Indian Space Program: News & Discussions

[Gautam]

Photo of indigenous rubidium atomic clock onboard NVS-01 navigation satellite:

Photos of parts of the SC120 stage seen in public so far:
Pic 1: LOX tank

Isrosene tank:

Semi-cryogenic Integrated Tank Structure (SITS):

Semi-Cryogenic Propulsion Bay structure (SBPS) & Semi-Cryogenic Core Thermal Shroud (SCTS) have also been manufactured. No photos of those yet.

 

[Gautam]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1838119128940380646

https://twitter.com/x/status/1838249984170541115

 

[Gautam]

Ministry of Science & Technology

Astronomers map the Differential Rotation of the Sun’s Chromosphere using 100 Years of Kodaikanal Data​

Posted On: 25 SEP 2024 1:31PM by PIB Delhi

Using 100 years daily records of the Sun at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, astronomers have succeeded in mapping, for the very first time, the variation in the rotation speed of the Sun’s chromosphere, from the equator right up to its polar regions. The research can help give a complete picture of the Sun's inner workings.

Earth spins like a rigid ball, completing a full rotation every 24 hours. This rotation is the same everywhere on Earth, from bustling Bangalore to the icy plains of Antarctica. The Sun, however, has a completely different story to tell. Being a giant ball of plasma, different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds, depending on their latitude. It has been known for a long time that the Sun's equator spins much faster than its poles. It takes the equatorial region only about 25 days to complete one rotation, while the poles take a leisurely 35 days. This difference in rotation speed is called differential rotation. Understanding the intricacies of the variation in rotation speed, as a function of latitude as well as time, is crucial to understand the Sun itself. This is because the interaction of differential rotation with the Sun’s magnetic field is what is behind the solar dynamo, the 11-year solar cycle, and its periods of intense activity that even produce magnetic storms on Earth.

Figure: This schematic illustrates the Sun's differential rotation, where surface regions at various latitudes rotate at different speeds.​

The discovery of differential rotation dates back to Carrington in the 19th century, who observed that sunspots on the visible surface of the Sun rotated at different speeds depending on their latitude. However, sunspots do not appear at latitudes higher than about 35 degrees north or south of the solar equator, and other methods had to be used to measure differential rotation closer to the polar latitudes. These either relied on spectrographs which are not easy to use for this particular purpose or had to wait for those rare sunspots that occurred occasionally at higher latitudes. These methods are unsuited to confirm reports how the differential rotation itself varies with time over a solar cycle, etc.

Astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute of DST, used solar plages and networks from daily records of the Sun stretching over 100 years, maintained by the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. The observatory celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

Figure: Calcium-K spectroheliogram of the Sun, captured at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory on April 11, 1936. The image highlights the chromosphere, showcasing plages (bright regions) and networks (web-like features) associated with the Sun's magnetic activity.

“The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory is just one of two such places in the entire world with such long-term data”, said Muthu Priyal, a co-author of the study, working at IIA. “We hit on the idea of using solar plages and networks to measure rotation speeds. Images captured at the specific wavelength of 393.3 nanometers (due to the Calcium K spectral line) showcase the lower and middle chromosphere and display prominent features like plages (bright regions) and network cells (convective structures)”, she added.

Plages, unlike sunspots, are brighter regions with weaker magnetic fields. They reside in the chromosphere, and are significantly larger than sunspots, ranging from 3 to 10 times the size of sunspots. Network features, on the other hand, are embedded with weaker magnetic fields and are about 30,000 km across – slightly larger than individual sunspots but smaller than sunspot groups. Unlike sunspots, both plages and networks are continuously present across the Sun's surface throughout the solar cycle, allowing the scientists to probe the rotation rate even at the poles.

