Page 6 - Space

India to add 100-150 satellites to enhance safety, security in 3 yrs: Isro

India would add another 100-150 satellites to cover the entire country over the next three years as part of enhancing border security and coastal surveillance, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said here on Wednesday. Currently, India operates about 55 satellites and for a country which has a vast border and 7,500 km of shoreline, it is not sufficient, he said. Narayanan, also the Secretary, Department of Space, said it was for these reasons Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced reforms in the Space Sector which allows participation of private players in building rockets and satellites. "We need a lot of satellites to protect our borders. We have 55 satellites working and it is not sufficient to monitor the border and coastal areas. For that we need more satellites. Through Space Sector reforms we can bring in private players to build satellites and we can handhold them. In three years, we will be adding another 100-150 satellites. With all those satellites we can monitor the country ..

Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla set for space travel next month: Jitendra Singh

Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to travel to the International Space Station next month as part of an Axiom-4 mission, four decades after Rakesh Sharma's iconic spaceflight onboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday. Singh made the remarks after reviewing the work of the Department of Space and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) here. "Group Captain Shukla's journey is more than just a flight it's a signal that India is stepping boldly into a new era of space exploration," Singh said. ISRO Chairman V Narayanan made a presentation on various upcoming space missions. ISRO is set to launch the NISAR satellite developed jointly with NASA in June on board the GSLV-Mark 2 rocket, Singh said, adding that in July the space agency will put in orbit BlueBird Block-2 satellites of US-based AST SpaceMobile Inc. using the heavy-lift LVM-3 rocket. Singh said Group Captain Shukla's mission, scheduled for May, marks a milestone in India

Webb telescope finds strongest clue yet of life beyond our solar system

Scientists detect a potential biosignature gas in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b-one that, on Earth, is only produced by living organisms like phytoplankton

Indian envoy lauds space policy, says changes will boost growth trajectory

Ambassador Ray said that India is a responsible participant and also responsibly observes all rules, such as avoiding and mitigating debris

Soyuz rocket launches US-Russian crew of 3 to International Space Station

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crewmates launched successfully to the International Space Station on Tuesday on board a Russian spacecraft. A Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan to put the Soyuz MS-27 carrying the trio in orbit. They are set to dock at the station just over three hours later. Kim and Russia's Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are scheduled to spend about eight months at the space outpost. NASA said Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a US Navy lieutenant commander and dual-designated naval aviator and flight surgeon. Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will join NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner

Indian military space doctrine expected in 2-3 months: CDS Gen Anil Chauhan

CDS calls for building a 'space culture' rooted in doctrine, strategy, and original thought

Isar Aerospace completes first test flight of orbital launch vehicle

A rocket by a private European aerospace company launched from Norway on Sunday and crashed into the sea 30 seconds later. Despite the short test flight, Isar Aerospace said that it successfully completed the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle by launching its Spectrum rocket from the island of Andya in northern Norway. The 28-metre-long Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle specifically designed to put small and medium satellites into orbit. The rocket lifted off from the pad at 12:30 pm (1030 GMT) Sunday and flew for about a half-minute before the flight was terminated, Isar said. This allowed the company to gather a substantial amount of flight data and experience to apply on future missions, Isar said in a statement. After the flight was terminated at T+30 seconds, the launch vehicle fell into the sea in a controlled manner. Video from the launch shows the rocket taking off from the pad, flying into the air and then coming back down to crash into the sea in a fier

Isro achieves major breakthrough in semicryogenic engine for launch vehicle

ISRO has announced significant progress in the design and development of a Semicryogenic engine or Liquid Oxygen / Kerosene engine with a high thrust of 2,000 kN (kilonewton) that will power the Semicryogenic booster stage of the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3). The first major breakthrough in the semicryogenic engine development programme was achieved on March 28, when the first successful hot test of Engine Power Head Test Article (PHTA), was carried out at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, it said. Highlighting that the Friday's test demonstrated the smooth ignition and boost strap mode operation of the engine for a test duration of 2.5 seconds, the space agency said the objective of the test was to validate the integrated performance of the critical subsystems such as the pre-burner, turbo pumps, start system and control components by carrying out a hot-firing for a short-duration of 2.5 seconds. "The test proceeded as predicted and all the engine parameters were a

Saturn's rings just vanished: The mysterious reason behind this rare event

On 23 March 2025, Saturn's rings seemed to vanish from sight due to a rare event known as a ring plane crossing. This phenomenon happens every 15 years when the rings align edge-on with Earth

