The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Tuesday(6th Dec 2022) that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gurugram-based private space firm "Vyom Space Exploration and Services Private Limited" for its “human and cargo transportation capsule program.”

 

* The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, India's nodal space authorization body, facilitated the MoU.

 

* The startup is being incubated by ‘JSIIC,’ according to ISRO. The organisation kept private details about the incubation program and ISRO's target timelines.

 

* A ‘capsule’ in a space mission is a module that contains any cargo that will be carried to space. The capsule is what houses the astronauts on manned missions.

* With the exception of Elon Musk's SpaceX's reusable human and cargo module, Crew Dragon, the capsules have typically been single-use in nature.

 

* Vyom Space's founder and CEO, Manish Kukreti told a newspaper that the company has been working with European research and development (R&D) partners to develop its product..

Source : Business World

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Social Alpha 6th Dec 2022 signed an MoU to launch SpaceTech Innovation Network (SpIN), India’s first dedicated platform for innovation curation and venture development for the burgeoning space entrepreneurial ecosystem.

A one-of-its-kind public-private collaboration for start-ups and SMEs in the space industry, this novel partnership is a significant step forward in providing further stimulus to India’s recent space reform policies and will work towards identifying and unleashing the market potential of the most promising space tech innovators and entrepreneurs in India.

SpIN will primarily focus on facilitating space tech entrepreneurs in three distinct innovation categories: Geospatial Technologies and Downstream Applications; Enabling Technologies for Space & Mobility; and Aerospace Materials, Sensors, and Avionics.

 

"Space applications cut across various domains from earth to sky. Innovative technologies are expected to bring paradigm shift in utilising the space applications to maximise the economic, social and environmental benefits for the larger society.

I wish the SPIN platform would be useful for various stakeholders to collaborate and contribute to the space ecosystem in the country", says Shri. S Somanath,Chairman, ISRO

 

According to the Economic Survey Report 21-22, there are now over 100 active space start-ups in India - the number of start-ups in this sector has more than doubled in the last year alone. Through this partnership, ISRO will support the creation of an open innovation and scale-up platform for all space ecosystem stakeholders and promote active collaboration to make early-stage space start-ups successful. This also marks the entry of Social Alpha in the area of space tech, a vertical that has the potential to grow manifolds and introduce innovations that can directly impact millions of lives and livelihoods..

Source : ISRO

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) has successfully used water to propel a spacecraft and claimed it represents "the world's first successful orbit control beyond low-Earth orbit using a water propellant propulsion system."

 

The craft in question is EQUULEUS, the 6U CubeSat that rode along on NASA's Orion mission.

 

After flying past the Moon, EQUULEUS was pointed at the second Earth-Moon Lagrange point (EML2). To get there it used an engine named AQUARIUS (AQUA ResIstojet propUlsion System) that uses water as fuel. The craft uses waste heat from communications kit to heat the water into steam that is squirted out to produce thrust.

 

AQUARIUS also needs little power to operate but is not very powerful. EQUULEUS will take a year and a half to reach EML2 – a point in space worth visiting because it's advantageous for transfer to other orbits. That includes interplanetary orbits.

 

The combination of EQUULEUS and AQUARIUS makes a visit to EML2 achievable at low cost and is a test case for future visits to the spot.

 

EQUULEUS carries an instrument called DELPHINUS (DEtection camera for Lunar impact PHenomena IN 6U Spacecraft) designed to observe Lunar impact flashes and near-Earth asteroids from EML2. Another instrument aboard EQUULEUS will observe Earth's plasmasphere..

Source : The Register

The country’s first private launchpad and mission control centre has been established within the ISRO campus at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.

 

* The launchpad is designed and operated by Chennai-based space-tech startup "AgniKul Cosmos".

 

“Humbled & privileged to have had the opportunity to build our 1st launchpad & Mission Control Center within Sriharikota & to have it inaugurated by Chairman, @isro. Agnikul’s launches would be carried out from here. Thanks to @isro & @INSPACeIND for their help & valuable support.”

 

* The facility was inaugurated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman and Secretary in the Department of Space, S Somanath, on November 25, 2022.

 

* The chairman expressed pleasure over the establishment of the first private launchpad in the country and said “India can now travel to space from one more space platform”, an ISRO statement said on Monday(28th Nov 2022).

 

* AgniKul co-founder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran said the ability to launch from one’s own launchpad while still working with ISRO’s launch operations teams is a privilege granted by the space agency and Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and that he is deeply grateful for this, it said.

 

* “Establishment of this private launchpad marks a significant step in opening the Indian space sector to private players and affirms the commitment of ISRO/DOS for facilitating the same,” the statement said.

 

* AgniKul, incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT Madras), plans to guide and control its upcoming launches from this facility.

 

* In its first launch, a two-stage launch vehicle, ‘Agnibaan’ is intended to carry a payload of up to 100 kilograms to around 700 km altitude..

Source : The Print

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV)-C54 26th November 2022 successfully injected Earth observation satellite 'Oceansat' into a sun-synchronous orbit.

 

* The 44.4 metre tall rocket lifted off at a prefixed time at 11:56 am from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at this spaceport at the end of a 25.30-hour countdown.