The Observatory had meticulously documented the chromosphere using photographic plates and films and this invaluable data has recently been digitized using a large-format CCD camera, making it accessible to researchers worldwide. “We decided to use this treasure trove of information and meticulously extracted data on plages and network features from the images. These features were then categorized based on their location within 10-degree latitude bands across both the Sun's northern and southern hemispheres”, said Prof Jagdev Singh of IIA, and a co-author of the paper.

Figure: This figure depicts the Sun's differential rotation, where different latitudes rotate at varying speeds. The data points (shown in different colors) represent rotation rates measured using features like plages and different types of network regions in the Sun's chromosphere.

By analyzing this data, the team was able to extract the rotation period of these features at various latitudes. This revealed a clear picture of the Sun's differential rotation – faster at the equator (13.98 degrees per day) and slower towards the poles (10.5 degrees per day at 80 degrees latitude). Intriguingly, both plages and network features displayed remarkably similar rotation rates. This suggests a potential shared origin of both plages and networks, possibly rooted deep within the Sun's interior below the photosphere (the visible surface).

Said Prof. B. Ravindra of IIA, “This work signifies the first-time scientists have successfully utilized chromospheric network cells to map the Sun's rotation from equator to pole. Understanding the Sun's differential rotation is crucial for comprehending its magnetic field and activity. This research using chromospheric features paves the way for a more complete picture of the Sun's inner workings”.

This paper was published in the Astrophysical Journal, titled “Equator to Pole Solar Chromospheric Differential Rotation Using Ca-K Features Derived from Kodaikanal Data”, and was authored by Kharayat, Hema (Indian Institute of Astrophysics and M.L.K.P.G. College, Balrampur) and Singh, Jagdev, Priyal, Muthu and Ravindra, B. from Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Reference The Astrophysical Journal, 968:53 (9pp), 2024 June 20

Article link: https://automatedtest.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad4992

Astronomers map the Differential Rotation of the Sun’s Chromosphere using 100 Years of Kodaikanal Data

A good thread explaining the discovery more clearly:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1839192768536576049

 

[Gautam]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1842194017880064347

https://twitter.com/x/status/1842194032115474487

 

[Gautam]

Indian radio telescope at the heart of big black hole jet discovery

Critical cosmic signals picked up by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at Khodad village near Pune have aided an international team of astronomers to spot the monstrous jets, whose length is equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back-to-back.

By Kalyan Ray, DHNS
Last Updated: 07 October 2024, 22:08 IST

Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Credit: Special Arrangement.

New Delhi: Tucked at a corner of Maharashtra, an Indian radio-telescope played a pivotal role behind the discovery of the biggest pair of black hole jets ever seen by astronomers, spanning 23 million light-years in total length.

Critical cosmic signals picked up by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at Khodad village near Pune have aided an international team of astronomers to spot the monstrous jets, whose length is equivalent to lining up 140 Milky Way galaxies back-to-back.

“The GMRT has higher sensitivity and slightly better resolution than a European telescope initially used to survey the sky for the study. The GMRT observations were used to track the black hole jets to the origin galaxy,” Yogesh Wadadekar, a senior scientist at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, which runs the telescope, told Deccan Herald.

No scientists from NCRA or other Indian institutes were involved in the study that made headlines last month because of its pathfinding nature.
The jet megastructure, nicknamed Porphyrion after a giant in Greek mythology, dates to a time when the universe was 6.3 billion years old. For comparison, the universe currently is 13.8 billion years old.

These outflows — with a total power output equivalent to trillions of Suns — shoot out from either side of a supermassive black hole at the heart of a remote galaxy.

"In the center of every major galaxy, there is a big black hole of about a million to a billion solar masses," says Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the lead author of the study.

"It swallows stars, dust, and plasma, basically everything that comes close. But a small fraction of the material that comes close to the black hole is ejected outward in the form of such jets."

The gigantic jet system is one of thousands of faint megastructures found using Europe's LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray) radio telescope. But the specifics were not known and that’s where the GMRT chipped in.

Oei's team, comprising scientists from the USA and Europe, used GMRT observations to identify the host galaxy that spawns the jets. Once the host was identified, the researchers used the Keck I optical telescope in Hawaii to obtain the distance.

