Antariksham #16
GSLV-F10/EOS-3 Mission Failure, ISRO Merchandise, Chandrayaan-2 finds unambiguous signs of water in the Moon's sunlit areas, Mission ISRO S02, Job Opportunities in Indian Space Sector and more.
ISRO News
GSLV-F10 Mission Failure
After a wait of more than 1.5 years, GISAT-1, dubbed EOS-3, finally lifted off from Sriharikota onboard GSLV-F10 on August 12. The Cryogenic Upper Stage engine did not ignite around 5 to 6 minutes into the flight, and the mission could not be accomplished.
The lift-off and first two stages performed normally before the technical anomaly prevented the third stage from igniting. This indicates there is some problem with the CUS engine. The issue could be of two types, in processes or technical design.
Process means that the various processes undertaken to develop and test the engine may have damaged the engine, resulting in the failure. This type of issue can be corrected in a faster and easier way. A technical design flaw will instead mean that a longer time frame is needed.
There is another alert, though. As GSLV Mk3, a separate launch vehicle uses a CUS engine as well. The problem can affect future launches of some important missions like Chandrayaan 3 and Gaganyaan. GSLV-Mk3 uses an entirely different engine than its Mk2 brother. Therefore, if there is a design flaw, it won't affect GSLV-Mk3. But if a fault is found in the processes, it may affect future missions of both launch vehicles.
In any case, GSLV-Mk2 is still vital to the future missions of the space agency. Indian Data Relay satellites IDRSS-1 and IDRSS-2, navigation satellite IRNSS-1J and joint NASA mission NISAR are all expected to launch onboard GSLV-Mk2. This failure would result in some delay for all these missions. As IDRSS satellites are an essential part of the overall Gaganyaan ecosystem, this failure has indirectly impacted the mission.
ISRO has formed a Failure Analysis Committee (FAC), which is expected to submit a report within a month. Let's hope details of this report will be made public.
ISRO Merchandise, some more launched
Two companies had already launched their merchandise, as reported in the last Antariksham. 1947Ind. is offering ISRO apparel consisting of T-shirts and Hoodies. Indic Inspirations offers scaled models, mugs, jigsaw puzzles and more. A few more companies have launched their products now.
Ankur Hobby Center has some science kits and DIY model kits of ISRO rockets and satellites. These are very aptly prices that will be affordable for a large section of the Indian audience.
Rocketeers launched some postcards, bookmarks and mugs while they offer model rocket kits. They are the only company in India to provide rocket kits.
While not an official sponsor, Bombay Watch Company has released a new collection commemorating the fifty years of Indian Space Exploration. The series called apogee is a collection of space-themed high-end watches starting at around Rs 68,000. This article features all the details of the watch.
"The caseback features 3D-embossed satellite orbiting the Earth, an image of Aryabhatta – first Indian indigenous satellite – along with text celebrating five decades of Indian Space Exploration."
BRICS Space Agencies leaders signed an agreement for cooperation in Remote sensing satellite data sharing
On August 18, 2021, a meeting of the heads of the space departments of the BRICS countries was held virtually.
The event was attended by Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of the State Corporation Roscosmos, President of the Brazilian Space Agency Carlos Augusto Teixera de Moura, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization Dr K. Siwan, Head of the Chinese National Space Administration Zhang Kejian, Executive Director of the South African National Space Agency Dr Valanathan Munsami, representatives of the foreign affairs agencies of the BRICS countries.
During the meeting, the heads of space agencies signed an agreement on cooperation in the exchange of satellite data for Earth remote sensing. The agreement will facilitate cooperation between the space agencies of the BRICS countries in the creation of a virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites and data exchange, which will help solve such problems as climate change, environmental protection and elimination of the consequences of natural man-made disasters.
source, translated by Google, ISRO statement
Other ISRO Updates and Articles
Confirmation of Alpha Particle Spectrometer (APS) for the upcoming ISRO-JAXA mission to study the volatile transport on the Moon - source_1, source_2
Possibility of a lander mission for Mars, a couple of talks mentioned the concept in the past few days. Links to talks are below.
Indian Planetary and Space Missions
It also mentions a new milestone achieved by CLASS payload onboard Chandrayaan-2 orbiter: CLASS payload is so sensitive that it could record K-alpha (Kα) spectral peak of Oxygen, something that it was never originally intended to detect.
ISRO's first asteroid mission would probably be a fly-by mission en route Venus or MarsVSSC Director S Somanath presentation on 'Reaching the sky: Indian Launch Vehicles'. Two sections: Historical overview and Upcoming Capabilities
A trisonic wind tunnel is being constructed at VSSC, Thumba. The settling chamber for the same will be moved from Kollam to Thumba in a week-long coordinated road trip.
Papers
Chandrayaan-2 orbiter payload IIRS detects water on the Moon
Chauhan, Prakash, et al. "Unambiguous detection of OH and H2O on the Moon from Chandrayaan-2 Imaging Infrared Spectrometer reflectance data using 3 μm hydration feature." Current Science (00113891) 121.3 (2021). https://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/121/03/0391.pdf
Abstract:
"Imaging Infrared Spectrometer (IIRS) onboard Chandrayaan-2 is designed to measure lunar reflected and emitted solar radiation in 0.8–5.0 μm spectral range. Its high spatial resolution (~80 m) and extended spectral range is most suitable to completely characterize lunar hydration (2.8–3.5 μm region) attributed to the presence of OH and/or H2O. Here we present initial results from IIRS reflectance data analysed to unambiguously detect and quantify lunar 3 μm absorption feature. After pre-processing and data-reduction, a physics based thermal correction analysis of IIRS reflectance spectra has been done using co-located temperature measurements. Hydration absorption was observed at all latitudes and surface types with varying degrees for all pixels in the study area and its absorption depth shows distinct variability associated with mineralogy, surface temperature and latitude."
Articles:
ISRO-SAC instrument finds presence of hydroxyl and water molecules on Moon
Isro's Chandrayaan 2 orbiter discovers water molecules on Moon's surface
NewSpace India
Spend time exploring and finding what you love doing: Interview with Awais Ahmed, CEO & Co-Founder Pixxel Inc.
Podcasts and Discussions
ISRO, CII to organise an international conference on space from Sept 13-Oct 4
Webinar Alert: A guide to selecting an ADCS for a small satellite mission. Register here.
Clubhouse Space Clubs: Small Steps & Giant Leaps, every Friday and Space Smurfs, regular discussions
Mission ISRO Podcast Season 02 released.
Read more about how the podcast was produced here.
Early days of ISRO as told by Project Director for APPLE: In the latest episode of the NewSpace India podcast, Vasagam talks about his experiences in ISRO starting from time spent in MIT planning India's first GEO communication satellite to then managing it as its project director.
Job Openings
Engineering Graduate, Technician and Trade Apprentices for the year 2021-22 at Space Applications Centre, ISRO
Junior Research Fellows at India's first Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project at Amity University, Mumbai
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