‘Tarikh pe Tarikh': What if Shubhanshu Shukla-led Axiom mission 4 misses its June 30 launch deadline?
International Space Station
(ISS), originally set for June 22. In a post on X, the ISS confirmed that the mission team—comprising NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space—is standing down from the launch to assess recent technical developments and operational constraints. The
Indian astronaut
Shubhanshu Shukla-led mission was earlier rescheduled for June 22 (Sunday).
'@NASA, @Axiom_Space, and @SpaceX continue reviewing launch opportunities for Axiom Mission 4,' the post read. 'NASA is standing down from a launch on Sunday, June 22, and will target a new launch date in the coming days.'
The delay follows recent repair work on the Russian Zvezda service module's aft segment, which has prompted NASA to conduct additional evaluations of station operations. The ISS's complex and tightly integrated systems mean the arrival of any new crew must be carefully coordinated to avoid disrupting ongoing missions.
Clock Ticking on a Tight Launch Window
The urgency stems from the mission's narrow launch window—available only until June 30. Beyond that, opportunities dry up due to a combination of scheduled undocking/docking of Russian cargo vehicles and a high solar beta angle period, during which the station receives continuous sunlight, complicating thermal management and operations.
NASA's ISS program manager Dana Weigel had earlier reportedly said that while launch options remain open through June 30, the next available window would only open in mid-July.
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Delays Could Derail Months of Preparation
Ax-4 is no ordinary mission. It carries a four-member crew—each of whom has been under strict quarantine for nearly three weeks—to conduct 60 tightly timed science experiments, including seven backed by ISRO. Further delays could affect crew health and degrade experiment viability.
Compounding matters, a previous launch attempt was aborted after a liquid oxygen leak was detected during a hot test of the Falcon 9 booster. The leak, found in the rocket's propulsion bay, forced SpaceX and Axiom to fix and revalidate the system before attempting another launch.
With the weather currently favorable over Florida, all eyes are on meteorologists and mission managers for a green light. The stakes are particularly high for countries like India, Hungary, and Poland, who are hoping to send their first astronauts to the ISS.
If Axiom Mission 4 can't get off the ground by June 30, not only will it face a minimum two-week delay, but it may also risk losing critical resources, scheduling priority, and even experiment success. For now, it's a high-stakes waiting game at the launchpad—where every minute counts.
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United News of India
44 minutes ago
- United News of India
Does ISRO need reshuffle? Questions arise over satellite and rocket production shifts
Chennai, Aug 18 (UNI) With the production of satellites and rockets now being outsourced and the Indian government's satellites are managed under the public sector NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), the future of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) looks uncertain and the question arises whether the key part of the Department of Space (DoS) under the central government needs a reshuffle. Recently in a highly debated decision, private space sector regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), announced that the PixxelSpace India-led group, comprising Piersight Space, Satsure Analytics India, and Dhruva Space—will build and operate India's first fully indigenous commercial earth observation (EO) satellite system. Historically, EO satellites and satellite constellations were firmly within ISRO's domain. The other major satellite constellation under ISRO, the NavIC system (Navigation with Indian Satellite Constellation)system, has yet to be fully completed. It raises a pertinent question, whether the government will look at private companies to supply the satellite constellation to provide the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) or the navigation services? Interestingly, a private space start-up AeroDome Technologies Private Limited co-founded by alumni of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) is working on a navigation satellite constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO). 'Location and time are the foundational pillars of the modern connected world. Every piece of technology, upon activation, seeks to answer two fundamental questions: when and where,' Vibhor Jain, Co-Founder, AeroDome Technologies told this writer. However, retired ISRO officials said that communication satellite operations are the only part of the space sector likely to generate profits and not PNT or earth observation services. They suggest that had ISRO established a satellite communications company years ago, the situation might have been different today. On the rocket side, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), India's leading aircraft manufacturer, won a tender to produce ISRO's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) for Rs. 511 crore. NSIL also entered into an Rs. 860 crore agreement to buy five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) from a HAL-Larsen & Toubro Ltd consortium, with ISRO providing the technology for these rockets. It is not known whether ISRO will continue to buy the PSLV rockets from outside after the fifth one from HAL-Larsen & Toubro consortium or revert back to the existing model-assembling the vehicle by itself. And last year, NSIL had also called for Request for Qualification (RFQ) to manufacture ISRO's heavy lift rocket LVM3 on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. Given these changes and ISRO's huge manpower (sanctioned 17,000 but in place around 16,000 excluding