Page 18 - Space

Indian Space Station by 2035, astronauts on moon by 2040: PM to Isro

Buoyed by the success of the Chandrayaan mission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday set ambitious goals for ISRO, asking them to set up an Indian Space Station by 2035 and send the first Indian to the moon by 2040. Modi's directions came during a briefing by ISRO Chairman S Somanath on the progress of the Gaganyaan mission, which is to have its first demonstration flight of the crew escape system on October 21, and other initiatives. India's first human space flight is now expected to take off in 2025, a PMO statement said after the meeting. During the meeting, the Prime Minister outlined the future of India's space exploration endeavours and urged scientists to work towards interplanetary missions, including a Venus Orbiter Mission and a Mars Lander and also explore the moon in greater detail. "Building on the success of Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 missions, the Prime Minister directed that India should now aim for new and ...

Isro chief Somanath conferred honorary doctorate by Bengalore University

ISRO Chairman S Somanath dedicated the honorary doctorate conferred on him by the Bangalore University on Tuesday to the team members of the recently-launched Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 missions. He sent a video message as he could not be present for the 58th annual convocation of the university to receive the honour due to his work-related commitments. "Let me also accept the degree awarded to me by the Bangalore University as a gesture of their love and affection to each and every scientist and engineer and also the technicians, the workers of the Indian Space Research Organisation who have done such stellar work of making India proud through the missions like Chandrayaan as well as Aditya-L1 in the recent times," he said in his video message which was played at the convocation ceremony. Somanath said the space agency is always focused towards bringing the benefits of space technology to the common man. "I would like to also mention today that the work in the Department of Spac

NASA Psyche Mission: All you need to know about metal asteroid mission

NASA launched an asteroid-exploring Psyche mission that may help scientists in finding answers to questions about the solar system and its origin. Here's all you need to know about Psyche mission

Mission Gaganyaan: Isro to launch 1st test vehicle flight on Oct 21 morning

ISRO on Monday said it would commence unmanned flight tests for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission with the launch of a test vehicle between 7 am and 9 am on October 21 from Sriharikota spaceport to demonstrate the performance of the crew escape system. In a message on social media platform X, the national space agency headquartered here, said, Mission Gaganyaan: The TV-D1 test flight is scheduled for October 21, 2023 between 7 am and 9 am from SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota. ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Saturday told reporters three more test vehicle missions would be launched under the Gaganyaan programme after the TV-D1 test flight on October 21. The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of ISRO's 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) is aimed at testing the crew module (CM) that will carry Indian astronauts during the human

Govt declares August 23 as National Space Day to mark moon landing

The government has notified August 23, the day Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the moon, as National Space Day. "...the Government of India has declared the 23rd Day of August of every year as the 'NATIONAL SPACE DAY' to commemorate this historic moment," said a notification issued by the Department of Space dated October 13. India has become the fourth nation in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon and the first to land near the south pole of the lunar surface. The Vikram lander had also deployed the Pragyan rover on the moon to study the lunar surface. "The outcome of this historic mission will benefit mankind in the years to come," the notification said. It added that August 23 marked an important milestone in the country's advancements in Space Missions, which inspired younger generations towards enhanced interest in pursuing STEM and provided a major impetus to the Space sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the Indian Space Research Organisatio

NASA spacecraft launched to rare metal asteroid in 1st mission of its kind

NASA's Psyche spacecraft rocketed away Friday on a six-year journey to a rare metal-covered asteroid. Most asteroids tend to be rocky or icy, and this is the first exploration of a metal world. Scientists believe it may be the battered remains of an early planet's core, and could shed light on the inaccessible centres of Earth and other rocky planets. SpaceX launched the spacecraft into a midmorning sky from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Named for the asteroid it's chasing, Psyche should reach the huge, potato-shaped object in 2029. After decades of visiting faraway worlds of rock, ice and gas, NASA is psyched to pursue one coated in metal. Of the nine or so metal-rich asteroids discovered so far, Psyche is the biggest, orbiting the sun in the outer portion of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter alongside millions of other space rocks. It was discovered in 1852 and named after Greek mythology's captivating goddess of the soul. It's long been humans' dream to go to the

Space programme must remain as publicly funded, managed: Congress

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said Chandrayaan-3 is a public system's success and the country's space programme must always be publicly funded, managed and executed. Ramesh, who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, made the statement on X'(formerly Twitter) as the members of the panel visited ISRO headquarters here. "India's space programme over the past 60 years has been a publicly funded, managed and executed endeavour and it must remain that way," the Rajya Sabha member said. "Chandrayaan-3 is a public system's success whatever the hype may be around startups and unicorns," he said. The panel, on a five-day visit to Bengaluru, Bandipur, Kabini and Mysuru congratulated ISRO Chairman S Somanath and his entire team for the success of India's third lunar venture, and the launch of the Aditya L-1 mission. Ramesh said the committee members had a "very educative interaction with its (ISRO's) enginee

Digital public infra approach can unlock value in space sector: Report

Digital public infrastructure-led approach for the downstream spacetech segment can unlock immense value and contribute to India emerging as a global leader in the sector, a global consultancy firm said in a report on Tuesday. The report titled Exploring opportunities for Indian downstream spacetech' authored by Deloitte, Nasscom and Indian Space Association (ISpA) said the downstream spacetech sector has the potential to deliver value-added and scalable solutions to domestic and global markets and made a strong pitch for collaboration by the private sector and the government. The report listed out three core satellite applications areas Remote Sensing/Earth Observation; Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT); and Satellite Communication (SATCOM) and identified more than 200 use cases. "Digital public goods and digital public infrastructure (DPI) led approach for this segment can unlock immense value. The approach can become value-accretive and bring the dream of ...