The team used 10 hours of GMRT observation – carried out remotely - to crack the puzzle. “Nearly 60 per cent of GMRT users are from abroad nowadays and they mostly use remote observations. The sensitivity of the telescope was enhanced following upgradation,” Wadadekar said.
Conceived by veteran astrophysicist Govid Swarup and built over 12 years, the GMRT is an array of 30 antennas (each of 45 m diameter) spanning over 25 km and provides a total collecting area of about 30,000 sq m at metre wavelengths.

The telescope was commissioned in 2001 and after 15 years it went through an upgrade that enhanced its sensitivity.

“The study of supermassive black hole jets in radio galaxies has been an area of research where the GMRT has made several important contributions over the last two decades. The discovery of Porphyrion - published in Nature - is another achievement for the telescope,” the NCRA said in a statement.

Indian radio telescope at the heart of big black hole jet discovery

 

[Gautam]

The upper stage of PSLV-37 which launched a record number of 104 satellites re-enters the Earth's atmosphere on 6 Oct 2024

October 08, 2024

PSLV-C37 was launched on 15 Feb 2017 with Cartosat-2D as the main payload along with another 103 satellites as co-passengers, namely INS-1A, INS- 1B, Al-Farabi 1, BGUSAT, DIDO-2, Nayif 1, PEASS, 88 Flock-3p satellites, and 8 Lemur-2 satellites. It created history as the first mission to launch 104 satellites with a single vehicle.

After injecting the satellites and passivation, the upper stage (PS4) was left at an orbit of approximately 470x 494 km size. It was regularly tracked by USSPACECOM as an object with NORAD id 42052 and its orbital altitude slowly decayed, primarily due to atmospheric drag effects, as shown below.

Since September 2024, IS4OM (ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management) regularly monitored the orbital decay as part of its regular activities and predicted the re-entry into atmosphere in the first week of October 2024. The orbit had decayed to a size of 134 x148 km, as of 6th the October, 12:45 UTC. As per US Space Command (USSPACECOM) prediction published in Space Track, the re-entry took place at 06 Oct 2024 15:49 UTC (+/-1 minute of uncertainty), while IS4OM prediction also showed that the re-entry would occur on 06 Oct 2024 at 15:48:25 UTC. The corresponding impact point is in North Atlantic Ocean.

The atmospheric re-entry of the rocket body within 8 years of its launch is fully compliant with the international debris mitigation guidelines, in particular, the guideline of Inter-Agency Space Debris coordination committee (IADC) that recommends limiting the post-mission orbital life of a defunct object in Low-Earth orbit (LEO) to 25 years. This requirement was met by properly designing passivation sequence which lowered the orbit of PS4 after the injection of the payloads. At present, special initiatives are undertaken to ensure that the residual orbital lifetime of the PSLV upper stages is reduced to 5 years or even less by actively de-orbiting them to lower altitude orbits through engine re-starts, as in PSLV-C38, PSLV-40, PSLV-C43, PSLV-C56, and PSLV-C58 missions. Controlled re-entry of the upper stage is also envisaged for the disposal of the upper stage in future PSLV missions. As part of its longstanding commitment to preserve long term sustainability of outer space activities, ISRO will continue to implement proactive measures to meet the objectives of Debris Free Space Mission (DFSM) by the year 2030.

