The Indian Space Programme
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[448]. Bagla, Pallava (PTI). 10 April 2016. India, China Set Eyes on Joint Satellite Constellation for BRICS. The Economic Times. Retrieved from http://economictimes.indiatimes.com//articleshow/51763274.cms.
[449]. An alternate power source used by spacecraft that must operate in environments devoid of sufficient sunlight is Radio Thermal Generators (RTG). RTGs are expensive and complex. Their deployment is subject to political and environmental controversy.
[450]. Typically, the mass the mass of the spacecraft (dry) is about 1% of the total (including the propellant) at launch. As an illustration (Astrosat is in Earth orbit – not as far to travel as Mars)
SpacecraftTotal Mass(kg)Fuel(kg)Ratio
Maven24548090.33
MOM13404880.36
Astrosat151314700.98
[451]. This is a very delicate process. In addition to the altitude control thrusters, of which there can be about a dozen, a satellite uses magnetic torquers and reaction wheels in the manoeuvre.
[452]. A PSLV uses identical solid propellant in its first stage (150 tonnes including the strap-ons) and the third stage (8 tonnes). The second stage typically uses 40 tonnes of UDMH and nitrogen tetroxide and the fourth stage monomethylhydrazine and mixed oxides of nitrogen (MON-3).
[453]. For example, the Isp for the PSLV first stage (solid) is 237, PSLV second stage (liquid) is 293, and for a typical semi-cryogenic engine, it is 320. The most efficient category of rocket engine uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen cryogenic propellants, for example, GSLV-Mk3 upper stage with an Isp of 443.
[454]. DOS. ISRO Annual Report 2014–2015. P15. Retrieved from http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/pdf/AR2014-15.pdf. Also, there is a proposal (in very early stages) for a ground station in Vietnam. Kumari, Chetan. 25 May 2015. ISRO Moots Ground Station in Vietnam. The Times of India. Retrieved from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Isro-moots-ground-station-in-Vietnam/articleshow/47410113.cms
[455]. The other two sites were near Kanakpura road and Solur. Byalalu was selected for its minimal aviation traffic overhead, low industrial installation, good road access and a natural bowl-shaped valley into which the dish could be situated providing further radio shielding. The most detailed account of the building of Byalalu is provided by Hathwar, G. R. 2016. Indian Deep Space Network: Mars Not Too Far. Chennai: Notion Press. Incidentally, if you ever visit Byalalu, make time for the local tourist attraction known as the Bib Banyan Tree.
[456]. ISRO has established TT&C at higher latitudes to support its remote-sensing satellites. Provision for TT&C and data services for Indian remote-sensing satellites from a high-latitude TT&C network maintained by Kongsberg Satellite Services for a medium term has been a notable activity. Strategic dialogues have been progressing well with Angkasa (the Malaysian Space Agency), Swedish Space Corporation, United S-band Network (USN) of the US, INPE of Brazil and JPL for future ISRO missions. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: Harper Collins India. P301.
[457]. International Telecommunications Union mandated a minimum distance of 500 km between an uplinking and a ground station. INTELSAT had a station in Jaffna in Ceylon, which was only 450 km from Bangalore, so an alternative location had to be found. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P98.
[458]. Interview with S.V. Kumar. Available here https://astrotalkuk.org/episode-70-indias-deep-space-network-and-isro-satellite-centre/.
[459]. Rangarajan, S. 1995. INSAT Master Control Facility: An Insight. Current Science 69 (5): 410–415. Retrieved from http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_069_05_0410_0415_0.pdf
[460]. Stoney, William. 15 April 2003. Civil Land Observation Satellites. Encyclopaedia of Space Science and Technology. Retrieved from ftp://landsat-legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/outgoing/documents/LL-25340915497.pdf.
[461]. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P134.
[462]. Ibid.
[463]. TNN. 9 February 2011. Antrix Responsible for Marketing ISRO Tech. The Times of India. Retrieved from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Antrix-responsible-for-marketing-ISRO-tech/articleshow/7457366.cms.
