Page 21 - Space

Noida-based startup has built navigation system of Isro's Pragyan rover

With the Pragyaan rover poised to navigate the moon, its eyes to traverse the crater-filled lunar surface will be powered by a software developed by a Noida-based tech start-up. Omnipresent Robot Technologies, which has been working closely with ISRO for the Chandrayaan series of lunar missions, has developed Perception Navigation Software for the Pragyaan rover that is housed in the Vikram landing module that touched down on the moon Wednesday evening. "We are very excited and look forward to seeing the Pragyaan rover navigating the lunar surface using our software," Aakash Sinha, Chief Executive Officer of Omnipresent Robot Technologies, told PTI here. Sinha, who is also a professor at Shiv Nadar University, said the software developed by his start-up will capture images of the moon using the two cameras of the lunar rover and stitch them together to generate a 3-D map of the lunar landscape. This software has been in-built in the rover and the image processing will be done onbo

Generation of scientists contributed to Chandrayaan-3's success: Isro chief

ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday acknowledged the contribution of a generation of leadership and scientists of the country's space agency for the Chandrayaan-3 mission's success, and said the achievement is an "incremental progress" and "a huge one". Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who virtually joined from South Africa to witness the culmination of the complex mission, lauded the scientists for their efforts. "The Honourable PM called me and conveyed his greetings to each one of you and your family for the wonderful work you did in ISRO. Thanks to him for the support he is giving to us for missions like Chandrayaan-3 and missions that are in the offing. That's the great word of comfort that we are receiving for pursuing the inspirational work that we are doing for the nation," Somanath said. addressing the ISRO team at the Mission Operations Complex. Somanath thanked all those who prayed for the mission's success, and ISRO veterans like A S Kiran Kumar , the space agency's ...

India has taken 'giant leap' in space sector with Chandrayaan-3: Anurag

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said India has taken a "giant leap" in the space sector and a big change will come with the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon. The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 would make India stand among the three-four countries of the world which have made the biggest contribution in the field of space, the union minister of sports and youth affairs said. Like 140 crore Indians giving their best wishes for Chandrayaan-3, I am also one of them. India has taken a giant leap in the space sector and we all are waiting for the moment when Chandrayaan-3 lands successfully, Thakur told reporters here. If we look at the recent times when the space policy was changed and opened for the private sector, within twelve months, the private sector launched its rocket and showcased its potential, he said. ISRO's ambitious third moon mission Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM) is all set to touch down on the lunar surface on Wednesday evening, making it onl

India's space journey began in 1962 with formation of INCOSPAR: Cong

The Congress on Wednesday said India's space journey began in 1962 with the formation of INCOSPAR which was the result of the farsightedness of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, along with enthusiastic support from the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The Congress' assertion came on a day Chandrayaan-3 is set to touch down on the lunar surface. The ISRO on Wednesday said it is all set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) for its ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM) to touch down on the lunar surface this evening. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "India's space journey began on February 23, 1962, with the formation of INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research) thanks to the farsightedness of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, along with the enthusiastic support of Nehru." The Committee comprised of top scientists from premier scientific institutions across the country coming together in a

ISRO's next Moon mission with Japanese space agency gathers steam

ISRO's next likely Moon mission is in partnership with its Japanese counterpart, a venture that's gathering steam. Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) is a collaborative venture between Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Bengaluru-headquartered Indian space agency. JAXA and ISRO are developing the rover and lander, respectively. The rover will carry not only the instruments of ISRO and JAXA but also those of US space agency NASA and European Space Agency (ESA). Vice-Chair of Japan's Cabinet Committee on National Space Policy and Director General, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Saku Tsuneta, visited ISRO headquarters here earlier this month and had a meeting with the space agency's Chairman Somanath S. They discussed the progress of the LUPEX mission. "Development of a smaller lander for the LUPEX mission was discussed, among other things," an ISRO official said. According to JAXA, the LUPEX mission is aimed at exploring lunar polar region suitabili

'Welcome, buddy!': Chandrayaan-2 orbiter connects with Chandrayaan-3 lander

ISRO on Monday said a two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and Chandrayaan-3's Lunar Module has been established. "Welcome, buddy!' Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM," the national space agency said in a post on 'X'. ISRO said on Sunday the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar mission of India, is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on August 23. The MOX (Mission Operations Complex) is located at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here. ISRO also said, in an update, that the live telecast of the landing event will begin at 5.20 pm on August 23. The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft comprising orbiter, lander and rover was launched in 2019. The lander with a rover in its belly crashed into the Moon's surface, failing in its mission to achieve a soft-landing. ISRO said in 2019 that due to the precise launch and orbi

India taking lead in using space tech to boost development: Jitendra Singh

Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh asserted on Monday that India has taken a quantum leap in space technology under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and has taken the lead in using it for aiding infrastructure and development works as well. With the country waiting with bated breath for Chandrayaan-3's scheduled touchdown on the lunar surface on Wednesday, Singh expressed confidence about its success and added that India will launch its first preliminary mission later this year in the run-up to its manned Gaganyaan mission, expected in the second half of 2024. Before the manned mission, there will be two unmanned missions, including one with a robot, he told reporters here. Noting the nationwide excitement about the moon mission, he said the Modi government has unlocked the space sector and raised awareness about India's space technology like never before. To a question about the failure of Russia's lunar mission, he said it had used a different route and ...