The upper stage of PSLV-37 which launched a record number of 104 satellites re-enters the Earth's atmosphere on 6 Oct 2024

 

[Gautam]

In other space debris news:

A year ago, a PSLV stage 3 casing was found washed up on a beach in western Australia. ISRO didn't want to bring it back & local Australian authorities wanted to put it up in an exhibition. So, the almost destroyed stage 3 was handed to Scitech museum in WA. Here is the stage arriving in the museum:

When it arrived at the museum:

The museum held a public completion to find a nickname for the stage. The name they selected was ‘Li-Ligh’ — acronym for "Left India, Landed In Green Head". Here is the stage in the exhibition:

 

[Gautam]

India's AstroSat and NASA's Space Observatories Capture Dramatic Eruptions from Stellar Wreckage around a Massive Black Hole

October 10, 2024

Artist's impression of an orbiting star crashing through the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole and causing a burst of X-rays. The disk was created by the destruction of a previous star. Inset: Detection of X-rays (purple) with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, overlaid on a visible light image of the host galaxy. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/QUB/M. Nicholl et al.; Optical/IR: PanSTARRS, NSF/Legacy Survey/SDSS; Illustration: Soheb Mandhai/The Astro Phoenix; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk.

A massive black hole has torn apart one star and is now using that stellar wreckage to pummel another star or smaller black hole that used to be in the clear. This discovery was made using NASA's space observatories—Chandra, HST, NICER, Swift—and ISRO's AstroSat. It provides astronomers with valuable insights, linking two mysteries where there had previously only been hints of a connection.

In 2019, astronomers witnessed the signal of a star that got too close to a black hole and was destroyed by the black hole’s gravitational forces. Once shredded, the star’s re-mains began circling the black hole in a disk in a type of stellar graveyard.

Over a few years, however, this disk has expanded outward and is now directly in the path of a star, or possibly a stellar-mass black hole, orbiting the massive black hole at a previously safe distance. The orbiting star is now repeatedly crashing through the debris disk, about once every 48 hours, as it circles. When it does, the collision causes bursts of X-rays that astronomers captured with Chandra.

“Imagine a diver repeatedly going into a pool and creating a splash every time she enters the water,” said Matt Nicholl of Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom, the lead author of the study that appears in the current issue of Nature. “The star in this comparison is like the diver and the disk is the pool, and each time the star strikes the surface it creates a huge 'splash' of gas and X-rays. As the star orbits around the black hole, it does this over and over again.”

Scientists have documented many cases where an object gets too close to a black hole and gets torn apart in a single burst of light. Astronomers call these “tidal disruption events” (TDEs). In recent years, astronomers have also discovered a new class of bright flashes from the centers of galaxies, which are detected only in X-rays and repeat many times. These events are also connected to supermassive black holes, but astronomers could not explain what caused the semi-regular bursts of X-rays. They dubbed these “quasi-periodic eruptions,” or QPEs.

“There had been feverish speculation that these phenomena were connected, and now we've discovered the proof that they are,” said co-author Dheeraj Pasham of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It's like getting a cosmic two-for-one in terms of solving mysteries.”

This tidal disruption event now known as AT2019qiz was first discovered by a wide-field optical telescope at the Palomar Observatory, called the Zwicky Transient Facility, in 2019. In 2023, astronomers used both Chandra and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study the debris left behind after the tidal disruption had ended.

The Chandra data were obtained during three different observations, each separated by about 4 to 5 hours. The total exposure of about 14 hours of Chandra time revealed only a weak signal in the first and last chunk, but a very strong signal in the middle observation.

From there Nicholl and collaborators used NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to look frequently at AT2019qiz for repeated X-ray bursts. The NICER data showed that AT2019qiz erupts roughly every 48 hours. Observations from NASA''s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and India's AstroSat telescope cemented the finding.

The ultraviolet data from Hubble, obtained at the same time as the Chandra observations, allowed the scientists to determine the size of the disk around the supermassive black hole. They found that the disk had become large enough that if any object was or-biting the black hole with a period of about a week or less, it would collide with the disk and cause eruptions.

Gulab Dewangan, a co-author from the Pune-based Inter-University Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), noted, India's AstroSat mission provides unique UV/X-ray capability for studying such events. AstroSat's Soft X-ray Telescope and the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) both detected the source AT2019qiz, but the eruptions were only seen in X-rays. Future sensitive simultaneous X-ray and UV observations of similar eruptions will enable a deeper investigation into their nature."