the contracts) a question arises: Should ISRO shift its focus from production to only research? Instead of transferring the rocket and other production technologies to others, could ISRO spin off its various units into separate government-owned companies, with NSIL serving as the procurement and marketing arm? And ISRO in a new avatar could focus on the research, for which it was originally formed. Long ago, in the Indian nuclear power, the field was clearly demarcated with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) focussed on research and development of reactors while Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) focussed on setting up power plants sourcing equipment from outside and generate power. There are separate companies for uranium and rare earth mineral mining and other activities. In the case of ISRO the roles got blurred over the years by carrying out the assembling of commercial satellites and rockets. With the glamour, fame attached to the rocket launches, officials did not look at separating the functions, industry officials said. It is also said the sum of the turnover of Indian space agency's various divisions-rocket, satellite manufacturing, satellite payloads, rocket engine production, launcher integration and launch services, tracking and satellite maintenance- if spun off into different business entities will surpass that of its behemoth parent owing to focused leadership and innovation. 'There are no production facilities in ISRO. It was never created or funded to create. Only R&D facilities were created. We are doing most of the production in industry or using GOCO (government owned and contractor operated) models. There is nothing that can be separated as production facilities except some explosives and propellant processing facilities which in any way won't be possible to be transferred,' former Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO told this writer. 'You can see that production of all structures and tanks are in HAL and other industries, all electronics in many industries, all machining related works are in industry as well. What ISRO does is development, system engineering and integration, which in any way has to be done by ISRO as there is none,' Somanath said. 'The purpose of technology transfer is to create the final leg of capability in industry,' he added. Somanath said majority of the ISRO staff are in R&D except people required for the facilities running and some critical production and also in rocket launch operation at the rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. 'The scientists are not recruited for operational work. But now scientists do it part time because work has to be done as there is no industry ready to take integration with required skill. These many people are in so many domains of research in many centres. Each domain has only a handful of people really,' Somanath added. Tapan Misra, retired Director, Space Applications Centre, ISRO told this writer: 'Currently ISRO has two roles – R&D and production. There is substantial manpower deployed in production activity with two/three generations of engineers involved in production than in hard core research.' 'On paper engineers are scientists and many of them are involved in production. Only about 20-30 percent of the staff is involved in research and development and the others are in a supportive role,' Misra commented. According to him, ISRO has missed the bus of kerosene and methane powered rockets. So production and repetitive work has to be taken outside of ISRO as the technology is also old. Only now ISRO is developing a methane powered rocket. Misra said, given this situation, production of existing rockets by a public sector unit like HAL has to be there till the private rocket makers mature and stabilise. The PSUs may produce for ISRO now and may do the same for the private players later. As regards the ISRO staff, the young and bright ones may be encouraged to focus on research and float start-ups and the senior and experienced ones in the production can be deputed to HAL. Those who bid and win the tenders to make rockets and satellites may not have the experience in making the same and hence ISRO's experienced talent pool will be of great help. Industry officials also add that production of rockets and satellites should also be there in the public sector as the government cannot be allowed to be dictated by the private players. 'For instance the Indian government owned telecom player Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has the necessary backend network to support the government and public needs when exigencies demand,' Misra said. Perhaps at a future date, ISRO's production/assembly units may be housed under NSIL. Currently ISRO's facilities are allowed to be used by the private space sector players. 'India now should have a clear focus on the space sector model it wants to focus –American (strong government-private collaboration), the Chinese (military-civil mixture), the European (collaboration amongst nations with current focus on autonomy encouraging private participation) or its own existing model (national development focus, government control, public sector driven and now with private participation encouraged). A hybrid model of these three will not work,' a retired senior ISRO official told this writer. UNI VJ AAB
NDTV
2 hours ago
- NDTV
How ISRO Is Touching Lives: Parliament To Debate Space Programmes Today