Moon landing anticipation builds for Chandyayaan-3 after Russia's crash

All systems on the spacecraft are working "perfectly" and no contingencies are anticipated on the landing day, the Isro said on Monday

Race to the moon: Russia out of contest as Chandrayaan 3 sets up lunar date

Russia has bowed out of the race to the moon with India after its robot lander crashed on the lunar surface, setting Chandrayaan-3 on an easier course while ISRO scientists achieved yet another successful maneouver to take the spacecraft closer to the moon in its soft-landing attempt on August 23. ISRO on Sunday said it has successfully reduced the orbit of Chandrayaan-3 mission's Lander Module (LM), and it is now expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon at 6.04 PM on Wednesday. This came even as Russian lander Luna-25 crashed into the moon after going into uncontrolled orbit. "The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon," Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement. Roscosmos said it lost contact with the spacecraft on Saturday after it ran into trouble while preparing for its pre-landing orbit after reporting an "abnormal situation" that its specialists were analysing. The Luna-25 was

Isro reduces Chandrayaan-3 module orbit, to land at 18:04 hrs on Aug 23

ISRO on Sunday said it has successfully reduced the orbit of Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module, and it is now expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon at 1804 hours on August 23. The space agency said the lander module would undergo internal checks ahead of the planned soft landing. The lander module (LM), comprising the lander Vikram' and rover Pragyan', is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on Wednesday, August 23 at 18.04 hours, ISRO said. Earlier ISRO had said that the touchdown would take place at at 5.47 pm on August 23. Now, it has been moved by 17 minutes. The second and final deboosting (slowing down) operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km. The module would undergo internal checks and await the sunrise at the designated landing site. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 hrs IST, ISRO said in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter) in the early hours of Sunday. According to ISRO, India's pursui

China, Russia aiming to steal tech from US space firms: US officials

The two-page advisory warned that foreign intelligence organisations have started to increasingly see the expanding US space sector as a critical and profitable target

Chandrayaan-3: Isro's Lander Module health normal, gets closer to Moon

ISRO on Friday said that Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module has successfully undergone a deboosting (slowing down) operation taking it closer to the Moon, and that its health is normal. The Lander Module comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), will undergo the second deboosting operation on August 20, to be lowered to an orbit that takes it much closer to the Moon's surface. The soft landing on the Lunar south pole is scheduled on August 23. " The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST," ISRO said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 had successfully separated from the Propulsion Module on Thursday, 35 days after the satellite was launched on July 14.

Russia launches Luna-25 mission to Moon, its first lunar lander in 47 years

The Luna-25 spacecraft will separate from the booster about an hour after the launch. The flight to the moon will take up to 5.5 days

ISRO transfers satellite bus tech to Alpha Design to boost private sector

ISRO on Saturday said it has transferred the IMS-1 Satellite Bus Technology to Alpha Design Technologies Pvt. Ltd in a step towards enhancing private industry participation in the country's space sector. NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, facilitated the technology transfer through an agreement signed during an event held at the NSIL headquarters on August 2, the space agency said on its website. The technology transfer documents were formally handed over by D Radhakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director of NSIL to Col. H S Shankar (Retd.), Chairman and Managing Director of ADTL. ADTL is one of the two private players identified to receive the transfer of this technology through Interest Exploratory Note (IEN) published by NSIL, it said. This transfer marks the beginning of satellite bus technologies developed by ISRO being transferred to private industries. Further, the PSLV is under productionisation by a consortium of industries. ISRO has been enabling

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after weeks of silence

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago. Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old spacecraft and tilted its antenna away from Earth. On Wednesday, NASA's Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Australia. Voyager 2's antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 per cent. It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 -- more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometres) away -- and another 18 hours to hear back. The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Voyager 2 has been hurtling through space since its launch in 1977 to explore the outer solar

Hubble Telescope captures planet's atmosphere being blasted away by star

NASA's now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite discovered the system during observations in 2020

Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft leaves earth's orbit, heads towards moon: Isro

The ISRO on Tuesday said Chandrayaan-3 has completed its orbits around the earth and is now heading towards the Moon. "A successful perigee-firing performed at ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network). ISRO has injected the spacecraft into the translunar orbit," it said. The key manoeuvre was carried out early on Tuesday to slingshot the spacecraft towards the moon. "Chandrayaan-3 completes its orbits around the Earth and heads towards the moon," the national space agency said, adding, "Next stop: the moon." "As it arrives at the moon, the Lunar-Orbit Insertion is planned for August 5, 2023," ISRO said. An ISRO official told PTI that following the trans-lunar injection, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft escaped from orbiting the Earth and is now following a path that would take it to the vicinity of the moon. The ISRO had said it would attempt softlanding on the lunar surface on August 23. The spacecraft's orbit was progressively increased five times after the Chandraya

SpaceX rocket lifts off with world's largest commercial satellite

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s three-fuselage Falcon Heavy ferried the massive payload into orbit at 11:04 p.m. local time from the company's launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

British-made spacecraft 'Aeolus' expected to fall back on Earth today

Although Aeolus completed its mission successfully, it lacked the capabilities required for a controlled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere

India to launch 7 Singapore satellites from Isro's spaceport on July 30

India would launch PSLV-C56 carrying DS-SAR satellite from Singapore, along with six co-passengers, from the first launchpad of the ISRO's Sriharikota spaceport at 6.30 am on July 30. The DS-SAR satellite is developed under a partnership between Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) (representing the Government of Singapore) and ST Engineering. Once deployed and operational, it will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of various agencies within the Government of Singapore. ST Engineering will use it for multi-modal and higher responsiveness imagery and geospatial services for their commercial customers. DS-SAR carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). This allows the DS-SAR to provide for all-weather day and night coverage, and capable of imaging at one metre resolution at full polarimetry. The NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a central public sector undertaking under the Department of Space,