It is
expected that India's premier space agency ISRO may surpass its American
counterpart NASA in the next 10 years.
This article
will explain various factors pointing at ISRO becoming a world leader in Space
launch and exploration technology leaving the best of the best behind.
India's GDP
is growing at its fastest pace and so is ISRO's Year-on-Year budgetary
allocation. The budget for India's hi-tech space programme for the financial
year 2015-16 has been set at 73.9 billion rupees (US $1.2 billion) compared to
US $17.5 billion that America will spend on NASA this year.
But that's
not the point. The reason why ISRO is not only catching up with NASA but might
even surpass it in the next decade is because of a couple of radical Indian
space projects that are currently underway which NASA has either partly been
successful at or failed to achieve.
----------
Factor No. 1
...VENUS Exploration Orbiter >>
.
From all
indicators, the next stop for Indian Space Scientists will be planet Venus and
the mission could be launched in the next 4 years by 2019.
The rocket
containing the orbiter could be either be an advance version of the Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) or the Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV-MK-III) powered with a proven, "Made in India"
Cryogenic Engine.
The space
craft that could be sent to Venus could be similar to the radar imaging
satellite RISAT-1 which India put in orbit around Earth. The radar on the
satellite will be able to penetrate the thick clouds on Venus's atmosphere.
The primary
role of the Venus Mission would be to study its atmosphere and examine the
origin and evolution of other planets.
-----------
Factor No. 2
:: Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator >>
.
As a first
step towards realizing affordable and low cost space launch techniques, ISRO
will soon test a Two-State-To-Orbit (TSTO) fully Reusable Launch Vehicle. A
series of technology demonstration missiles have been conceived. For this
purpose, ISRO has already configured a Winged Reusable Launch Vehicle.
The RLV-TD
will act as a flying test bed to emulate various technologies like a hypersonic
flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using
air-breathing scramjet propulsion engines.
--------
Factor No. 3
:: GSLV-MK-III rockets for Human Space Flight >>
.
ISRO has
already developed and launched the next- generation GSLV called GSLV Mark III -
which is capable of launching ultra-heavy satellites and even humans in
capsules weighing 5000 kilos. In December 2014, India and the world witnessed
the successful launch of GSLV-MK-III which paved the way for the development of
much more powerful rockets. The GSLV Mark 3 was launched from the Satish Dhawan
Space Centre on the country’s southern coast and carried a three ton payload,
including its “Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE)” beyond the
Earth’s atmosphere.
It ejected
the crew unit 78 miles above the Earth and parachuted into the sea 20 minutes
later. It was recovered 111 miles from the Andaman Islands.
ISRO
officials have already stated that once the GSLV- MK-III has been tamed, the
country will be ready for Human Space Flights which could eventually lead to
the development of an Indian Space Station.
-------------
Factor No. 4
:: ADITYA - Sun Space Mission >>
.
By the year
2017, ISRO is slated to launch its first Mission to the Sun. Mission code name
is 'ADITYA'. Budgeted at Rs. 49 crore, Aditya-1 will be the first satellite
specifically designed to study the Sun's Corona.
The
satellite will help to determine why solar flares and solar winds disturb the
communication network and electronics on Earth. Initial technical studies have
established that a PSLV-XL launcher would be able to place a satellite at a
Halo Orbit around L1 point.
.
Five
Instruments have been short-listed for the Sun Mission >>
.
1. Visible
Emission Line Coronagraph
2. Solar
Ultraviolet Image Telescope
3. Aditya
Solar Wind Particle Experiment
4. Solar Low
Energy X-Ray Spectrometer
5. High
Energy L1 Orbiting X-Ray Spectrometer
more could
be added...
.
What is a
HALO Orbit ?
.
A halo orbit
is a periodic, three-dimensional orbit near the L1 L2 or L3 Lagrange points in
the three-body problem of orbital mechanics. Although a spacecraft in a halo
orbit moves in a circular path around the Lagrange point, it does not
technically orbit the actual Lagrange point, because the Lagrange point is just
an equilibrium point with no gravitational pull, but travels in a closed,
repeating path near the Lagrange point.
Halo orbits
are the result of a complicated interaction between the gravitational pull of
the two planetary bodies and the coriolis and centrifugal accelerations on a
spacecraft. Halo orbits exist in many three-body systems, such as the Sun–Earth
system and the Earth–Moon system. Continuous "families" of both
Northern and Southern halo orbits exist at each Lagrange point.
.
Because halo
orbits tend to be unstable, station
keeping is
required to keep a satellite on the orbit.
------------------------
Factor No. 5
:: Chandrayan II Moon Mission >>
.
After the scorching
success of India's first Moon Mission 'Chandrayan-I' that made India the first
country in the world to discover Water on Moon, ISRO is planning another
Mission to the Moon. Only this time it will actually design and develop a
solar-powered rover robot that will not only soft-land on the moon but will
also travel distances and conduct experiments on the surface of the Moon.
.
The mission
would carry five instruments on the orbiter. Three of them are new, while two
others are improved versions of those flown on Chandrayaan-1 orbiter.
.
The rover's
mass will be about 30–100 kg and will operate on solar power. The rover will
move on wheels on the lunar surface, pick up samples of soil or rocks, perform
on-site chemical analysis and send the data to the orbiter above, which will
relay it to the Earth station.
.
You never
know what ISRO might discover on the second Mission to the MOON that will again
make India create new world scientific records.
---------------------
Conclusion--
.
A space
agency (ISRO) with a budget so tiny is doing wonders for a country that aspires
to be not only an economic or a military Super Power but also a leader in the
World of Space Science. India's GDP is expected to double from the current $ 2
trillion to $4 trillion in the next 4 years and ISRO's budgetary allocation
will also double in that period. ISRO's leadership in low-cost space science
innovation will surely give NASA a run for its bloated multi-billion dollar
budget.
.
The day is
not far when the world will get use to the term 'Satellite-Launch-Outsourcing'
to India and the leading space agencies of the world will be put to shame by a
third-world-country.
.
ISRO has
signed commercial agreements for launching 28 satellites of six countries —
Algeria,Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore and the US during 2015-17 and
until now, 45 satellites from 19 countries have been commercially launched by
ISRO.
.
The lining
up of countries including AMERICA to launch their satellites with India's Space
Agency is itself a matter of great national pride and shows a clear path of
where ISRO is heading.
