Latest news with #PSLVs
Mint
8 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Questions raised as HAL outbids Adani Defence, Bharat Dynamics in Isro's ‘privatisation' attempt
New Delhi: Almost three years since its first demonstrator mission launch, a ₹511-crore contract to privatize Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) was awarded toHindustan Aeronautics Ltd by the government's nodal space agency on Friday. However, considering that HAL is a public sector undertaking overseen by the defence ministry, analysts, observers and proxy advisory firms are questioning the efficacy of the announcement, insisting it does not truly qualify as 'privatization' of the government-built rocket. The contract will see HAL take full ownership of the rocket that Isro built and first launched in August 2022. Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-Space), said the project is 'not just a manufacturing contract—HAL will do end-to-end manufacturing, supply chain procurement, winning orders from clients, (and ) launching and maintaining the rocket in the long run". Isro will handhold HAL through the making and validation of the small rocket for two years. Beyond this period, Goenka said HAL can onboard Isro as an advisor on a commercial contract basis. As of 20 June, the Union government holds a 71% stake in HAL. Also read | Hindustan Aeronautics: Here's all you need to know before investing 'The bid from HAL was carefully selected by In-Space, Isro, and NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) through two bidding rounds. The first round saw the participation of nine companies, from which six were shortlisted. In the second round, three of the bidders dropped out, leaving HAL, and two consortiums—led by Alpha Design Technologies and Bharat Dynamics—as the finalists," Goenka said. Alpha Design is owned by Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Ltd. Neither HAL, NSIL or In-Space disclosed the cost of making the small rockets. Radhakrishnan Durairaj, chairman and managing director of NSIL, which is Isro's commercial space operations division, said the information 'would allude to SSLV's competitiveness on a global scale" and thus could not be disclosed. Industry stakeholders said the decision may not bode well for Isro's privatisation in the long run. Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern Research, said the move is 'strange, seeing that the contract was delivered to HAL without validating the firm's capability of delivering space projects as per timelines". Also read | How ISRO's 100th mission reflects its original startup spirit One hand to the other HAL, in partnership with Larsen and Toubro Ltd, was previously awarded an ₹860-crore contract to manufacture five units of Isro's larger rocket variant—the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)—in September 2022. The initial timeline to deliver the first of the five PSLVs was two years. 'We are on track with the engineering efforts, and results from the PSLV contract will be seen very soon," said Barenya Senapati, director of finance at HAL, fielding questions on the company's space contract execution capability during Friday's announcement. 'Our air force engineering division is separate from our new space business, so the two work very differently and are not interconnected," Senapati said, without disclosing when the first PSLV will be delivered. The SSLV award may compound pressure on HAL at a time when the public sector undertaking has been in the firing line of the Indian Air Force itself in terms of its failure to deliver its contract of indigenous 'Tejas' combat aircrafts. 'In a way, this is a good thing for the other private startups," said Narayan Prasad Nagendra, space industry consultant and chief operating officer of Dutch space supply chain firm, Satsearch. 'HAL's contract is essentially a representation of a government contract shifting funds from one hand to another without specifically achieving anything. If at all, given HAL's current track record in space, this will make way for private startups such as Skyroot Aerospace and Agnikul Cosmos to win more clients and take a market lead," he added. Also read | Space tourism: Can Isro beat Blue Origin? On the flipside, others said the move may have come out of necessity. Chaitanya Giri, space fellow at global think-tank Observer Research Foundation, said that 'since the other two final bids for the SSLV were through consortia, In-Space and Isro were really left with only one choice to execute a clean, simple contract for the SSLV". However, Giri added that 'the move to award the contract to HAL cannot strictly be called privatization—it is better to be referred to as commercialization by bringing a legacy Indian industry name into the nascent field". 'It also shows that the Indian government is not yet fully confident in India's private space firms, which could be another reason behind HAL winning the small rocket contract," Giri added. In-Space's Goenka, however, said HAL winning the contract 'was not a subjective decision". 'HAL was the highest bidder, and also cleared In-Space and Isro's technical evaluation process in terms of its capability under all parameters, thereby emerging with the contract as per the official process," he said.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
19-05-2025
- Science
- First Post
EOS-09 mission: Why failure of Isro's PSLV launch is so rare