India, France forge deeper ties in Space sector at Indian Space Conclave

The first day was dedicated to India-France collaboration in the space sector. The event was attended by representatives of the French and Indian space industry leaders, startups and govt officials

Indian Space Conclave 2023: Global leaders to unite for the Future of Space

The three-day event is planned to start the Indo-French Space Summit, coordinated in association with the French embassy and to be attended by astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency

World Space Week 2023: History, importance, theme, celebration, quotes

World Space Week is a worldwide celebration of space exploration and science. Each year, a new theme is conducted for this day by the World Space Week Association

Satellite constellations disrupt night sky observations, say astronomers

Astronomers are raising concerns around groups of large satellites orbiting the Earth, which could disrupt their ability to observe stars in the night sky and perform radio astronomy. The international team of scientists, including those from Imperial College London, have published a paper in Nature journal, detailing the impact of the prototype BlueWalker 3 satellite on astronomy. The BlueWalker 3 is a prototype satellite, part of a satellite constellation planned by its owner AST SpaceMobile, intended to deliver mobile or broadband services anywhere in the world. Observations of the BlueWalker 3 showed it was one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshining all but the brightest stars, the researchers said. Several companies around the world have envisaged such satellite constellations. However, owing to their closer-to-Earth location and relatively large size, their potential to disrupt night sky observations is high, which is why astronomers are raising concerns aroun

Jupiter-sized objects in Orion Nebula captured by James Webb Telescope

The new entities have been called Jupiter Mass Binary Objects, or JuMBOs

China's 2024 lunar mission Chang'e-6 to carry payload from Pakistan

China's next lunar mission scheduled for 2024 will also carry a payload from Pakistan, the country's space agency has said, as the two all-weather friends step up their cooperation in the space sector. The Chang'e-6 lunar mission is currently undergoing research and development work as planned, state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Friday quoting China National Space Administration (CNSA). The Chang'e-6 mission, with the launch scheduled for around 2024, is tasked with bringing back samples from the far side of the moon. To date, all 10 lunar sampling missions conducted by humans have taken place on the near side of the moon, The Global Times newspaper reported. The far side is generally older and contains the Aitken Basin, one of the three major lunar landforms, making it of significant scientific value, the report said, quoting CNSA. The Chang'e-6 mission aims at landing the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side to explore and collect lunar samples from different regions and

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

Aliens among us

A radical redefinition of life could help us find aliens beyond Earth and among us

Social media and private partnership: Looking at the changes at Isro

The stakes are high: the $400 bn global commercial space market is expected to be worth $1 trn by 2030, but at the moment India has only a 2% share - about $8 bn - which the govt wants to change

Eutelsat, OneWeb merge to create GEO-LEO space connectivity company

Eutelsat on Thursday announced the completion of a merger with OneWeb, creating the world's first geostationary-low earth orbit (GEO-LEO) satellite space connectivity company. The completion of Eutelsat Communications' all-share combination with OneWeb was announced following the approval of the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meeting of Eutelsat shareholders, a statement from Bharti Enterprises said. Headquartered out of Paris, the merged entity will have Bharti Enterprises as its largest shareholder with a 21.2 per cent share. The Bharti Group is committed to being a long-term strategic investor in the Eutelsat Group, the statement said "Today we have created a company, which will bring connectivity to all people around the world and will help us achieve our mission of last-mile connectivity," Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises said in a statement. Sunil Bharti Mittal will be the Vice President (Co-Chair) and Shravin Bharti Mittal, who spearheaded

After success of moon mission, Isro eyes Venus, exo-planets: Chairman

After the success of the Moon mission, ISRO has set sights on unlocking the mysteries of dying stars and exo-planets some of which are known to have atmosphere and are considered habitable, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman S Somanath said on Tuesday. Delivering a lecture organised by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Somanath said the space agency was also planning a mission to study the planet Venus, two satellites to study space climate and its impact on the earth, and conceptualising a project to land a spacecraft on Mars. He said the XPoSat or the X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite, meant to study bright X-ray pulsars or stars that are in the process of death, was ready for launch in December this year. "We are also conceiving a satellite called ExoWorlds, a mission for looking at exo-solar planets or planets that are outside our solar system and orbiting other stars," Somanath said. He said there were more than 5,000 known exo-planets of which at least 100 were .

NASA's first asteroid samples land on Earth after release from spacecraft

NASA's first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert Sunday to cap a seven-year journey. In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 63,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote expanse of military land, as the mothership set off after another asteroid. Scientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won't know for sure until the container is opened. Some spilled and floated away when the spacecraft scooped up too much and rocks jammed the container's lid during collection three years ago. Japan, the only other country to bring back asteroid samples, gathered about a teaspoon in a pair of asteroid missions. The pebbles and dust delivered Sunday represent the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved building blocks from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, the samples will help scienti