The Ministry of External Affairs and ISRO's commercial arm NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) signed an agreement on Saturday to grant assistance for the launching of the Nepal-built Munal satellite, according to an official statement. Munal is an indigenous satellite developed in Nepal under the aegis of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), the MEA said. Antarikchya Pratishan Nepal (APN), a Nepalese space startup, has assisted Nepalese students in the design and fabrication of this satellite. The satellite aims to build a vegetation density database of the earth's surface, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in the statement. The MoU was signed by Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary (North) from MEA and Arunachalam A, Director from NSIL. Rabindra Prasad Dhakal, Secretary, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Surendra Thapa, Charg d'affaires of Nepali Embassy and Abhas Maskey, Founder, Antarikchya Pratishan Nepal (APN) were also present on the ...
The satellite launch project was the cherry on top of a long list of projects the two countries had agreed upon in recent years
In view of the recent natural disasters like the landslide in Kerala, where many people are trapped under debris, ISRO chairman S Somanath on Saturday said only a certain depth of filtration is possible with space technology and could not be relied on for finding those people. The ISRO chief was answering a question in this regard in the outreach programme organised by ISRO, #asksomanatisro on Instagram. There are limitations of space-based sensors to locate objects that are buried under debris, which is currently an issue. It is not possible to detect what is deep under the ground from space. A certain depth of filtration is always possible by radar signals, but it is not possible to find, say, underground channels or petroleum deposits and deep minerals, added Somanath. Answering another question during #asksomanathisro, on the Space Flight Agreement with NASA-identified service provider announced on August 2, through which two Gaganyatris' will train to be backup mission pilots,
Group Captain Prashant Balakrishnan Nair will serve as Shukla's deputy astronaut in the mission
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair have been selected for an upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Friday. This has been done on the recommendation of the NASA-identified service provider Axiom Space Inc, sources in the ISRO told PTI. In an official release, the ISRO said its Human Space Flight Centre has entered into a space flight agreement with US' Axiom Space Inc, for its fourth mission to the ISS and a National Mission Assignment Board has "recommended two 'gaganyatris' (space travellers) --Group Captain Shukla (prime) and Group Captain Nair (backup)". "The assigned crewmembers will be finally approved to fly to the International Space Station by the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP). The recommended gaganyatris will commence their training for the mission from the first week of August 2024," ISRO said. During the mission, the 'gaganyatris'
Ladakh has been chosen as the location for India’s first Mars and Moon analogue research station, where scientists can simulate activities for Moon and Mars missions. Watch the video to know why.
The historic success of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon has captured the attention of several startups to tap the Indian space sector, said former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan. Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa said the achievements of space scientists and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) should be celebrated. Rajaa and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan took part in the launch of space technology accelerator "Vaanam" (Tamil word meaning sky) backed by its co-founders Sameer Bharat Ram and Hariharan Vedamurthy, on Wednesday. The space tech aims to nurture startups in the space sector by offering its expertise including seed fundings among others. "We are evaluating about 6 startups this year (to offer its expertise)", Ram said. According to him, the Indian space economy pegged at USD 13 billion is expected to touch USD 44 billion in 10 years. Ram said Nambi Narayanan and actor Madhavan, who played the role of Narayanan himself, in the multilingua
India is preparing to send an astronaut to the International Space Station as part of a collaborative mission with Nasa and Axiom Space, Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed the Lok Sabha
In her Union Budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Agristack DPI while adding that it will bring over six crore farmers under the formal land registry system
The astronaut duo will start training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas in August this year; one of the two astronauts will join the upcoming Indo-US space mission to the ISS
Union Budget 2024-25: Indian space economy is expected to grow to $44 billion by 2033
The Ministry of Earth Sciences gears up to harness advanced technologies and expand infrastructure for precise climate prediction and intervention
Union Budget 2024: The space sector in India is expected to reach $44 billion by 2033. Industry leaders call for incentives to push private sector growth
India's first solar mission Aditya-L1 spacecraft completed its first halo orbit around the Sun-Earth L1 point on Tuesday, ISRO said. The space agency said its station-keeping manoeuvre on Tuesday ensured its seamless transition into the second halo orbit. The Aditya-L1 mission, which is an Indian solar observatory at Lagrangian point L1, was launched on September 2, 2023 and was inserted in its targeted halo orbit on January 6, 2024. According to ISRO, Aditya-L1 spacecraft in the halo orbit takes 178 days to complete a revolution around the L1 point. During its travel in the halo orbit, Aditya-L1 spacecraft will be subjected to various perturbing forces that will cause it to depart from the targeted orbit, the space agency said. "Aditya-L1 underwent two station-keeping manoeuvres on February 22 and June 7, respectively, to maintain this orbit. Today's third station-keeping manoeuvre has ensured that its travel continued in the second halo orbit path around L1, ISRO said. The agen
The Chandrayaan-3 mission's Pragyan rover found small rock fragments scattered around the rim, wall slopes, and floor of small craters in the southern high-latitude landing area
Isro chief S Somanath expressed willingness to accommodate PM Modi on a future spaceflight, highlighting the ongoing development of human spaceflight capability
The CBI has filed a chargesheet against two former DGPs, Siby Mathews of Kerala and R B Sreekumar of Gujarat, and three other retired police officials in connection with the alleged framing of space scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage case, officials said. Three years after registering a case in 2021 following the Supreme Court's directions, the CBI has filed its chargesheet against then deputy inspector general of police Mathews, who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the 1994 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) espionage case, Sreekumar, who was the deputy director in the Intelligence Bureau, P S Jayaprakash, who was then posted in the SIB-Kerala, then deputy superintendent of police K K Joshua and inspector S Vijayan. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has charged them under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 342 (wrongful confinement), 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to extract a confession), 167 (creating false documents), 193 .
ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday said there is not enough internal demand for the satellite launch market in India but it can be created through more work on the application of satellite technology. Addressing the India Space Congress 2024, he said big companies are willing to enter the space sector but they are concerned about the timeline for breaking even and securing orders. "When I talk to many of those industries who are willing to come and set up facilities, they are all very ready to do it. But they are asking when they are going to break even and where the orders are so that they can safely invest in this. I think this is a big question. "It is the bigger challenge of convincing investors to come in a big way in big state projects," the leading space scientist said. At a press conference on the sidelines of the Space Congress, he said, "We need to create more internal demand. That implies internal demand is not enough. All of us are working towards that. The demand wi
The seven-member panel met on Monday evening, under the chairmanship of former Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Radhakrishnan
The Ministry of Education said Saturday it has constituted a high-level committee of experts led by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through the National Testing Agency (NTA). The seven-member committee will make recommendations on reforms in the mechanism of the examination process, improvement in data security protocols and the structure and functioning of the NTA, the Department of Higher Education in the ministry said. It added that the committee will submit its report to the ministry within two months. Central University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Professor B J Rao and former director of AIIMS Delhi Randeep Guleria are on the panel.