Rs 8,240 crore. This includes the cost of the rocket’s first three development flights. ISRO is expected to develop the vehicle in collaboration with industry, so that industry players can seamlessly take over for operational flights when the rocket is tested and ready.
A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) built by Hindustan Aeronautics, Ltd. and Larsen & Toubro is expected to launch at the end of 2024 or early 2025. Likewise, New Space India, Ltd. is expected to select a private entity to commercialise the LVM-3 rocket.
The Cabinet has also approved a scientific mission to Venus and the next Chandrayaan mission to the Moon. The Venus Orbiter Mission is expected to be launched in a window available in March 2028 and will cost Rs 1,236 crore. With the mission, scientists hope to study the planet’s acerbic surface and atmosphere to understand how different planets of the Solar System evolved.
An artist’s concept of ISRO’s planned Venus Orbiter Mission in its on-orbit configuration. | Photo Credit: ISRO
Chandrayaan-4 and LUPEX
Chandrayaan-4 will be a sample-return mission. Its components will be launched on two separate LVM-3 launch vehicles; they will dock in earth orbit before going to the moon, and land on the surface near the location of Chandrayaan 3. There the mission will scoop up some samples of moon soil and rock and send them back to the earth onboard a bespoke canister. The mission is expected to be launched by 2027 and cost Rs 2,104 crore.
The Space Commission also approved a joint moon mission with Japan called the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX). For LUPEX, ISRO is developing a different moon lander than the one it used for Chandrayaan-3, and which it hopes can be used in crewed lunar missions in future.
The Commission also signed off on the development of a third launch pad at Sriharikota, which ISRO will need to test and launch the NGLV.
SBS and Axiom-4
The Cabinet Committee on Security approved the third phase of the Space Based Surveillance (SBS) missions on October 11. For this, ISRO will build 21 satellites and private companies will build another 31, for Rs 26,968 crore in all. This is a significant improvement over the four satellites ISRO built for SBS-1 in 2001 and six for SBS-2 in 2013.
India’s astronaut-designate Sudhanshu Shukla had his space suit measured and also underwent pressurisation tests at the SpaceX headquarters. The event marks the official start of his 10-day training programme before he will fly to the International Space Station aboard the Axiom-4 mission next year.
Satellites en route to India
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) is an earth-observation satellite whose radar antenna reflector recently landed in India from the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. Earlier, tests in India had revealed it may experience higher temperatures than expected during its launch. It had to be flown back to receive a protective coating. ISRO is expected to launch NISAR in early 2025 on board a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
The other mission, Proba-3 from Europe, will study the Sun’s corona. It will have two satellites flying in formation: one will gaze at the Sun while the other will block the first satellite’s view of the Sun’s central area, like creating an eclipse, leaving only light from the corona to hit the cameras. The European Space Agency has said Proba 3 is expected to launch on board a PSLV-XL vehicle on November 29. India previously launched Proba-1 on the PSLV-C3 mission, in 2001.
From the private sector
Manastu Space signed an agreement with Dhruva Space to test its green propulsion technology to power the latter’s Launching Expeditions for Aspiring Payloads (LEAP-3) mission. LEAP-3 will carry payloads from different companies in 2025. Manastu is developing a green propulsion system using a hydrogen-peroxide-based fuel. It first tested LEAP on the PSLV-C58 mission on January 1 this year.
Bellatrix Aerospace unveiled ‘Project 200’, a prototype for a satellite that can fly at an altitude of 200 km. a.k.a. The ultra-low earth orbit.
Ananth Technologies became the first private Indian company to assemble, integrate, and test two Space Docking Experiment (SpaDEx) satellites for ISRO at the company’s facility in Bengaluru. The satellite was then sent to the U.R. Rao Satellite Center (URSC) in the same city.
Space science
Scientists have found that the crater where Chandrayaan-3 landed is older than the South Pole Aitken Basin, itself 4.2-4.3 billion years old. This was based on data from the Optical High-Resolution Camera onboard the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and navigational cameras on board Pragyaan, the Chandrayaan-3 rover.
Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength space observatory, was built with a mission life of five years but has now operated for nine. Based on fuel readings, it is expected to last for another two years. The data collected by the observatory has been the basis for more than 400 published papers.
Pradeep Mohandas is a technical writer and space enthusiast in Pune.
Published - October 25, 2024 05:30 am IST