 

* After reaching the intended orbit 17 minutes after PSLV-C54 lifted off mass of 321 tonne, the Earth Observation Satellite or the Oceansat successfully separated from the rocket and was placed into orbit, ISRO chairman S Somanath said.

 

* Scientists would perform lowering of the rocket to place the other co-passenger satellites into a different orbit which is expected to take place in a two-hour duration.

 

* The Earth Observation Satellite-6 is the third-generation satellite in the Oceansat series. This is to provide continuity services of Oceansat-2 spacecraft with enhanced payload specifications as well as application areas..

Source : NDTV

European Space Agency(ESA) on Wednesday(23rd Nov 2023) named the first ever "parastronaut" in a major step towards allowing people with physical disabilities to work and live in space.

* The 22-nation agency said it had appointed British Paralympic sprinter "John McFall" to take part in a feasibility study during astronaut training to assess the conditions needed for people with disabilities to take part in future missions.

 

* The announcement came as ESA appointed a new set of astronauts for the first time since 2009 after whittling down 22,500 valid applications.

 

* ESA posted openings last year for people fully capable of passing its usual stringent psychological, cognitive and other tests who are only prevented from becoming astronauts due to the constraints of existing hardware in light of their disability.

 

* It received 257 applications for the role of astronaut with a disability.

 

* McFall will work with ESA engineers to understand what changes in hardware are needed to open professional spaceflight to a wider group of qualified candidates..

Source : NDTV

ISRO's PSLV-C54 is to launch EOS-06 (Earth Observation Satellite - 06) and Eight Nano-satellites into two different SSPOs.

* The Primary satellite (EOS-06) will be separated in Orbit-1. Subsequently Orbit change is planned by using two Orbit ChangeThrusters (OCTs) introduced in the Propulsion Bay Ring of the PSLV-C54 Vehicle.

* The Passenger Payloads (PPLs) will be separated in Orbit-2.

 

* This is the 56th flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and 24th Flight of PSLV-XL version with 6 PSOM-XLs.

* PSLV-C54 launch is planned from First Launch Pad (FLP), SDSC, SHAR.

 

* The launch is scheduled on,Saturday, Nov 26, 2022, at 11:56 Hrs. IST

 

 

* Vehicle Height : 44.4 m

* Lift off Mass : 321 t

 

* First Stage  : 6PSOM-XL+S139

* Second Stage : PL40

* Third Stage : HPS3

* Fourth Stage:  L2.5 (A1)..

Source : ISRO

RH200, the versatile sounding rocket of ISRO, on Wednesday(23rd Nov 2022) registered its 200th consecutive successful launch from the shores of Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram.

 

* The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) termed it a "historic moment". It was witnessed by former President Ram Nath Kovind and ISRO chairman S Somanath, among others.

 

* The successful flight of RH200 took off from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS).

 

* "Indian sounding rockets are used as privileged tools for the scientific community for carrying out experiments on meteorology, astronomy and similar branches of space physics," an ISRO statement said.

 

* Campaigns such as Equatorial ElectroJet (EEJ), Leonid Meteor Shower (LMS), Indian Middle Atmosphere Programme (IMAP), Monsoon Experiment (MONEX), Middle Atmosphere Dynamics (MIDAS), and Sooryagrahan-2010 have been conducted using the sounding rocket platform for scientific exploration of the Earth's atmosphere, it said.

 

* The Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) series have been the forerunners for ISRO's heavier and more complex launch vehicles, with a continued usage even today for atmospheric and meteorological studies, the national space agency headquartered here said..

Source : Money Control

India’s space sector has scaled a new peak on Friday(18th Nov 2022) with the successful launch of the country’s first-ever private rocket—Vikram-S Suborbital Flight (Prarambh mission) from Sounding Rocket Complex in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

 

* The Hyderabad-based space start-up Skyroot Aerospace’s rocket "Vikram-S" with three small satellites blasted off the small launcher at the Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre, Sriharikota, at 11.30 am.

 

* Weighing 545-kg and 6-metre tall, the rocket left the launcher to reach the apogee of 89.5 km (and 115.8 km from the shore) at 139.93 seconds. It took a turn and had a splashdown in the Bay of Bengal at 290.97 seconds.

 

* The flight was launched to prove avionics systems in Vikram series like telemetry, tracking, inertial measurement, GPS, on-board camera, data acquisition and power systems.

 

* The success will pave the way for similar launches by private players in the coming years. The Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos plans to have a test launch of its rocket in December from Sriharikota.

 

* It took nearly two years for Skyroot to build the rocket using carbon composite structures and 3D-printed components. Founded by Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka in 2018, the company has 200 employees, and is the largest private space start-up in India with ₹526 crore raised as capital till date.

 

* Union Minister Jitendra Singh was present in the mission control room to witness the historic launch..

Source : The Hindu Businessline

Launch date : Nov. 16, 2022

Mission duration : 25 days, 11 hours, 36 minutes

Total distance traveled : 1.3 miIlion miles

Re-entry speed : 24,500 mph (Mach 32)

Splashdown : Dec. 11, 2022.

Source : NASA