[464]. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/the-space-economy-at-a-glance-2014_9789264217294-en.
[465]. Antrix Corporation Limited Annual Report 2009-2010. P1 Retrieved from http://www.antrix.gov.in/sites/default/files/financials/ANNUAL_REPORT_2009_2010_English.pdf
[466]. DOS. 17 July 2014. Income Through Launching of Satellite. Retrieved from http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=106824.
[467]. The Tauri Group. 2014. State of the Satellite Industry Report. Satellite Industry Association. Retrieved from http://www.sia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SIA_2014_SSIR.pdf.
[468]. Patil, P. A. 2014. Antrix Corporation: Can It Provide Impetus to Indian Space Market. In Focus. Centre for Air Power Studies. Retrieved from http://capsindia.org/files/documents/CAPS_Infocus_PP_2.pdf
[469]. Gopinath, C. and L. Surendra. 2008. Antrix Corporation Limited: A Strategy for the Global Market. Case Research Journal 28 (3-4 Summer/Fall). Retrieved from http://cgopinath.brinkster.net/media/f23d337e3c458d7ffff8314a00140f.pdf
Chapter 9
[470]. These figures are from the DOS http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=111956
[471]. Department of Atomic Energy. 1970. Annual Report of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India 1969–70. P70. Retrieved from http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/01/001/1001868.pdf
[472]. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P52.
[473]. In the hot Indian summer, the friction generated by the wheels of the jeep ignited the leaves occasionally, setting the wheels on fire. See Raj, Gopal. 2003. Reach for the Stars: The Evolution of India’s Rocket Programme. New Delhi: Penguin Books India. P48.
[474]. In addition to Sriharikota, India has used Thumba and Balasore for launching sounding rockets. Only Sriharikota, however, has the required facilities for payloads destined for Earth orbit.
[475].Indian/Soviet Satellite Launch Range. 21 Feb 1974 https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79B01709A001500010029-5.pdf
[476]. Rajaraman, V. 2012. History of Computing in India 1955 – 2010. P26. Retrieved from http://www.cbi.umn.edu/hostedpublications/pdf/Rajaraman_HistComputingIndia.pdf
[477]. Baskaran, A. 2000. Technology Accumulation in India’s Space Programme Ground Systems: The Contribution of Foreign and Indigenous Input. Discussion Paper Series. London: Middlesex University Business School. P8. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angathevar_Baskaran/publication/223389783_Technology_accumulation_in_the_ground_systems_of_India%27s_space_ programme_the_contribution_of_foreign_and_indigenous_inputs/links/00463524d27640a4eb000000.pdf
[478]. ISRO demonstrates its equal opportunity employer status by providing a breakdown of the employees at Sriharikota. In summary, this figure of 1958 includes 360 women, three deaf and dumb, one blind, 47 orthopedically handicapped, 350 from scheduled castes and 89 from scheduled tribes. Department of Space. 2016. Annual Report 2015-2016. P118. Retrieved from http://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/article-files/right-to-information/annual_report-15-16.pdf
[479]. Once the designated transfer orbit is attained about 10 minutes after launch, the control and management of the spacecraft is passed on to the host nation for a foreign spacecraft or to ISRO's MCF in Hassan 550 km west of Sriharikota. MCF is responsible for delivering it to its final orbit and for subsequent station-keeping, management and operations.
[480]. The final constitutional link of Australia with Britain ended with the passing of the Australia Act 1986.
[481]. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins India. P77.
[482]. Millennium Post. 14 May 2014. DRDO Chief Opens
Test Facility for Rocket Sled Track in Chandigarh. Retrieved from http://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=58074.
[483]. The MCC was formally dedicated to the nation by the President of India Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil on 2 January 2012. Retrieved from http://www.isro.gov.in/update/02-jan-2012/president-of-india-dedicates-new-mission-control-centre-and-launch-control-centre
[484]. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: Harper Collins India. P159.
[485]. Harvey, Brian, Henk H. F. Smid, and Theo Pirard. 2011. Emerging Space Powers: The New Space programmes of Asia, the Middle East and South-America. Springer Science & Business Media. P245–253.
