India Space Indian Space Program

[Nilgiri]

We are talking about the space economy as a whole here, estimated at around 400 - 500 billion USD currently in the world and projected to reach around 1 trillion USD by 2040 (and maybe sooner).

Space launch revenue represents maybe around 15 billion USD revenue in comparison ~3% of the space economy.

So while it is important for India to keep and have a significant foot in the door there (especially given the strategic benefit) till more breakouts can be achieved down road with more technological innovation and maturity of scale then, it specifically is not the larger picture by far for the ecosystem development being talked about in the interview.

The larger Indian space economy will be expanded and guided price-signalling, investment and capacity wise largely by India's 3.5 trillion market capitalisation, ~ 65 unicorns and other very positive forces, using what ISRO has kept relatively closer to chest till now given slower pace of earlier era of Indian private sector.

This video goes through (in quite some detail) where a large part of the future growth in space sector will be @Rodeo et al :

It is a 1 year old interview but it contains several pertinent points @Rodeo et al:

23.30 mark, breaks down the space business pie into launch(3%) , sat manufacture (7%) and app (~ 90% implied)

The previous parts of this interview also talk about the earlier stuff you were enquiring w.r.t SLV/ASLV to PSLV and then GSLV

A more recent interview that @Gessler et al might find interesting watch too:

 

[Rodeo]

It is a 1 year old interview but it contains several pertinent points @Rodeo et al:

23.30 mark, breaks down the space business pie into launch(3%) , sat manufacture (7%) and app (~ 90% implied)

The previous parts of this interview also talk about the earlier stuff you were enquiring w.r.t SLV/ASLV to PSLV and then GSLV

A more recent interview that @Gessler et al might find interesting watch too:

I wanted ChatGPT to break down the $447 billions space economy to its constituents. This is its response;

"Sure, the $447 billion global space economy in 2020 can be broken down into the following categories:

1. Satellite Manufacturing: This includes the production of satellites, their components, and associated ground equipment. In 2020, the global satellite manufacturing market was estimated to be worth $20.9 billion.
2. Launch Services: This includes the cost of launching satellites into orbit. In 2020, the global launch services market was estimated to be worth $5.6 billion.
3. Satellite Services: This includes the provision of satellite-based services such as navigation, communication, remote sensing, and Earth observation. In 2020, the global satellite services market was estimated to be worth $133.5 billion.
4. Government Space Budgets: This includes the budgets allocated by governments around the world for space activities such as research and development, space exploration, and national security. In 2020, the global government space budgets were estimated to be worth $102.3 billion.
5. Commercial Space Products and Services: This includes other space-related activities such as space tourism, space mining, and the development of new technologies. In 2020, the global commercial space products and services market was estimated to be worth $184.7 billion."

The launch services make up a little over 1 percent of the whole market.

 

[Gessler]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1644040599576903681

 

[Nilgiri]

@Gessler @TR_123456 @Rodeo @fire starter @Zapper et al.

Some more footage released:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1644748557583548421

 

[TR_123456]

@Gessler @TR_123456 @Rodeo @fire starter @Zapper et al.

Some more footage released:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1644748557583548421

I admire your space program.

 

[Zapper]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1645660253474947072

 

[Nilgiri]

It is a kerolox monster, wonder if India will go for this?

With war curbs on Russian engine exports, Moscow keen on selling its rocket engine RD-191 to India | India News - Times of India

India News: With the Ukraine war putting an end to exports of a widely-used Russian rocket engine to the western market, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: With the Ukraine war putting an end to exports of a widely-used Russian rocket engine to the western market, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos is planning to sell RD-191 engines to India.

Russia's space agency said on Monday that it is discussing supplies of RD-191 rocket engines to India, Russian news agency Interfax reported. RD-191 is a high-performance single-combustion chamber rocket engine and is fuelled by a kerosene and liquid oxygen mixture.

These RD-191 engines were used in Russia’s Angara family of rocket boosters and a variant of the same engine, RD-181, was also used by American aerospace and defence technology corporation Northrop Grumman. Two RD-181 engines have also been used on the first stage of each Antares, which is currently used to carry cargo to the International Space Station under contract to Nasa.

With the US putting curbs on the Russian engine, Moscow is eyeing the mushrooming space market of India.

On asking about the imports of the Russian rocket engine, Isro chairman S Somanath told TOI, “They are offering it (rocket engine) to all potential users. They have been selling it to the US. (However,) we have not accepted such offers yet.”

Isro itself is developing a semi-cryogenic engine that uses eco-friendly kerosene as propellant. The advantage of using this semi-cryogenic engine in the launcher is that it uses refined kerosene, which is lighter than liquid fuel and can be stored at a normal temperature. The current fuel — a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen — is heavier than kerosene and has to be stored at freezing temperatures of -253 degrees Celsius. The advantage of using the semi-cryogenic engine is the payload capacity of the launch vehicle can be increased from 4 tonnes to 6 tonnes.

