Page 9 - Isro Projects

Let Pragyan rover sleep peacefully now but hope is still there: Isro chief

ISRO chairman S Somnath on Thursday said Chandrayaan-3's rover Pragyan has fallen asleep on the lunar surface, but chances of it waking up from its slumber cannot be ruled out. He said the space agency is well aware of the risk involved if the rover and the lander Vikram fell asleep on the moon's surface. The objective of Chandrayaan-3 mission was soft landing, and the subsequent experiments for the next 14 days and all the required data have been collected, he noted. Somnath was speaking at the Manorama News Conclave 2023 here organised by the Malayala Manorama group. "Now it is sleeping peacefully there...Let it sleep well..Let us not disturb it...When it wants to get up on its own, it will...that's what I want to say about it right now," he said. Asked whether ISRO still hopes that the rover would come back to life, the Chairman replied, "there is reason to be hopeful." Citing reasons for his "hope", Somnath said a lander and a rover were involved in the mission. As the lander

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Isro 'very busy' with various exploration missions in pipeline: Chairman

ISRO has lined up a series of exploration missions including to Mars, Venus and to the Moon again, apart from the maiden human spaceflight programme, Chairman S Somanath said on Sunday. The space agency also has drawn up plans to launch missions for studying climate and weather conditions of the Earth, the space agency chief said, speaking to reporters. Besides, ISRO is also working on regular scientific missions including communication, remote sensing satellites, Somanath, who is also the Secretary of the Department of Space, said here. Speaking about the Gaganyaan programme, he said the maiden TV-D1 test flight is scheduled for October 21. Elaborating about the upcoming missions undertaken by the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency, he said, We have exploration missions. We have plans to go to Mars, Venus, again sometime to the Moon. We also have programmes to look at the climate and weather of Earth. Stressing that the scientists at ISRO would be focused on taking up regular .

'Isro to hold more tests under Gaganyaan mission after maiden test flight'

ISRO will conduct three more test vehicle missions under the ambitious Gaganyaan programme after the maiden TV-D1 test flight, which is scheduled on October 21, the space agency's chairman S Somanath said on Saturday. The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of the human spaceflight capability by launching a human crew to an orbit of 400 km and bringing them safely back to earth by landing in Indian sea waters. The test vehicle development flight (TV-D1) will be conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to test the crew module that is scheduled to house Indian astronauts during the human spaceflight late next year. "The first test vehicle flight (of the Gaganyaan mission) will be conducted on October 21. After that we have planned for three more test missions, D2, D3, D4. We will hold thorough tests during the test flight sequence," Somanath, who is also the secretary, Department of Space, told reporters in Madurai. He was here to participat

ISRO to conduct first test flight of Gaganyaan around October 25

The test flight to demonstrate the abort capabilities for Gaganyaan is scheduled around October 25, senior authorities from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said

Aditya-L1's manoeuvre performed to ensure spacecraft on intended path

Isro in its X timeline write that the manoeuvre was needed to correct the trajectory evaluated after tracking the Trans-Lagrangean Point 1 Insertion (TL1I) manoeuvre performed on September 19

We have roadmap, will have launch soon: Veeramuthuvel on Gaganyaan mission

Meanwhile, The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has started preparations for unmanned flight tests as part of the Gaganyaan mission, the agency said on Saturday

Isro gears up for Gaganyaan mission's 1st abort test of crew escape system

ISRO plans to undertake an inflight abort test of the crew escape system by this month-end using a test vehicle developed as part of the country's ambitious maiden human spaceflight venture Gaganyaan. "Preparations are going on. All vehicle systems have reached Sriharikota (for the launch). Final assembly is progressing. We are getting ready for launch by the end of October," Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) S Unnikrishnan Nair told PTI on Thursday. "(With) this crew escape system, we will demonstrate (validate) in different conditions like high dynamic pressure and for transonic conditions," Nair added Thiruvananthapuram-based VSSC is the lead centre of ISRO under the Department of Space. An ISRO official said the crew escape system (CES) is the most important element in Gaganyaan. According to ISRO officials, this month's launch of the test vehicle TV-D1 would be the first of the four abort missions of the Gaganyaan programme. It would be followed by the second te

