Tough timing: on ISRO PSLV-C61 mission, India's space programme
In contemporary spaceflight, cost, reliability and time form a tense triangle. Whether more money can ensure more reliability is tricky to answer, more so following the failure of ISRO's PSLV-C61 mission to launch the EOS-09 earth-observation satellite into a sun-synchronous polar orbit. EOS-09 was designed to produce high-quality radar images for civilian applications such as land-use mapping and hydrology studies and for defence surveillance, even if inclement weather prevailed over the areas of interest thanks to a synthetic aperture radar and a C-band data-link. Against the backdrop of tensions with Pakistan, such all-weather data would also have informed tactical decisions. The Department of Space had also invited several Members of Parliament to the launch event, which would have been unusual for a strictly civilian earth-observation satellite. ISRO chairman V. Narayanan later said that his team noted a glitch in the vehicle's third stage minutes after liftoff that prevented the satellite from reaching its intended altitude. While the cause is yet to be ascertained, the failure is a reminder that a 'textbook' launch of a rocket even as well-understood as the PSLV is not a given.
India is just embarking on its ambitious Space-Based Surveillance-3 programme to launch 52 surveillance satellites; 31 are to be built in the private sector, which still needs ISRO's guidance. Focus on the programme also comes against the backdrop of Operation Sindoor, which revealed at least one gap in the country's space-based military surveillance capabilities when it depended on a foreign commercial operator for more frequent data. Small margins of error in a rocket components' operations separate success from failure, and thus cost from reliability. Time, however, is a separate matter: the pressing need for surveillance capabilities, if not improving the understanding of climate change and disaster risk over India, means that developers lack the luxury of time while also coming under greater pressure to deliver across both civilian and military domains. The PSLV-C61 failure follows the failure in January to place the NVS-02 navigation satellite into its designated orbit. Between an increasingly crowded launch manifest, research and development, data acquisition and processing pipelines, limited access to manufacturing capacity, and the human spaceflight programme, it will not be remiss to increase the resources available to ISRO if only to ensure its ability to meet India's military needs while carrying on with other enterprises, all of which are becoming time-sensitive in a highly competitive global industry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
41 minutes ago
- Indian Express
PM Modi begins Cyprus, Canada, Croatia tour today, 1st foreign visit after Op Sindoor
Before arriving in Canada on Monday for the G7 Summit, PM Narendra Modi will visit Cyprus, the first by an Indian PM in over two decades, and will also travel to Croatia, marking the first-ever visit by an Indian prime minister. PM Modi will pay an official visit to Cyprus, Canada and Croatia from June 15-19, the MEA said Saturday. PM Modi will visit Cyprus on June 15-16, on his way to Canada to participate in the G7 Summit in Kananaskis on June 16-17, and conclude the five-day visit with an official visit to Croatia on June 18. This will be PM Modi's first foreign tour after Operation Sindoor. 'At the invitation of the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, PM Modi will pay an official visit to Cyprus June 15-16. This will be the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Cyprus in over two decades,' the MEA said. In Nicosia, Modi will hold talks with Christodoulides and address business leaders in Limassol. The visit will reaffirm the shared commitment of the two countries to deepen bilateral ties and strengthen India's engagement with the Mediterranean region and the European Union, as per the MEA. Cyprus had condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and indicated that it would raise the issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan at the EU-level discussions. The visit will be timely as Cyprus is set to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2026. In the second leg of his visit, PM Modi will travel to Kananaskis to participate in the G7 Summit, his sixth time in a row. On June 6, PM Modi received a call from Canadian PM Carney inviting him for the summit. At the summit, PM Modi will exchange views with G7 heads of states, other invited outreach countries and heads of international organisations on global issues, 'including energy security, technology and innovation, particularly the AI-energy nexus and Quantum-related issues', the MEA said. The Modi-Carney meeting on the sidelines summit next week will be an opportunity to explore ways to reset ties, the MEA said on Thursday. The development comes after more than a year-and-a-half of strained diplomatic ties between the two countries, triggered by former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's allegations about the 'potential' involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in 2023. India rejected the charges as 'absurd' and 'motivated', and consequently, both nations expelled high commissioners and other senior diplomats. PM Modi will also hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines, officials say, even as modalities are being worked out. The G7 Leaders' Summit will be held from June 15-17. In the final leg of his tour, PM Modi will undertake an official visit to Croatia and hold bilateral discussions with his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković and meet the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic. The visit to Croatia will also underscore India's commitment to further strengthen its engagement with partners in the EU. In the wake of Operation Sindoor, the PM had cancelled his nation-nation tour to Europe, which included Croatia, Norway and the Netherlands. EdoT Israel-Iran conflict may be in focus Though the G7 Summit agenda this year was focussed on building supply chains for critical minerals, energy security, and countering foreign interference and transnational crime, the focus is likely to be on the Israel-Iran conflict and containing any escalation. PM Narendra Modi is likely to hold discussions with various stakeholders on the issue and express India's stance on dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward. Divya A reports on travel, tourism, culture and social issues - not necessarily in that order - for The Indian Express. She's been a journalist for over a decade now, working with Khaleej Times and The Times of India, before settling down at Express. Besides writing/ editing news reports, she indulges her pen to write short stories. As Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellow for Excellence in Journalism, she is researching on the lives of the children of sex workers in India. ... Read More
