Isro moves closer to Gaganyaan launch, completes key engine development
A dedicated System Demonstration Model (SDM) test bed, replicating the SMPS fluid circuit, was used for the extensive qualification programme. This SDM underwent 25 tests under both nominal and off-nominal conditions, accumulating a total duration of 14,331 seconds, to meet various Gaganyaan mission scenarios and human-rating requirements.The Gaganyaan Service Module Propulsion System was designed, developed, and developed by Isro's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC). Its robust design and successful testing are considered essential for ensuring crew safety and the overall success of the mission, particularly its capability to handle complex manoeuvres and emergency abort scenarios.India's Gaganyaan mission aims to send Indian astronauts into low-Earth orbit, approximately 400 kilometres above Earth, for several days before their safe return. This latest achievement follows other key test milestones, including the TV-D1 abort test and the first uncrewed Test Vehicle mission conducted earlier this year.The mission will utilise the human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle, a robust Crew Escape System, and meticulously engineered Crew and Service Modules, all currently undergoing final integration and testing.Astronaut training is also progressing steadily, with three Indian Air Force pilots, now designated as astronauts, having completed initial training in Russia and continuing with mission-specific preparations in India.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
$1.5 billion Isro-NASA satellite to lift off today
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Tuesday said it was all set to launch NISAR satellite, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Indian space agency and NASA that can detect even small changes in the Earth's surface such as ground deformation, ice sheet movement and vegetation dynamics. $1.5 billion Isro-NASA satellite to lift off today On July 30, at 5.40pm, NISAR or the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, which has been a decade in the making, will lift off aboard Isro's GSLV-F16 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The life of the mission is five years. 'GSLV-F16 is ready to carry NISAR into orbit. Final prep underway. Launch countdown has commenced at 14:10 hours today,' Isro posted on X on Tuesday evening. At a pre launch news conference late Monday night, Phil Burella, NISAR project manager, said following a high level meeting between Isro and NASA, both teams agreed that the spacecraft, mission and launch vehicle were ready for lift off. So everybody gave a thumbs up and that's great news,' said Burella. 'The range looks good, the weather looks good.' The satellite was mounted on the rocket and its systems were checked on July 28, and the launch will be the third by Isro since January. With a joint investment of more than $1.5 billion, NISAR features NASA's L-band (1.25 GHz) and ISRO's S-band (3.2 GHz) radars, making it the world's first dual-frequency radar imaging satellite to observe the earth. Employing the SweepSAR technology, the satellite will scan the entire globe and provide all weather, day and night data at 12-day interval and enable a wide range of applications. It can help in assessing natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides. The satellite's data will also be used for sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm tracking, crop mapping, and changes in soil moisture—all of which are vital for governments, researchers, and disaster management agencies. Data from the satellite will start coming in after completion of the 90-day commissioning period, and will be freely accessible to within a day or two of observation, and in near real-time in case of emergencies. Teams from both space agencjee worked on building the satellite despite the Covid-19 pandemic. On Sunday, union minister for science and technology Jitendra Singh on Sunday said NISAR is India's scientific handshake with the world. 'NISAR will not only serve India and the United States but will also provide critical data for countries around the world, especially in areas like disaster management, agriculture, and climate monitoring.'