“This is a huge breakthrough in our understanding of the origin of these regular eruptions,” said Andrew Mummery of Oxford University. “We now realize we need to wait a few years for the eruptions to ‘turn on’ after a star has been torn apart because it takes some time for the disk to spread out far enough to encounter another star.”

This result has implications for searching for more quasi-periodic eruptions associated with tidal disruptions. Finding more of these would allow astronomers to measure the prevalence and distances of objects in close orbits around supermassive black holes. Some of these may be excellent targets for the planned future gravitational wave observatories.

The paper describing these results is published by Nature in the October 9 issue of the journal. The paper will be available at the URL: Quasi-periodic X-ray eruptions years after a nearby tidal disruption event

India's AstroSat and NASA's Space Observatories Capture Dramatic Eruptions from Stellar Wreckage around a Massive Black Hole

 

[Gautam]

ISRO has started to shift almost all of their FEA & CFD work on their own software:

"FEAST" software is used in FEA for structural analysis, weight optimization etc.
"PraVaHa" software for CFD analysis of aerodynamic design optimization, fluid flow, engine exhaust flow etc.

In a few more years all of ISRO's projects will shift to these indigenous solutions. Now, if only they developed a CAD/CAM software.

 

[Gautam]

Work on NASA’s NISAR Reflector Complete

Tony Greicius
Posted on October 10, 2024

Work on the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) radar antenna reflector is done, and NASA expects to transport the reflector to India before the end of the year.

The current eclipse season is underway now through February 2025.

During the eclipse season, the periods of alternating sunlight and shadows due to the position of the Sun produce temperature fluctuations on the observatory that could adversely affect deployment of NISAR’s boom and radar antenna reflector. As a result, NISAR will launch in early 2025. NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will coordinate to determine an official launch readiness date.

Work on NASA’s NISAR Reflector Complete – NASA-ISRO SAR Mission (NISAR)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1846244123855991065

Launch scheduled for Q1 2025.

 

[Gautam]

ISRO gears up for 'Space handshake' SPADEX; private firm delivers two satellites

Chennai, India
Written By: Sidharth MP
Updated: Oct 18, 2024, 03:50 PM IST

As part of this mission, these two satellites will be hurled into slightly different orbits by a single rocket. PhotographX)

The Indian Space agency has taken possession of two 400kg satellites that are part of a crucial upcoming mission known as SPADEX – Space Docking Experiment. As part of this mission, these two satellites will be hurled into slightly different orbits by a single rocket.

Eventually, the satellites that are travelling at around 28,000 kmph will precisely align themselves in a manner where they can perform a 'space handshake' and dock (mechanically attach themselves) to form a single orbiting entity. This experiment gains significance as docking is a major enabler of future missions such as Chandrayaan-4 and Bharatiya Antariksha Space Station (the proposed Indian Space Station).

Ananth Technologies Private Limited (ATL), completed the integration of two 400kg satellites for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and handed them over at ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, the facility meant for designing and developing satellites.

ISRO always builds their satellites at the URSC, but this is the first time that ISRO is getting their satellites completely assembled, integrated and tested by the Indian private industry at a private facility. This shift is enabled by the space sector reforms that grant greater opportunities to the Indian private sector.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1847174856732975585

"We have been manufacturing electronic subsystems for ISRO since 2000 and have been an integral part of every Indian space mission over the last two decades," said Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri, chairman of ATL. The assembly, integration and testing of the satellites were done at our Bengaluru facility in a record three months, the ISRO scientist-turned-entrepreneur told WION.

SPADEX is a mission that is meant to demonstrate autonomous rendezvous and docking, the ability of two spacecraft to function as one unit, manoeuvre itself etc. Docking is a fundamental requirement for building and maintaining a space station.

Every time astronauts are launched to the space station, their capsule has to precisely dock with the space station, following which the crew and cargo can enter the space station.

SPADEX is crucial to India's ambitions as the country looks to assemble an Indian space station from 2028 onwards.