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) faced a setback on Sunday (May 18) after its 63rd PSLV mission to launch the EOS-9 surveillance satellite failed. The mission aimed to place an Earth observation satellite in a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of about 597 km. Since its debut in 1993, the PSLV has faced only two failures during launch – the first time in 1993 and again in 2017 read more The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) suffered a setback on Sunday (May 18) after its 63rd PSLV mission to place the EOS-9 surveillance satellite in orbit failed. The Earth observation satellite, launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), encountered a failure due to a pressure problem in the third stage of the rocket. Isro Chairman V Narayanan said that the PSLV is made up of four stages and that the first two stages performed as expected. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD ALSO READ | Will Indian rockets take crew to world's first commercial space station? This failure is considered rare, as the PSLV has been a reliable launch vehicle for India's space missions. Since its first flight, the rocket has failed only twice - the first time in 1993 and again in 2017. But why do PSLV launch failures happen so rarely? In this explainer, we break down why PSLV launch failures are rare, what caused the earlier failures, and what the Isro chief said about this latest attempt. Before diving into that, here's a brief look at what PSLVs are. What is PSLV? Satellites used for navigation, mapping, and other tasks are sent into Space using launch vehicles or rockets, such as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). These rockets have strong engines that produce the energy needed to lift heavy payloads like satellites into orbit, pushing against the pull of Earth's gravity. Isro's PSLV-C61 carrying the EOS-09 at the Satish Dhawan Space Station in Sriharikota. PTI The PSLV can carry more than one payload at a time. To do this, it uses special structures called multi-payload adaptors inside the top section of the rocket, known as the payload fairing, according to Isro. Notably, PSLV earned the title 'the workhorse of Isro' by reliably placing a wide range of satellites into low Earth orbit, as per the space agency. ALSO READ | What is Axiom-4 Mission that India's Sudhanshu Shukla will pilot to space? Why PSLV launch failures are rare Since the PSLV's first launch in 1993, it has rarely failed. Only a few missions have faced problems over the years. When failures have occurred, they were mostly caused by issues with how different stages of the rocket separate or by problems in the rocket's engine system. These could include trouble in controlling the rocket's direction or underperformance during a stage. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In September 1993, the PSLV-D1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota to carry the IRS-1E remote sensing satellite into Low Earth Orbit (an altitude of 2,000 km or less). But the mission did not succeed. A fault in the rocket's onboard software caused it to miss orbit and fall into the ocean. The next failure came in 2017, when the rocket's payload fairing failed to detach. This left the satellite stuck inside the rocket. Isro called the mission unsuccessful after the final stage ended, marking the first failure since 1993. In the case of PSLV-C61, failures like this may be caused by several reasons – from problems in the propulsion stages, mistakes during separation of the rocket stages, or faults in how the rocket is guided and controlled. PSLV-C61 rocket carrying Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-09) lifts off from the first launch pad. PTI/File Photo What happened this time? This was Isro's 101st launch from Sriharikota. The mission aimed to place an Earth observation satellite into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of around 597 km. In this type of orbit, the satellite would pass over the same location at the same local time each day. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD #WATCH | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launches PSLV-C61, which carries the EOS-09 (Earth Observation Satellite-09) into a SSPO orbit, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. EOS-09 is a repeat satellite of EOS-04, designed with the mission objective to ensure remote… — ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2025 If the mission had gone as planned, Orbit Change Thrusters (OCT) would have been fired to lower the altitude of the PS4 stage after the EOS-09 satellite was deployed. The rocket stage would then have been passivated to shorten its time in orbit. The satellite carried a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload, designed to capture Earth images in all weather conditions for a variety of observation uses. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD EOS-09 is a follow-up to EOS-04 and is intended to supply remote sensing data to users involved in operational tasks. It also aims to increase the frequency of such observations, according to Isro. Isro Chairman V Narayanan explained that the issue occurred during the third stage of the launch. PTI What led to the failure then? Isro Chairman V Narayanan explained that the issue occurred during the third stage of the launch. He said there was a 'fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case,' which led to the failure. VIDEO | Explaining the failure of PSLV-C61 vehicle launch mission, ISRO chairman V Narayanan says, "Today we attempted a launch of PSLV-C61 vehicle, the vehicle is a four stage vehicle, first two stages were performed as expected, during the third stage, it's a solid motor… — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 