Heena Sharma Blog

  Three Space Technology Incubation Centres (S-TIC) were inaugurated at National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Nagpur, Bhopal and Rourkela by the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) K Sivan. ISRO signed bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur (for Western region), Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal (for Central region), and National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (for Eastern region). In an online programme on this occasion on Thursday, Sivan, also Secretary in the Department of Space (DoS), encouraged the students to explore their entrepreneurship skills in the space domain. The S-TIC concept is conceived with one selected major academic institute taking the lead role in a particular region and providing opportunities for final year graduate, post graduate and research scholars as "future budding entrepreneurs," Sivan was quoted as saying in an ISRO statement. Read Mo...

Ahead of the launch of India's maiden human spaceflight venture ' Gaganyaan ' in December 2021, the Indian Space Research Organisation will undertake two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021, Isro chairman K Sivan said on Wednesday. Addressing the inaugural session of a symposium on "Human Spaceflight and Exploration - Present Challenges and Future Trends," Sivan said the Gaganyaan mission not only aims at India's maiden human flight to the space but also setting up a new space station for 'continuous space human presence'. "We are doing all this (Gaganyaan) on three points - short term plan of two unmanned mission in December 2020 and June 2021, followed by human space flight demonstration in December 2021. We have the mid term goal of sustaining the human space programme and continuous space human presence in space on a new space station", he said. In this regard, the Isro has initiated a full-fledged astronaut tra...

The Indian Space Research Organisation has gotten over the setback it suffered on account of the Chandrayaan-2 mission , and has ended the year with six launch vehicle missions and seven satellite missions. The number is lower than that achieved in 2018, when Isro had completed 16 missions and was preparing for some major milestones, including the launch of Chandrayaan-2, preparing for India's first human space programme 'Gaganyaan' and its mission to the Sun: Aditya-1. At the beginning of the year 2019, Isro said it was planning as many as 32 missions, including 14 launch vehicles, 17 satellite and one Technology Demonstration missions. The complex Chandrayaan-2 and the development flights of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle or SSLVs, were an intrinsic part of this plan. SSLVs are the new member in the Launch Vehicle family. After completing 16 missions in 2018, Isro started the year 2019 not with a launch, but with the signing of an MoU with industries to outsourc...

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday said the launch of its earth imaging and mapping satellite Cartosat-3 along with 13 commercial nano satellites from the US, has been rescheduled to November 27. The space agency had earlier announced that the launch is tentatively scheduled at 09:28 hrs IST on November 25, subject to weather conditions. "The launch of PSLV-C47 carrying Cartosat-3 scheduled on November 25, 2019 at 09:28 hrs is rescheduled to launch on November 27, 2019 at 09:28 hrs from second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota," ISRO has said in an update. The satellites would be launched by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C47 into Sun Synchronous Orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The Cartosat-3 is a "third generation agile advanced satellite" having high resolution imaging capability, it said, adding the satellite would be placed in an orb...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said that it was yet to establish any communication with Chandrayaan-2 's lander, Vikram. On September 7, minutes before landing, Vikram, which was carrying a rover, Pragyan, went out of contact during its final descent, when it was just 2.1 km above the lunar surface. "Vikram Lander has been located by the orbiter of Chandrayaan 2, but no communication with it yet. All possible efforts are being made to establish communication with lander," said Isro. While reports claim that the Vikram lander lies on the lunar surface as a single piece, unbroken, and it is in a tilted position following a hard landing, Isro officials did not confirm, stating that they were trying to establish communication with the lander. Chandrayaan-2 comprises an orbiter, lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). The mission life of the lander and rover is one lunar day, which is equal to 14 Earth days. Isro Chairman K Sivan earlier said that the...

Not losing hope, the Indian Space Research Organisation continued to make all-out efforts to establish link with Chandrayaan-2 's 'Vikram' lander, now lying on the lunar surface after a hard-landing. Vikram, with rover 'Pragyan' housed inside it, hit the lunar surface after communication with the ground-stations was lost during its final descent, just 2.1 km above the lunar surface, in the early hours of Saturday. "It had a hard-landing very close to the planned (touch-down) site as per the images sent by the on-board camera of the orbiter. The lander is there as a single piece, not broken into pieces. It's in a tilted position," an Isro official associated with the mission claimed on Monday. "We are making all-out efforts to see whether communication can be re-established with the lander," the official said. "An Isro team is the on the job at IsroTelemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here." Chandrayaan-2 ...