By scaling up the technologies demonstrated in SPADEX, it will be possible to robotically assemble the modules (large components) of the space station. India's Chandrayaan-4 mission to return Lunar samples will also involve autonomous docking while circling the moon.

Given that the satellites have been delivered to the URSC, they would soon be trucked to the Indian Spaceport at Sriharikota, from where they could be further tested, fuelled, and launched in the coming months.

ISRO gears up for 'Space handshake' SPADEX; private firm delivers two satellites

 

[mamiam23]

ISRO gears up for 'Space handshake' SPADEX; private firm delivers two satellites

Chennai, India
Written By: Sidharth MP
Updated: Oct 18, 2024, 03:50 PM IST
View attachment 37268
As part of this mission, these two satellites will be hurled into slightly different orbits by a single rocket. PhotographX)

The Indian Space agency has taken possession of two 400kg satellites that are part of a crucial upcoming mission known as SPADEX – Space Docking Experiment. As part of this mission, these two satellites will be hurled into slightly different orbits by a single rocket.

Eventually, the satellites that are travelling at around 28,000 kmph will precisely align themselves in a manner where they can perform a 'space handshake' and dock (mechanically attach themselves) to form a single orbiting entity. This experiment gains significance as docking is a major enabler of future missions such as Chandrayaan-4 and Bharatiya Antariksha Space Station (the proposed Indian Space Station).

Ananth Technologies Private Limited (ATL), completed the integration of two 400kg satellites for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and handed them over at ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, the facility meant for designing and developing satellites.

ISRO always builds their satellites at the URSC, but this is the first time that ISRO is getting their satellites completely assembled, integrated and tested by the Indian private industry at a private facility. This shift is enabled by the space sector reforms that grant greater opportunities to the Indian private sector.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1847174856732975585

"We have been manufacturing electronic subsystems for ISRO since 2000 and have been an integral part of every Indian space mission over the last two decades," said Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri, chairman of ATL. The assembly, integration and testing of the satellites were done at our Bengaluru facility in a record three months, the ISRO scientist-turned-entrepreneur told WION.

SPADEX is a mission that is meant to demonstrate autonomous rendezvous and docking, the ability of two spacecraft to function as one unit, manoeuvre itself etc. Docking is a fundamental requirement for building and maintaining a space station.

Every time astronauts are launched to the space station, their capsule has to precisely dock with the space station, following which the crew and cargo can enter the space station.

SPADEX is crucial to India's ambitions as the country looks to assemble an Indian space station from 2028 onwards.

By scaling up the technologies demonstrated in SPADEX, it will be possible to robotically assemble the modules (large components) of the space station. India's Chandrayaan-4 mission to return Lunar samples will also involve autonomous docking while circling the moon.

Given that the satellites have been delivered to the URSC, they would soon be trucked to the Indian Spaceport at Sriharikota, from where they could be further tested, fuelled, and launched in the coming months.

ISRO gears up for 'Space handshake' SPADEX; private firm delivers two satellites

I think they are very fast in delivery. If only the NGLV is handed over to a private consortium of L&T, Godrej for R&D and Manufacturing both, we could see it very soon unlike years and years of ISRO Timelines.

 

[Gautam]

 

[Gautam]

Photo of indigenous rubidium atomic clock onboard NVS-01 navigation satellite:

2nd generation atomic clocks are getting ready:

Indian scientists crack the code to sharper, super-precise atomic clocks

 

[Gautam]

Work on NASA’s NISAR Reflector Complete

Tony Greicius
Posted on October 10, 2024
View attachment 37222

Work on the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) radar antenna reflector is done, and NASA expects to transport the reflector to India before the end of the year.

The current eclipse season is underway now through February 2025.

During the eclipse season, the periods of alternating sunlight and shadows due to the position of the Sun produce temperature fluctuations on the observatory that could adversely affect deployment of NISAR’s boom and radar antenna reflector. As a result, NISAR will launch in early 2025. NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will coordinate to determine an official launch readiness date.