[486]. Commercial space operations by the private sector are firmly in place, particularly in the US. So far only spacecraft and not human crew have been launched into space. Some of the "operational shortcuts", for example, prelaunch testing of a fully fuelled launch vehicle with the payload in-situ and plans for fuelling a launch vehicle with human crew onboard have been challenged by NASA. In all previous human spaceflight programmes, the crew entered the launch vehicle after fuelling was complete. This is an interesting letter from a former Apollo Astronaut to SpaceX as SpaceX finalise their plans for human spaceflight: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/FOIA/17-HQ-F-00079-ID.pdf
[487]. This was the period soon after the demise of the USSR, and the US was limiting India’s imports using the Missile Technology Control Regime.
[488]. Rao, U. R. 2013. India’s Rise as a Space Power. Delhi: Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd. P171.
[489]. Doraisamy, Ashok Maharaj. 2011. Space for Development: US-Indian Space Relations 1955-1976. A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. Retrieved from https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/45973/Maharaj_Ashok_201112_Phd.pdf
[490]. Baskaran, A. 2011. Competence Building in Complex Systems: The Case of Satellite Launch Vehicles in the India’s Space programme. Technovation 21 (2): 109–21.
[491]. Baskaran, Angathevar. ‘Competence Building in Complex Systems: The Case of Satellite Launch Vehicles in the India’s Space Program’. The 9th Globelics International Conference: Creativity, Innovation and Economic Development, 15 November 2011.
[492]. Kalam, A. P. J. Abdul and Arun Tiwari. 1999. Wings of Fire: An Autobiography. Hyderabad: Universities Press. P29.
[493]. The Hindu: 6 Killed in Explosion at Sriharikota Space Centre. http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/24/stories/2004022406180100.htm
[494]. ISRO. 29 August 2013. Restoration of GSLV-D5 Mission. ISRO Press Release. Retrieved from http://isro.gov.in/update/29-aug-2013/restoration-of-gslv-d5-mission
[495]. I was at the Sriharikota media centre at the time hoping to experience my first live rocket launch in India. The media centre was a hive of activity with TV and press media. There were TV monitors showing live images of the rocket on the launch pad going through the final stages of preparations. Some of these images were broadcast live. When the fuel tanks of the second stage were pressurised in readiness for launch, the tank leaked fuel. A white mist developed and began to surround the launch vehicle. The live images to the monitors were suddenly stopped. The launch was aborted, rescheduled and completed in January 2014. On 24 October 1960, a launch pad accident that came to be known as the Nedelin disaster occurred at the Baikonur test range in the USSR. The incident remained a Soviet Union secret on Khrushchev's orders for many years. The precise number that perished is unknown. The general consensus has it that it was over 100.
[496]. Kanavi, S. 16 February 2014. ISRO: Cryogenic Success. Reflections. Retrieved from http://reflections-shivanand.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/isro-cryogenic-success.html.
[497]. Electric propulsion is arguably more useful for ISRO since its heavy-lift launch vehicle has a lower specification than most. This example illustrates the level of efficiency ‘The Prius of Space’. NASA/JPL. Accessed 14 August 2017. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1468.
[498]. The 80 kg figure was not included in the official GSAT-9 brochure but is available here. http://spaceflight101.com/gslv-gsat-9/gsat-9/
[499]. Vikram Sarabhai was in Thumba to attend the opening of the new Thumba railway station when he suddenly died on 30 December 1971.
[500]. This is simply a result of the Earth’s daily rotation at the equator, that is, the Earth’s circumference at the equator divided by the time of one Earth rotation (40,075 km/23.93 hours = 1,675 km/h or 465 m/s). This amounts to about 6% of the required speed to reach Earth orbit.
[501]. D. S., Madhumathi. 13 March 2015. ISRO’s Second Launcher Assembly Unit Gets a Budget Boost. The Hindu. Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/isros-2nd-launcher-assembly-unit-gets-a-budget-boost/article6988134.ece
[502]. D. S., Madhumathi. 6 January 2016. Sriharikota Space Port Scores 50. The Hindu. Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/sriharikota-space-port-scores-50/article8070373.ece
[503]. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: Harper Collins India. P131.