"Let's pray for the successful soft-landing" -- that pretty much sums up the mood at Isro ahead of Saturday's highly crucial event of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Nervous and anxious for sure, but the city-headquartered space agency is cautiously optimistic of "Vikram" module's soft-landing on the Lunar surface planned in the early hours of Saturday. "Everybody is tight-lipped. I am also tight lipped. Let the event be over", a senior official associated with the mission said on Thursday. "Every body's mind is only on what's happening in the (Chandrayaan-2) spacecraft and lander ('Vikram'). Let's all pray for the successful soft-landing," the official said. Chairman of Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation) K Sivan recently said the space agency "had done everything humanly possible" for the mission's success. Top space scientists have also expressed confidence about the success of th...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro's) workhorse PSLV-C46, carrying RISAT-2B , a radar-imaging earth observation satellite, took off successfully from the Sriharikota space port. The satellite will beef up India’s surveillance capabilities in the sky. After a successful countdown that started at 04:30 a.m. (IST) on Tuesday, the rocket was launched at 05:30 a.m. on Wednesday early morning as scheduled from the the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, near Chennai. About 15 minutes into flight, the rocket placed RISAT-2B into an orbit of about 555 km. Stating that he was extremely happy to announce that PSLV-C46 has successfully injected RISAT-2B in precise orbit, Isro chairman K Sivan said with this mission, the PSLV rocket had crossed the landmark of lofting of 50 tonnes since it started flying. Adding that the PSLV satellite has put into orbit 350 satellites, he said, “The rocket had a piggy back payload, the indigenously developed Vikram computer chip that...

The Indian Space Research Organisation is all set to launch its 40th communication satellite GSAT-31 on Wednesday from the spaceport in French Guiana. The satellite with a mission life of 15 years will provide continuity to operational services on some of the in-orbit satellites and augment the Ku-band transponder capacity in Geostationary Orbit, the space agency said. In a statement, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said the satellite, weighing about 2,535 kg, is scheduled for launch onboard the Ariane-5 (VA247) from Kourou in French Guiana. "The satellite GSAT-31 is configured on ISRO's enhanced I-2K Bus, utilising the maximum bus capabilities of this type. The satellite derives its heritage from ISROs earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series. The satellite provides Indian mainland and island coverage," the agency said. ISRO also said the GSAT-31 will be used for supporting VSAT networks , television uplinks, digital satellite news gathering, ...

On December 28, the Government of India okayed India’s first human spaceflight programme at a cost of Rs 9,023 crore. The programme will attempt to launch three Indian astronauts to low-Earth orbit for as many as seven days. If the mission – slated to happen in 2022 – succeeds, India will become only the fourth country in the world able to launch astronauts into space. It is not yet clear what the astronauts will do in space. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is leading the programme, has said they will perform some science experiments on their first flight but nothing of what comes after. But there’s no doubt that there are a lot of possibilities, and that astronauts – Indian and otherwise – have lots left to do in the coming decades. They’re crucial in everything from extraterrestrial mining to Mars missions, space diplomacy to weaponisation,. In this sense, it is important for space organisations to maintain a keen awareness of their spacefarers’ f...

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is planning to launch India's earth observation satellite Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) and 30 small satellites from eight countries on November 29. ISRO said that the Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle Core Alone variant (PSLV-CA) will fly with the 380 kg HysIS satellite and 30 overseas satellites together weighing 261.5 kg. The PSLV rocket is a four-stage launch vehicle with alternating solid and liquid stages/engines. The entire mission will be completed in just over 112 minutes after the rocket’s liftoff, said Isro sources. Just over 17 minutes into the flight, the PSLV rocket will place the HysIS satellite with a mission lifespan of five years in 636 km polar sun synchronous orbit. After that, the rocket will be brought to lower altitude to about 503 km from 642 km, said the space agency. The Indian space agency has earlier done a satellite mission for over two hours in January 2018. Read ...

The ISRO is working on building smaller launch vehicles that will carry satellites weighing 500 to 700 kg to up to 500 kilometres from the earth's surface, its chief, K Sivan, said Thursday. Speaking at the inaugural session of the Bengaluru Space Expo 2018, a biennial event organised by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Sivan said the agency was planning to open incubation centres at six places in the country to encourage innovation and start-ups. He said the academia and the industry are two strong pillars of the ISRO and urged the industry to come forward and share the agency's "load". "The demand for small satellites is growing. Small satellites are going to be used for communication purposes in an enormous way. To catch up with the small satellites market, ISRO is in the process of developing a small satellite launcher," he said. ALSO READ: Isro wants private players to take over PSLV, satellite production by 2020 These satell...