Work on NASA’s NISAR Reflector Complete – NASA-ISRO SAR Mission (NISAR)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1846244123855991065

View attachment 37223

Launch scheduled for Q1 2025.

More photos of the NASA C-130 that carried the NISAR package to India:

Landed at HAL airport:

 

[Asterion Moloc]

India's first home-grown electric propulsion satellite to be launched in Dec: Isro chief | India News - Times of India

India News: Isro is set to launch its first electric propulsion-led spacecraft in December, significantly reducing satellite mass. Upcoming missions include Gagan

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

[Gautam]

Europe says farewell to eclipse-making Proba-3

31/10/2024

Proba-3 Occulter and Coronagraph spacecraft

ESA’s solar eclipse-making Proba-3 mission is about to leave Europe, to head to its launch site in India. The mission’s two spacecraft – which will manoeuvre precisely in Earth orbit so that one casts a shadow onto the other – have departed the facilities of Redwire Space in Kruibeke, Belgium. The pair will be flown to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, near Chennai, for the launch campaign to begin.

“This ambitious ESA mission has been many years in the making, because it is seeking to do something in space that has previously been impossible,” explains ESA mission manager Damien Galano.

“Once in orbit, Proba-3’s two satellites will enable sustained views of the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, or corona, that has previously only been visible for a few brief moments during terrestrial solar eclipses. To achieve this the shadow being cast between the spacecraft must remain in precise position, which means they must fly autonomously in formation to an accuracy of a single millimetre – about the thickness of an average fingernail.

Video showing a timelapse of the boxing of Proba-3:

“It has taken a lot of work by ESA and our industrial and academic partners to reach this point of flight readiness. There’s a little sadness to finally say goodbye to these unique satellites, but we’re also very excited to be progressing to the final stage before launch.”

Proba-3 is now due to be flown to India on Saturday 2 November, for a new launch date of 4 December.

This is the first time that an ESA mission is being launched from India since the original Proba-1 Earth-observing mission in 2001, and the planned transport process was hit by a delay. The spacecraft were initially not accepted by the air freight company since their batteries were already installed aboard them. This was solved by removing the batteries to be shipped in a separate box.

Proba-3 satellites form artificial eclipse

The two Proba-3 spacecraft will be launched together by the PSLV-XL launcher of the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, which possesses the necessary power at a workable cost to place the 550-kg combined pair into their highly elliptical (or elongated) orbit which will ascend to 60 000 km away from Earth before coming as low as just 600 km.

This high orbit is required because the pair will perform their active formation flying for a planned six hours at a time around their maximum altitude, where Earth’s gravitational pull will be diminished, as will the amount of propellant needed to fine-tune their positions.

Proba-3 stack on the way to orbit

An industrial grouping from 14 ESA Member States including Canada contributed to the mission, led for ESA by Sener in Spain, with Airbus Defence and Space in Spain contributing the satellite platforms and Redwire Space in Belgium responsible for the mission avionics, pre-launch testing and post-launch operations.

GMV in Spain and Poland – focused on formation flying, relative satnav and flight dynamics – plus software-providing Spacebel in Belgium complete the core industrial team.

Proba-3’s main corona-observing ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun) instrument, hosted on the Coronagraph spacecraft, will be overseen by the Royal Observatory of Belgium.

The mission’s Occulter spacecraft, fitted with a 1.4-m disk, is tasked with blocking out of the Sun for the Coronagraph spacecraft during active formation flying. It carries its own instrument on the Sunward side, DARA (Davos Absolute Radiometer) to measure the Sun’s total energy output for climate studies, developed by the Physical Meteorological Observatory. PMOD, in Davos, Switzerland.

A third instrument led by Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain, the 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer, will measure prevailing angle-resolved electron spectra energies in Earth’s surrounding radiation belts, providing valuable data for space weather modelling.