[504]. Karthikeyan K. 13 November 2013. Kulasekarapattinam’s Ideal Launch Pad. Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131113/news-current-affairs/article/kulasekarapattinam%E2%80%99s-ideal-launch-pad
[505]. Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu is closer to the equator (8° instead of 13 for Sriharikota) and thus capable of carrying an additional 350kg of payload to GEO. This could be additional transponder capacity of additional fuel to prolong operating lifetime. TN Ideal Spot for 3rd Rocket Launch Pad: Scientists, dtNext.in, 18 July 2016. http://www.dtnext.in/News/City/2016/07/18014637/TN-ideal-spot-for-3rd-rocket-launch-pad-Scientists.vpf
Chapter 10
[506]. Named after the American-Hungarian engineer Theodore von Karman, who calculated that at 100 km the air is too thin to support conventional flight. It is also thin enough to minimise friction for a vehicle to attain Earth’s orbit. Like the Earth’s equator, nothing physical marks the Karman line. In fact, the ionosphere extends beyond this boundary. Although tenuous, the atmosphere is present and will cause any satellite in orbit at this altitude to re-enter within days. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_line
[507]. Günther Seibert’s 2006 paper captures the development of sounding rockets during this early phase of rocketry. Günther Seibert. 2006. The History of Sounding Rockets and Their Contribution to European Space Research. ESA. Retrieved from http://www.esa.int/esapub/hsr/HSR_38.pdf
[508]. Raj, Gopal. 2003. Reach for the Stars: The Evolution of India’s Rocket Programme. New Delhi; New York, NY: Penguin Books India. P33.
[509]. The total number of variants that can exist is 15, although only three are still in regular use today. The single stage RH-75 could lift 1 kg payload to an altitude of 10 km. The last in the series was the two-stage RH-560/300 Mk2, which could deliver 100 kg to an altitude of 500 km. Rao, P. V. Manoranjan and P. Radhakrishnan. 2012. A Brief History of Rocketry in ISRO. Hyderabad: Universities Press (India) Private Limited.
[510]. ISRO. 21 July 2015. 100th Consecutively Successful Launch of Sounding Rocket RH-200 from TERLS. Spaceref. Retrieved from http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=47521.
[511]. ISRO. 2016. From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet: India’s Space Journey. Noida, Uttar Pradesh: Harper Collins India. P90. A more detailed account of the event here http://www.spansen.com/2017/02/when-indian-rocket-shot-up-from.html
[512]. Sarabhai, Vikram. 1970. Atomic Energy and Space Research: A Profile for the Decade 1970-80. Mumbai: Atomic Energy Commission, Government of India. P27. Retrieved from http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/02/006/2006423.pdf
[513]. This example comes from Raj, Gopal. 2003. Reach for the Stars: The Evolution of India’s Rocket Programme. New Delhi; New York, NY: Penguin Books India. P106.
[514]. Where solid propellants are used, it is a rocket mo
tor; otherwise, it is a rocket engine. This distinction of terms is almost universally accepted.
[515]. Just as the efficiency of petrol or diesel is measured in terms of miles/gallon or km/h, the efficiency of a rocket engine is measured in terms of Isp, the ratio of the thrust produced by the engine to the rate of fuel consumption. It is measured in units of time in seconds. This is the length of time that unit weight of propellant would last if used to produce one unit of thrust continuously.
[516]. By the end June 2017, this amounts to a total of 60 flights from Sriharikota. In all there have been 64 flights ATV-D01 03/03/201, LVM-3 18/12/2014, RLV 23/05/2016 and the ATV-D02 28/08/2016 are not listed.
[517]. How ISRO addressed this particular hurdle of developing the inertial guidance system is described in detail in Chapter 7 of Raj, Gopal. 2003. Reach for the Stars: The Evolution of India’s Rocket Programme. New Delhi; New York, NY: Penguin Books India. P148.