Isro currently uses several variants of two types of launch vehicles — PSLV and GSLV — to put in space different categories of satellites. The maximum carrying capacity of its heavy-lifter GSLV Mk III or LVM 3 is around 4 tonnes. However, it is planning to increase the payload capacity to 5-6 tonnes in near future. Thus the kerosene-fuelled engine, once developed, can help in lifting a 6-tonne satellite. With Russia offering the RD-191 engine to India, Isro has an option of using this high-performance engine if its own engine project is taking time.

 

[Nilgiri]

629,042 views Oct 2, 2021

India's Space Research Organization has managed to develop a world class space program and a series of launch vehicles that have multiplied their payload capabilities by hundreds of times between the SLV-3 able to place 40kg into orbit to the GSLV MKIII which can place 10 tons into orbit.

Starting with the SLV in the late 1970's a and all the way up to the modern GSLV India has been heavily reliant on solid rocket motors to deliver their payloads, they've developed their own 200ton solid rocket motors, comparable to those used by the US and Arianespace.

India's main liquid fueled engine is the Vikas, derived from Europe's Viking, but evolved with greater capabilities. India also developed hydrolox engine technology on their own and have high performance upper stages on their GSLV rockets.

 

[Nilgiri]

PSLV-C55: ISRO TeLEOS-2 mission to launch 2 Singaporean satellites; countdown begins

The 44.4-metre rocket is scheduled for lift off from the first launchpad at 2.19 pm on Saturday at the spaceport about 135 km from Chennai.

thesouthfirst.com

The 44.4-metre rocket is scheduled for lift off from the first launchpad at 2.19 pm on Saturday at the spaceport about 135 km from Chennai.​

The 22.5-hour countdown for the launch of two Singapore satellites on board a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) commenced on Friday, 21 April, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

It is a dedicated commercial mission through NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) with TeLEOS-2 as the primary satellite and Lumelite-4 as the co-passenger satellite that would be deployed into low Earth orbit by ISRO’s trusted workhorse PSLV C55.

The 44.4-metre-tall rocket is scheduled for lift-off from the first launch pad at 2.19 pm at the spaceport located about 135 km from Chennai.

About the TeLEOS-2 and Lumelite-4 satellites​

The TeLEOS-2 is a synthetic aperture radar satellite developed under a partnership between the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA), representing the Government of Singapore, and ST Engineering.

After deployment of the satellite into the 586 km orbit, it would be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore. The TeLEOS-2 would be used to provide all-weather day and night coverage and is capable of imaging at 1-metre full polarimetric resolution for Singapore.

The Lumelite-4 satellite is co-developed by the Institute for Infocomm Research and Satellite Technology and Research Centre of the National University of Singapore.

It is an advanced 12U satellite developed for the technological demonstration of the high-performance space-borne VHF data exchange system (VDES). The objective of the satellite is to augment Singapore’s e-navigation maritime safety and benefit the global shipping community, ISRO said.

Also Read: ISRO places 3 satellites in orbit in maiden success of SSLV programme​

Of POEM-2 and the payloads​

Apart from deploying the two satellites nearly 20 minutes after lift-off, scientists at ISRO have planned to carry out an in-orbit scientific experiment using the spent PS4-stage as an orbital platform through the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) 2 in this mission.

The mission has the POEM-2 where the PS4 stage of the launch vehicle would be utilised as an orbital platform to carry out scientific experiments through non-separating payloads.

The seven payloads belong to ISRO, Bellatrix, Dhruva Space and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

The payloads on POEM-2 would be powered by scientists after the primary and co-passenger satellites are separated. The platform would have a solar panel which would be deployed facing towards the Sun to increase its power generation capability.

The power would be provided to payloads and avionic packages based on their requirements.

Also Read: ISRO carries out controlled re-entry of Megha-Tropiques-1 satellite​

The PSLV-C55 mission​

ISRO Chairman S Somanath, after the successful launch of LVM3 to deploy 36 OneWeb satellites in March said the space agency was working on another commercial mission and the scientists would be using the new integration facility for PSLV-C55 mission developed at Sriharikota.

The PSLV-C55 mission has been adopted with the “integrate, transfer and launch” concept using the PSLV integration facility (PIF).

Saturday’s mission would be the 57th flight of PSLV and the 16th mission using the PSLV Core Alone configuration.

In December 2015, ISRO successfully placed the TeLEOS-1 satellite in the PSLV-C29 mission along with five other satellites of Singapore into a 550 km circular orbit.

 

[Gessler]

PSLV-C55 mission completed successfully - all satellites in orbit.

 

[Nilgiri]

 

[Nilgiri]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1649752465192124422

 

[Nilgiri]

India and Japan will land a rover in the dark side of the moon after Chandrayaan-3 mission​

 

[Nilgiri]

Tests commenced on Semicryogenic engine at IPRC, Mahendragiri

Tests commenced on Semicryogenic engine at IPRC, Mahendragiri

May 10, 2023

Today, ISRO carried out the first integrated test on an intermediate configuration of the 2000kN Semicryogenic Engine at the newly commissioned Semicryogenic Integrated Engine & Stage Test facility at the ISRO Propulsion Complex(IPRC), Mahendragiri. The intermediate configuration, designated as Power Head Test Article (PHTA), comprises all the engine systems except the thrust chamber. The test is the first of a series of tests planned to validate the design of the propellant feed system, including the low-pressure and high-pressure turbo-pumps, the gas generator, and control components.