Mission control for Proba-3 will take place from ESA’s ESEC European Space Security and Education Centre, in Redu, Belgium, which is currently undertaking an extensive pre-launch simulation and training campaign.

Europe says farewell to eclipse-making Proba-3

 

[Gautam]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1852218954665578770

 

[Gautam]

Europe says farewell to eclipse-making Proba-3

31/10/2024
View attachment 37623
Proba-3 Occulter and Coronagraph spacecraft

ESA’s solar eclipse-making Proba-3 mission is about to leave Europe, to head to its launch site in India. The mission’s two spacecraft – which will manoeuvre precisely in Earth orbit so that one casts a shadow onto the other – have departed the facilities of Redwire Space in Kruibeke, Belgium. The pair will be flown to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, near Chennai, for the launch campaign to begin.

“This ambitious ESA mission has been many years in the making, because it is seeking to do something in space that has previously been impossible,” explains ESA mission manager Damien Galano.

“Once in orbit, Proba-3’s two satellites will enable sustained views of the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, or corona, that has previously only been visible for a few brief moments during terrestrial solar eclipses. To achieve this the shadow being cast between the spacecraft must remain in precise position, which means they must fly autonomously in formation to an accuracy of a single millimetre – about the thickness of an average fingernail.

Video showing a timelapse of the boxing of Proba-3:
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“It has taken a lot of work by ESA and our industrial and academic partners to reach this point of flight readiness. There’s a little sadness to finally say goodbye to these unique satellites, but we’re also very excited to be progressing to the final stage before launch.”

Proba-3 is now due to be flown to India on Saturday 2 November, for a new launch date of 4 December.

This is the first time that an ESA mission is being launched from India since the original Proba-1 Earth-observing mission in 2001, and the planned transport process was hit by a delay. The spacecraft were initially not accepted by the air freight company since their batteries were already installed aboard them. This was solved by removing the batteries to be shipped in a separate box.

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Proba-3 satellites form artificial eclipse

The two Proba-3 spacecraft will be launched together by the PSLV-XL launcher of the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, which possesses the necessary power at a workable cost to place the 550-kg combined pair into their highly elliptical (or elongated) orbit which will ascend to 60 000 km away from Earth before coming as low as just 600 km.

This high orbit is required because the pair will perform their active formation flying for a planned six hours at a time around their maximum altitude, where Earth’s gravitational pull will be diminished, as will the amount of propellant needed to fine-tune their positions.

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Proba-3 stack on the way to orbit

An industrial grouping from 14 ESA Member States including Canada contributed to the mission, led for ESA by Sener in Spain, with Airbus Defence and Space in Spain contributing the satellite platforms and Redwire Space in Belgium responsible for the mission avionics, pre-launch testing and post-launch operations.

GMV in Spain and Poland – focused on formation flying, relative satnav and flight dynamics – plus software-providing Spacebel in Belgium complete the core industrial team.

Proba-3’s main corona-observing ASPIICS (Association of Spacecraft for Polarimetric and Imaging Investigation of the Corona of the Sun) instrument, hosted on the Coronagraph spacecraft, will be overseen by the Royal Observatory of Belgium.

The mission’s Occulter spacecraft, fitted with a 1.4-m disk, is tasked with blocking out of the Sun for the Coronagraph spacecraft during active formation flying. It carries its own instrument on the Sunward side, DARA (Davos Absolute Radiometer) to measure the Sun’s total energy output for climate studies, developed by the Physical Meteorological Observatory. PMOD, in Davos, Switzerland.

A third instrument led by Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain, the 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer, will measure prevailing angle-resolved electron spectra energies in Earth’s surrounding radiation belts, providing valuable data for space weather modelling.

Mission control for Proba-3 will take place from ESA’s ESEC European Space Security and Education Centre, in Redu, Belgium, which is currently undertaking an extensive pre-launch simulation and training campaign.

Europe says farewell to eclipse-making Proba-3

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[Gautam]

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