Adtya-L1 spacecraft successfully escapes sphere of Earth's influence: Isro

ISRO said on Saturday the Aditya-L1 spacecraft has travelled beyond a distance of 9.2 lakh km from Earth, successfully escaping the sphere of Earth's influence. It is now navigating its path towards the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1), the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. "This is the second time in succession that ISRO could send a spacecraft outside the sphere of influence of the Earth, the first time being the Mars Orbiter Mission," it said. The ISRO said earlier this month the Aditya-L1 solar mission spacecraft has commenced collecting data which will help scientists analyse the behaviour of particles surrounding Earth. Data collected around L1 would provide insights into the origin, acceleration, and anisotropy of solar wind and space weather phenomena, it said. The launch of Aditya-L1 by PSLV-C57 rocket was successfully accomplished by ISRO on September 2. Aditya-L1 spacecraft carries a total seven different payloads

Mission to Venus already configured: Isro chairman post Chandrayaan-3 plans

Calling it an interesting planet, Isro chief S Somnath said that studying Venus could answer several questions in the space science field

Isro excels as no individual here is penalised for failures, says Somanath

Failures are a very natural part of the space sector but no individual is penalised for it at ISRO which encourages scientists to take novel approaches in decision-making, the space agency's chairman S Somanath said on Wednesday. Speaking at the 50th anniversary of the All India Management Association (AIMA), Somanath, who played a key role in the soft-landing of a spacecraft on the moon, noted that even he had faced failures several times, but never got criticised for it by his seniors. "We make sure that no single individual is penalised for failures because no decision is made by a single individual. All these decisions are taken by collective wisdom," he said in an interactive session here. Somanath said in the space sector, there is a clear understanding that one person cannot understand everything which leads to collective decision-making. "So, collective decision means that you own the responsibility of failures as well. Management owns the responsibility, it is not fixed on

Aditya L1 takes STEPS to collect info on energetic particles from space

After India's solar mission Aditya L1 began its journey towards Lagrange point 1 following a key manoeuvre, it has started studying energetic particles in the solar wind from space, and will continue to do so for the rest of its life, a senior astrophysicist said. The study of the solar wind, the continuous flow of charged particles from the sun which permeates the solar system, will be carried out with the help of a device named Supra Thermal & Energetic Particle Spectrometer (STEPS), a part of the Aditya Solar wind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) payload. STEPS is now working from space. However, it was not sitting idle earlier. It has started functioning from within the magnetic field of the Earth since September 10 when Aditya was 52,000 kilometres above our planet, Dr Dibyendu Chakrabarty, professor of Space and Atmospheric Sciences at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) said. STEPS was developed by the PRL with support from the Space Application Centre (SAC) in ...

Isro's Aditya-L1 performs manoeuvre, craft on course to reach L1 point

Isro also informed that it marked the fifth consecutive time that the Isro had successfully transferred an object on a trajectory toward another celestial body or location in space

Chandrayaan-3: Why rover is in 'sleep mode' and other mission updates

The discovery of oxygen and sulphur on the Moon is a pivotal step towards finding water on the Moon. Isro is working towards finding hydrogen on the Moon

N Valarmathi, the voice behind ISRO's mission launch passes away at 64

N. Valarmathi, the voice behind the crucial ISRO space missions, died on Saturday night. The Tamil Nadu-born scientist was reportedly sick for some time and passed away because of cardiac arrest

Chandrayaan-3 rover has completed its tasks, is set into sleep mode: Isro

Chandrayaan 3's rover 'Pragyaan' has completed its assignments on the lunar surface and set into sleep mode, ISRO said on Saturday. The space agency's announcement came hours after its chief S Somanath said the lunar mission's rover and lander, 'Pragyaan' and 'Vikram', respectively were functioning well and they would be put to "sleep" soon to withstand the night on the Moon. "The Rover completed its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into Sleep mode. APXS and LIBS payloads are turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander," ISRO said in an update on social media platform X. At present, the battery was fully charged and the solar panel oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. "The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador," it said. Somanath had earlier in the day said the rover has moved almo

First trial flight of Gaganyaan likely next month: MoS Jitendra Singh

"Next, I think, will be the first trial flight of Gaganyaan, which might happen in the month of October. That is, next month itself," he added

PM Modi calls on President Murmu, hails success of Chandrayaan-3 mission

India also became only the fourth nation after the US, Russia and China to successfully conduct a lunar landing mission

Isro to provide next level of solar data to world with Aditya-L1: Prof

The PSLV-C57.1 rocket carrying the Aditya-L1 orbiter lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 11.50 am today

Sun will witness India's power: CM Yogi hails Isro's Aditya L-1 launch

He also extended his best wishes for the complete success of the mission