The Print
an hour ago
- The Print
India will soon have its own satellites to monitor spy satellites. How the technology works
'India will be focusing on improving its presence in space in the coming years. This initiative will be a part of that larger aim,' a senior ISRO official said. The project being undertaken by the Defence Ministry, which is in the process of being finalised, will have 'satellite mapping' capabilities and will be fully made in India, senior officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told ThePrint. New Delhi: Spy satellites to monitor other spy satellites. India will soon have its own constellation of satellites to keep an eye out for other satellites that might be surveilling India. This network of satellites will enhance India's space domain awareness and will also help monitor orbital threats in real-time. The project is being overseen under NETRA, a Network for Tracking Space Objects and Analysis, which detects space debris and other hazardous space objects. The official said that while ISRO will partner with the MoD in overseeing the overall design and monitoring of these satellites, a private Bengaluru-based space start-up, Digantara, has been contracted to deploy these satellites within the next year. How does satellite mapping work? The capabilities of monitoring foreign satellites is being acquired by countries including the US, Russia and China. These satellites have propulsion and guidance systems that utilise factors such as orbital inclinations and altitudes to get information and photographs from a potential target satellite. Some of these satellites are also capable of intercepting inter-satellite communications and links to ground stations. Varying versions of such technology are either already deployed or are currently being tested. In 2020, the US Space Command—an agency responsible for tracking all objects in orbit—flagged that the Russian satellite Kosmos 2543 had released an unknown object into space. This was believed to be a test of a new technology that could be used to destroy objects already in orbit. The Russian satellite released this tech in close proximity to another Russian satellite. 'Space is increasingly becoming a weapon for countries. Battles will no longer be limited to just the ground, but will also be fought in space. And countries need to be ready for it,' the ISRO official said. Focus on active orbital security India is already working on increasing its defence capabilities in space. Its next 'spy satellite programme', space-based surveillance-3 or SBS-3, will launch a constellation of 52 surveillance satellites in the coming two years. Three private space startups, Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics and Alpha Design Technologies, have joined hands with the government to give shape to this project. The Rs 27,000 crore project is set to significantly improve India's national security capabilities. (Edited by Viny Mishra) Also read: DRDO eyes persistent high-altitude surveillance edge as Stratospheric Airship soars in maiden trial
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
Operation Sindoor showed operational capability of India's armed forces: Raha
Stating the success of Brahmos supersonic missiles makes him 'very proud,' Raha, now Chancellor of Assam University, recalled that the project had begun years back. Operation Sindoor demonstrated the tremendous potential the country has gained over the years, he said at a conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce on the role of MSME in the defence sector. Kolkata, Jun 14 (PTI) Former Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Arup Raha, on Saturday said the Operation Sindoor against terror bases in Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack showed the true operational capability of India's armed forces. 'India achieved a tremendous landmark. ISRO has become the leading organisation in the world in space research. From lunar to solar projects, ISRO is setting one goal after another. Under ISRO's guidance, we have developed a powerful rocket system. Our satellites are… used by other countries which are not strong economically. ISRO is meeting various requirements in different fields,' he said. Raha said satellites were also put in orbit by ISRO to strengthen defence operations. 'Command and control data, gleaned by satellites, are being processed using Artificial Intelligence and helping in surveillance, to keep track of borders, for dynamic targeting across borders during Operation Sindoor,' he said. In Operation Sindoor, Indian armed forces in the early hours of May 7 carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke. The operation was retaliation to the April 22 terror attack, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. In his speech, Raha said the missiles developed by DRDO are packed with 5 to 10 times the speed of sound through space. He said projects like the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and integrated command control project have taken India to the front-running nations, in the sectors of IT, ITes, space, efficient propulsion systems, ships, submarines, nanotechnologies, AI and robotics. Raha, however, added that there is one problem area, as India is not good at making jet jet propulsion engines. 'We are buying engines from Americans…..this dependency is not good. We are losing our strategic autonomy by importing state-of-the-art technologies which incur lots of expenses,' he said. The country needs to think about this in the next 10 years in terms of employment generation and export revenues, Raha said. 'Larger players both in public and private sectors need to build up a supply chain, a self-supporting ecosystem of building our capabilities and developing capability in the defence sector, in developing our capability in civil aviation,' he said. If hundreds of aircraft are bought from global aviation majors, billions of dollars would fly out of the country, the former Air Force officer said. 'Why pay money to outsiders? We need to have a combined plan and a strategic plan in the air sector,' he said. Raha advocated setting up a defence corridor and taking MSMEs of the eastern region to the defence hub elsewhere in the country. PTI SUS NN This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