The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of ISRO has undertaken the design &development of a Semicryogenic engine with 2000 kN thrust with Indian industry participation, and will power the booster stages of future launch vehicles and works on Liquid Oxygen (LOX)-Kerosene propellant combination. The test on May 10, 2023, is a major milestone beforeintegrating the complete engine and its qualification. This test demonstrated the complex chill-down operations spanning about 15 hours duration that was conducted successfully, meeting all the required conditions for engine start.After the chill down of the LOX circuit, the feed circuit of kerosene was filled, and LOX was admitted into the gas generator by opening the injection valve. Successful performance of the test article helps derive the sequence of operations for further tests.

The newly established test facility at IPRC, Mahendragiri, with a state-of-art PLC-based control system and data acquisition system, is capable of testing semi-cryogenic engines up to 2600 kN thrust and will support the subsequent testing and qualification of the fully integrated Semicryogenic engine and stage.This test has demonstrated the successful performance of the test facility and power head test article in the first attempt itself.


Power Head Test Article test at Semicryo Test Stand

Power Head Test Article

Semicryo Test Stand (panoramic view)

 

[Gessler]

Tests commenced on Semicryogenic engine at IPRC, Mahendragiri

Tests commenced on Semicryogenic engine at IPRC, Mahendragiri

May 10, 2023

Today, ISRO carried out the first integrated test on an intermediate configuration of the 2000kN Semicryogenic Engine at the newly commissioned Semicryogenic Integrated Engine & Stage Test facility at the ISRO Propulsion Complex(IPRC), Mahendragiri. The intermediate configuration, designated as Power Head Test Article (PHTA), comprises all the engine systems except the thrust chamber. The test is the first of a series of tests planned to validate the design of the propellant feed system, including the low-pressure and high-pressure turbo-pumps, the gas generator, and control components.

The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of ISRO has undertaken the design &development of a Semicryogenic engine with 2000 kN thrust with Indian industry participation, and will power the booster stages of future launch vehicles and works on Liquid Oxygen (LOX)-Kerosene propellant combination. The test on May 10, 2023, is a major milestone beforeintegrating the complete engine and its qualification. This test demonstrated the complex chill-down operations spanning about 15 hours duration that was conducted successfully, meeting all the required conditions for engine start.After the chill down of the LOX circuit, the feed circuit of kerosene was filled, and LOX was admitted into the gas generator by opening the injection valve. Successful performance of the test article helps derive the sequence of operations for further tests.

The newly established test facility at IPRC, Mahendragiri, with a state-of-art PLC-based control system and data acquisition system, is capable of testing semi-cryogenic engines up to 2600 kN thrust and will support the subsequent testing and qualification of the fully integrated Semicryogenic engine and stage.This test has demonstrated the successful performance of the test facility and power head test article in the first attempt itself.


Power Head Test Article test at Semicryo Test Stand

Power Head Test Article

Semicryo Test Stand (panoramic view)

This is such an important step forward.

This engine is the core of ISRO's future launch vehicle ambitions.

For perspective, the SCE-200 is roughly in similar thrust class as the Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 that powers the SLS (Artemis) and the Space Shuttle previously. It's also more than twice as much thrust as the SpaceX Merlin 1D.

Of course, the Artemis rockets use 4 x RS-25s in a clustered config:

..and that's the plan for us as well:

Though stages with a single engine will also exist for different rockets & configurations.

 

[Nilgiri]

Qualification of Crew Module Propulsion System for Gaganyaan Programme completed

May 12, 2023

Today, the final test in a series of tests, was completed to qualify the Crew Module Propulsion System for the Gaganyaan Programme. The test was conducted for a duration of 602.94 s and all the parameters were as expected. With this test, the Crew Module Propulsion System has undergone 14 tests under nominal and off-nominal conditions for a cumulative duration of 3429 seconds. The system, consisting of 12 Nos. of 100 N thrusters and associated flow control components, will provide three-axis control to the Crew Module during re-entry i.e from an altitude of 170 km to 7 km till the deployment of the parachute-based deceleration system. The Crew Module Propulsion System was designed and developed at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of ISRO and the tests were carried out in the test facility at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri

Crew Module Propulsion System-System Demonstration Model

 

[Gessler]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1658109573251645444

 

[Gessler]

Chandrayaan-3 mission has received dates!

Launch onboard LVM3 on July 12th

Landing on Moon on August 23rd

 

[Nilgiri]

Next launch is coming up

ISRO to launch NVS-01 navigation satellite on May 29

"The launch of the GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission is scheduled on Monday, May 29 at 10:42 hours IST from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota," the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in a release on Monday. Subsequent orbit raising manoeuvres will be used...

economictimes.indiatimes.com

 

[Chocopie]

India's rocket engine and space programs are doing really well. Impressive milestones achieved in this field dominated by US, Europe, Russia and China.

Curious, why many Indian weapon development and defense procurement programs aren't going as well ...