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The role of space-based systems will only increase as India embraces a development pathway rooted in indigenously developed innovative systems. Gaganyatri Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla completed his 21st-century space sojourn and is now the new cynosure for India, having become the most travelled Indian, covering over 12 million kilometres and completing 282 orbits of Earth in his 20-day mission. India's space journey reached a new zenith on August 23, 2023, when the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed near the Moon's South Pole, making India the first country to achieve this feat. This precision landing demonstrated ISRO's mastery in lunar navigation and roving. The Vikram lander even performed a hop experiment, and the propulsion module was later manoeuvred into Earth orbit for extended operation, showcasing India's growing capabilities in deep space engineering. 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The satellite, weighing 2,392 kg, will scan the globe every 12 days, providing all-weather, day-and-night data. Its applications range from monitoring ice sheet movement and soil moisture to disaster response and infrastructure stress. Dubbed a "lifesaving satellite," NISAR is a testament to India's growing prowess in space-based Earth science. India's human spaceflight program also took a giant leap forward with the Axiom-4 flight, or the Mission Akash Ganga. On June 25, 2025, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to travel to space since Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984. As part of the multinational Axiom-4 mission, Mr Shukla spent 18 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), conducting seven India-specific experiments. Launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9, the mission concluded successfully with a splashdown near San Diego. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Mr Shukla's courage and dedication, calling it an inspiration for a billion dreams. 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The report, titled Socio-Economic Impact Analysis of Indian Space Programme, highlights that satellite-based applications have profoundly impacted the social fabric of the nation. ISRO's current annual budget is about $1.6 billion, while NASA's is $25 billion-15.5 times larger. Yet, India has achieved remarkable feats with limited resources. Since its inception, ISRO has launched over 132 Indian satellites, including those from private operators and academic institutions. India currently has over satellites in orbit. India currently has over 50 satellites in orbit. Three deep space missions-Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, Aditya-L1, and the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module-were also active. India has launched 102 rockets and orbited 433 foreign satellites, offering three different rockets for commercial hire. The Indian satellite constellation, valued at approximately Rs 50,000 crore, supports diverse sectors such as weather forecasting, cyclone monitoring, ATM connectivity, crop forecasting, smart city planning, communications, and navigation. ISRO's satellites help 8,00,000 fisherfolk daily and provide weather forecasts to 1.4 billion Indians. India's spy satellites, with 25 cm resolution, are among the best in the world, capable of reading number plates in enemy territory. These capabilities bolster national security and strategic preparedness. Now, a new private constellation of 12 satellites led by India's start-ups will also help India. India's space sector is also witnessing a boom in private innovation. Over 300 space start-ups are driving growth, with companies like Agnikul Cosmos and Skyroot Aerospace launching sub-orbital rockets, and Pixxel Aerospace developing high-resolution satellites. A recent study estimates that for every dollar spent on space, India receives a return of $2.52, an "amazing" rate of return, according to financial experts. ISRO's journey from launching a 715 kg Nike Apache rocket from near a church in Thumba in 1963 to deploying the 6,40,000 kg Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) is a testament to India's resilience and ingenuity. It's a quantum leap from a fishing hamlet to the Red Planet. As India prepares to celebrate its 100th year of independence in 2047, the vision is clear: an Indian flag flying on the Moon, a space station orbiting Earth, and a thriving space economy contributing to national development. ISRO's story is not just about rockets and satellites-it's about touching lives, empowering citizens, and propelling India toward a future where space is not the final frontier, but a daily reality.
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Fuel Fill-Ups in Space? Musk and Bezos Are Working on It
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are trying to figure out how to pump gas in space. The billionaire space rivals are working on ambitious missions to the moon or Mars, and a crucial design element for each venture is using spacecraft that take on additional fuel while orbiting Earth. Vehicles that could grab propellants in orbit would be less weighed down at liftoff, letting planners design missions to travel farther from Earth with more cargo, scientific gear or crew members, advocates say. Having depots or in-orbit refueling that give spacecraft something like a truck stop to pull into may sound like science fiction. It is also a concept that engineers have been working on for years. One of the biggest challenges to making it a reality: moving and storing massive amounts of supercold propellants that are prone to boil off in the void of space. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have much to prove. Some space-industry officials are skeptical that either will have moon landers that depend on orbital fueling ready to meet National Aeronautics and Space Administration timelines. The agency has worked closely with contractors to understand the challenges of in-space refueling, a NASA spokesman says. SpaceX conducted a fuel-transfer demonstration inside a Starship spacecraft during a 2024 test flight and next year is aiming to move propellants between two vehicles. That test has been delayed as the company has faced setbacks with the massive rocket, including an explosion during a ground test in Texas in June. Blue Origin is developing a transporter vehicle that would take on propellant near Earth. Then, it would fly to a lunar orbit, where the transporter would prepare a lander that would take astronauts arriving on a different ship down to the surface of the moon. That mission depends on the company's New Glenn rocket, which the company launched for the first time in January. Engineers have long built rockets and spacecraft to take on all the fuel they need while still on the ground. Those designs have proven their value. They also have their limitations. Take NASA's Apollo missions to the moon. Saturn V, the rocket that sent agency astronauts there, weighed 6.5 million pounds at liftoff, and around 5.5 million of those pounds were fuel. Combined with reusable rockets, fueling in space could make deep-space flights cheaper over time and ease mission logistics, supporters say. 'It has got to be done,' says Dallas Bienhoff, who formerly studied setting up a low-Earth-orbit propellant depot for Boeing and now works for Pasadena, Calif.-based robotic-mining company OffWorld. 'Otherwise, we're going to be limited with what we can achieve in space.' Musk put it this way during a conference talk in 2017. Starship, which then went by a different name, was expected to loft a spacecraft carrying a large amount of mass to low-Earth orbit. The ship wouldn't be able to travel farther without more fuel, he said. 'If you send up tankers, and refill in orbit, you can refill the tanks all the way to the top,' Musk said then. That would allow the ship to continue out to Mars, he added. From Apollo to the present Orbital refueling isn't a new idea. In the early 1960s, NASA officials considered such operations as they tried to figure out how to land astronauts on the lunar surface before the Soviets. The idea didn't go forward then, but it didn't go away. A range of in-space fueling experiments or operations have been conducted over the years, including by Russia. In 2007, the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and partners conducted more than a dozen fuel transfers between two satellites. But no U.S. company has put in-space propellant transfers at the center of their deep-space plans as SpaceX and Blue Origin have. Part of the reason is making it all work is difficult. Spacecraft will need to rendezvous in orbit, connect with each other and flow large amounts of propellants from one vehicle to another. The nature of the propellants SpaceX and Blue Origin have proposed using makes transferring them especially tricky. The fuels are chilled to supercold levels to keep them liquid, and have a tendency to boil off. 'It wouldn't be easy to do on Earth. But now you have to do it in space, pumping it from one big refrigerator to another,' says Thomas Cooley, formerly chief scientist for a space-vehicles group at the Air Force Research Laboratory who now has a space-consulting business. Dave Limp, chief executive at Blue Origin, said in a social-media post in July the company had made major progress maturing technologies that aim to prevent propellants from boiling off in space. Fuels also behave in odd ways in space. When you pump gasoline into your car's tank, the gas flows in a predictable manner but that isn't necessarily the case in orbit. There, companies will contend with what William Notardonato, chief executive of Eta Space, calls 'liquid-acquisition issues.' 'You don't know where your liquid is stored. The propellant might be up at the top of the tank. And it brings up the question, what is the top in microgravity?' says Notardonato, whose Rockledge, Fla.-based company is developing an in-space propellant depot and working on a mission where it will track how a supercold propellant behaves in a satellite tank using a camera. Launching, time and again Another unknown for in-orbit refueling: the number of launches it will take SpaceX and Blue Origin to fuel up vehicles for deep-space missions. SpaceX has shown launches can be conducted much more frequently than in the past, but rockets are still a long way from flying as easily as commercial jets. Meanwhile, Starship, the company's vehicle that will use orbital fueling, remains in an experimental phase and Blue Origin is still ramping up New Glenn. During a presentation earlier this year, a Blue Origin executive didn't specify how many refueling flights the company may need for a NASA mission that has it transporting astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon. For its NASA astronaut moon missions, SpaceX has been planning to conduct multiple launches of a tanker variant of its Starship spacecraft to fuel up a Starship depot in low-Earth orbit, according to NASA officials. Then the company would send a moon-lander Starship to the depot to take on fuel. After that, the lander would fly out to the moon. An executive at SpaceX early last year estimated a moon mission for NASA could take around 10 flights, while a different leader at the company last fall predicted around 16. Some current and former space-industry officials say the number of launches needed may be higher. One former NASA leader during a congressional hearing in February said as many as 20 could be required. A technical paper that has circulated among some industry officials and was viewed by The Wall Street Journal suggests it may take up to 40. Musk, during a recent presentation about SpaceX's plans for Mars, didn't discuss the number of flights that would be needed to send a Starship to the red planet. Staff at the company have talked about trying to send a basic, uncrewed ship out there next year with as few as three refueling flights, the Journal has reported. In a recent post on his social-media site X, Musk said a Starship flight to Mars in 2026 would be tough, giving it just a slight chance of happening. Micah Maidenberg is a reporter in the Chicago bureau of The Wall Street Journal. Email him at