18, 2025 'Today, we targeted the 101st launch from Sriharikota, the PSLVC61 EOS-09 mission. The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle, and up to the second stage, the performance was normal. The third stage motor started perfectly, but during the functioning of the third stage, we are seeing an observation,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD '…and the motor pressure–there was a fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case, and the mission could not be accomplished. We are studying the entire performance, we shall come back at the earliest,' he added, as reported by PTI. The space agency has set up a failure analysis committee to carefully study the flight and telemetry data to find out what went wrong and to put in place steps to prevent it from happening again. With inputs from agencies
Indian Express
18-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
ISRO's 101st satellite launch fails: Recalling the only two other instances when ‘workhorse' PSLV failed
The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) 101st satellite launch failed in the early hours of Sunday (May 18). The Earth observation satellite EOS-09 was aboard the PSLV-C61 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle). While the exact reason for the failure is yet to be determined, ISRO said the problem was observed in the third stage of the flight. It marked a rare failure for the PSLV, which has become the go-to carrier for satellite launches in India. This was the 63rd PSLV launch. Since their introduction in the 1990s, PSLVs have only failed twice – the first during the inaugural flight in 1993 and in 2017, when the C-39 mission was unsuccessful. Here is why PSLVs have become reliable for India's Space agency and what happened during the two failed missions. Satellites deployed for navigation, mapping, or other purposes must be carried to Space by launch vehicles, or rockets, like the PSLV. The rockets have powerful propulsion systems that generate a huge amount of energy, required to lift heavy objects like satellites into Space, overcoming the Earth's gravitational pull. Satellites, or payloads as they are often called, sit inside the rocket and are ejected once they reach near their intended orbit in Space. ISRO has three main types of launchers: the PSLV, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), and the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III (LVM3). Variants are chosen based on the payload weights and the orbit they are to reach. The ISRO website notes that PSLV has been a 'versatile launch vehicle deployed for launching all the three types of payloads viz. Earth Observation, Geo-stationary and Navigation. It has got highest success rate and considered as work horse of ISRO.' Further, it has launched two spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013. The PSLV has four parts — PS1, a solid rocket motor augmented by 6 solid strap-on boosters; PS2, a storable liquid rocket engine, known as the Vikas engine; PS3, a solid rocket motor that provides the upper stages high thrust after the atmospheric phase of the launch; and PS4, the uppermost stage consisting of two Earth storable liquid engines. It has also carried satellites from other nations into Space. Apart from its reliability, the PSLV is also more affordable than the launch vehicles of many countries. In 2023, the PSLV-C37 launched a record 104 satellites in one mission from Sriharikota. In September 1993, the PSLV-D1 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota to place the remote sensing IRS-1E Satellite in the Lower Earth Orbit (altitude of 2,000 km or less). However, the launch vehicle failed to achieve orbit because of problems in the onboard software, leading the mission to crash into the ocean. In 2017, the 41st PSLV flight was supposed to launch IRNSS-1H, the eighth satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), into a Sub-Geosynchronous transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO). Here, instead of directly placing a satellite into an orbit, transfer orbits are first targeted. From here, the satellites go to another orbit by using energy from onboard motors, according to the European Space Agency. However, the mission failed. ISRO said a heat shield failed to separate, preventing the satellite from being deployed in Space by PSLV-C39, the launch vehicle. As The Indian Express reported at the time, the performance of PSLV-C39 went to plan up to the point when the satellite had to be inserted into orbit. Due to the separation failure, the rocket lost velocity. The heat shield is a protective cover around the satellite to help it withstand the adverse temperatures when a rocket is launched into Space. Separation of the heat shield occurs mid-flight when the rocket leaves Earth's atmosphere and reaches an altitude of around 120 km. ISRO declared the mission unsuccessful shortly after the final stage of the launch, making it the first mission failure after the 1993 developmental flight. And what was the mission this time? ISRO planned to put the 1,700-kg Earth observation satellite at an altitude of about 597 km in a sun-synchronous polar orbit — meaning the satellite was to pass over a given place at the same time every day. The EOS-09 satellite carried a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload, capable of providing images of the Earth in all weather conditions. This was the second consecutive failure for the Space agency after its GSLV could not place the NVS-02 satellite in the correct orbit during ISRO's 100th mission in February this year.