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Indian Express
NASA-ISRO mission — NISAR — all set for launch today
IN ONE of its most anticipated missions in recent years, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), a sophisticated and expensive earth observation satellite developed in collaboration with NASA, from Sriharikota on Wednesday. The launch will see India's GSLV rocket, for the first time, inject a satellite into a Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit, an orbit in which the satellite will scan over the same point on Earth at the same time each day. Usually, PSLV is utilised for such an orbit, but NISAR is a heavier satellite, beyond the capability of a PSLV. The GSLV launch vehicle has so far been used to put satellites only in a geosynchronous transfer orbit, a highly elliptical orbit that is used as an intermediary to easily take satellites to the high geosynchronous orbits at around 36,000 km where they move with the Earth to remain over the same location every single day. 'This has been a much-anticipated launch,' said ISRO chairperson Dr V Narayanan. The NISAR satellite is capable of mapping the Earth during the day and the night and in any weather condition. The satellite will scan the entire globe every 12 days, providing a series of very detailed images of the Earth's surface that can capture changes even as small as a centimetre. 'This is a very advanced satellite that can capture even the slightest of the movements on the Earth's surface. These observations can help them in mapping changes such as volcanic hazard or landslides and prepare in advance. This is a result of a collaboration that started nearly 10 years ago,' said former ISRO chairperson K Sivan. The mission marks the first hardware collaboration between the Indian and the US space agencies, with each providing a different radar system for the satellite. NASA's L-band radar and ISRO's S band radar are sensitive to two different sizes of features on the Earth as well as two different types of attributes such as moisture content, surface roughness and motion. The NISAR satellite is meant to capture detailed information about various systems on Earth such as the changing surface and interior of the planet like magma and volcano eruptions, the cold regions with its ice cover, glaciers, sea ice and permafrost, the terrestrial ecosystems like forest cover, rivers, crop fields as well as the water. It will provide important data to researchers across the globe for better management of natural resources, planning for natural disasters, and importantly, understanding the effects and the pace of climate change. NISAR cannot predict floods or forest fires but can observe the minutest of changes and provide risk assessment analysis. The 2,392-kg satellite will be put in a 747-km circular orbit nearly 19 minutes after launch. The mission life of the satellite is five years. GSLV's previous launch, earlier this year, had not been entirely successful. While the launch vehicle did place the NVS-02 satellite in the intended orbit, the satellite could not undertake further manoeuvres needed to reach the final orbit. A GSLV launch had also failed in 2021, owing to a pressure drop in the liquid hydrogen tank in the cryogenic stage. From the launch date, it will take eight to 10 days for the satellite's full deployment, including the complete blooming of the antenna. Post the launch of any space mission, there is a calibration and testing phase. If the launch is realised on July 30, then NISAR will remain under a 65-day engineering phase during which the preliminary tests and calibration will be performed. On day 65 after the launch, the first, full-frame science data will be taken and the science teams will check for its quality and other parameters. The actual science phase of NISAR will commence on day 70 after the launch. The scientific commissioning phase of NISAR will commence on day 90. Some of the planned applications of the NISAR satellite include: • Monitor changes in surface water and soil moisture: This data can provide actionable points to mitigate or better deal with occurrences such as flooding, landslides, crop failures, droughts and wildfires • Earthquakes: The data from the satellite can be used to map fault zones and fault systems, where an earthquake is likely to occur. Their long-term study can also help in forecasting. Following an earthquake, the data can also be used to locate the areas of damage • Permafrost: NISAR can observe the changes to the permafrost — the frozen sub-surface layer — that can inform about the communities that may be affected • Volcanic eruptions: The data from the satellite can be used to characterise and monitor volcanic processes, build models of sub-surface magma movement before, during, and after eruptions. This will facilitate eruption forecasting
The Hindu
6 hours ago
- The Hindu
Countdown begins for NISAR satellite launch on July 30, 2025
The countdown for the NISAR satellite mission started at 2.10 p.m. on Tuesday (July 29, 2025). The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) with the 2,392-kg satellite is scheduled to lift off from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 5.40 p.m. on Wednesday (July 30, 2025). About 19 minutes after lift-off, the GSLV-F16 rocket will inject the NISAR satellite into a 743-km sun-synchronous orbit. The NISAR satellite — NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite — will scan the Earth and provide all-weather, day-and-night data at 12-day intervals, and enable a wide range of applications. It is the first joint satellite of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Senior NASA officials said that working with the ISRO on the mission has strengthened their relationship. The Director of Earth Science, NASA Headquarters, Karen St. Germain said, 'Building a satellite on opposite sides of the world during a global pandemic was really hard, but it strengthened our relationship with ISRO. The collaboration, the cooperation, information sharing, and, frankly, joint learning between our two agencies is a foundation that we look forward to continuing to build upon.' She added that NISAR is a model for the next generation of Earth observation capability. 'India built the spacecraft bus and the S-band radar and is providing the launch vehicle, launch services, and satellite mission operations. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) built the L-band radar and the mission's radar reflector and boom. NASA is also providing a high-rated communications subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder, and the payload data subsystem,' she added. Phil Barela, NISAR project manager, JPL, said that the two space agencies learnt a lot from each other in the last decade. 'We have been at this for over a decade with our partner, ISRO, and it has been a phenomenal journey. The amount that we have learned from each other during this period has just been phenomenal,' Mr. Barela said. He added that during the height of COVID-19 pandemic, around 65 ISRO engineers visited JPL to work on the integration and conduct tests. 'Over the last two-and-a-half years, NASA has sent out over 175 engineers to ISRO's facilities to keep the integration and tests going and get us ready for where we stand today and ready for launch. It has been a wonderful journey. I'm anticipating a lot of very happy people, not only in the U.S., but also in India,' he added.