European startup Isar Aerospace to launch orbital rocket on 1st test flight

A private European aerospace company is set to make the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from Norway on Monday. The launch window for its Spectrum rocket from the island of Andoya in northern Norway is 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm local time, said Isar Aerospace, which is headquartered in Munich. The launch is subject to weather, safety and range infrastructure, and the company said it also could conduct the test flight later in the week. The 28-meter- (91-foot-) Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed for small and medium-sized satellites. The company largely rules out the possibility of the rocket reaching orbit on its first complete flight, saying it would consider a 30-second flight a success. Isar Aerospace aims to collect as much data and experience as possible on the first integrated test of all the systems on its in-house-developed launch vehicle. The startup, which says it has raised more than 400 million euros ($435 million) in capital, hopes to build up to

Sidbi VC to manage Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund for space sector

SIDBI Venture Capital Limited has been selected as the fund manager for Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund announced by the government to support private sector firms in the space technology domain. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) made the announcement in this regard on Friday. "M/s SIDBI Venture Capital Limited is selected as the Fund Manager / Investment Manager for the Rs 1,000 crore Venture Capital Fund for the Indian Space Sector," the IN-SPACe said in a statement. The fund will deploy the amount earmarked for it over a period of five years, with a planned deployment of Rs 150 crore in the 2025-26 financial year followed by Rs 250 crore each in the next three financial years and Rs 100 crore in 202930. "The indicative range of investment is proposed to be Rs 10 crore-Rs 60 crore, contingent upon the stage of the company, its growth trajectory and its potential impact on national space capabilities," the government said in an ...

How space travel reshapes the body: From muscles to mental health

In the absence of gravity, muscle mass disappears because the resistance training stops. When the astronaut returns to normal gravity, the heart may have weakened and may not function properly

Private sector in Indian space tech: Progress, challenges, and future

Sunita Williams' return in a SpaceX capsule has put the focus back on the role of private sector in space journeys

Sunita Williams' homecoming: How do astronauts survive a fiery re-entry?

With Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore set to return to Earth after nearly nine months in space, let's look at how the astronauts' return takes place

Dizziness, baby feet: Challenges astronauts face upon return to earth

It may be fun to watch astronauts float around inside the International Space Station, but the absence of gravity has its effects on long-duration space travellers, who experience dizziness, nausea and an unstable gait when they return to earth. NASA astronauts Sunita Willams and Butch Wilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov are scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday onboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. For Williams and Wilmore, test pilots for Boeing's new Starliner capsule, the eight-day mission stretched to more than nine months as a series of helium leaks and thruster failures deemed their spacecraft unsafe and had to return empty in September. Astronauts who have travelled on space missions earlier have reported facing difficulty in walking, having bad eyesight, dizziness, and a condition called baby feet where space travellers lose the thick part of the skin on the soles that become soft like a baby's. "Once the astronaut returns to Earth, they are immediately for

Nasa's stuck astronauts welcome newly arrived replacements to space station

Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA's two stuck astronauts. The four newcomers representing the US, Japan and Russia will spend the next few days learning the station's ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Indian-American Sunita Williams. Then the two will strap into their own SpaceX capsule later this week to close out an unexpected extended mission that began last June. Wilmore and Williams expected to be gone just a week when they launched on Boeing's first astronaut flight. They hit the nine-month mark earlier this month. The Boeing Starliner capsule encountered so many problems that NASA insisted it come back empty, leaving its test pilots behind to wait for a SpaceX lift. Their ride arrived in late September with a downsized crew of two and two empty seats reserved for the leg back. But more delays resulted when their replacements' brand new capsule needed extens

60-plus LVM-3 rockets to be built with private sector's help: INSPACe chief

INSPACe has the mandate for promotion of the private space industry and also to authorise activities of non-government entities in the sector

Nasa's newest space telescope blasts off to map sky like never before

NASA's newest space telescope rocketed toward orbit Tuesday to map the entire sky like never before a sweeping look at hundreds of millions of galaxies and their shared cosmic glow since the beginning of time. SpaceX launched the Spherex observatory from California, putting it on course to fly over Earth's poles. Tagging along were four suitcase-size satellites to study the sun. The USD 488 million Spherex mission aims to explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years, and how the universe expanded so fast in its first moments. Closer to home in our own Milky Way galaxy, Spherex will hunt for water and other ingredients of life in the icy clouds between stars where new solar systems emerge. The cone-shaped Spherex at 1,110 pounds (500 kilograms) or the heft of a grand piano will take six months to map the entire sky with its infrared eyes and wide field of view. Four full-sky surveys are planned over two years, as the telescope circles the globe from pole to pole

Digantara commissions world's first commercial space surveillance satellite

The world's first commercial space surveillance satellite, capable of tracking objects as small as 5 centimetres orbiting the Earth, was commissioned on Saturday as it captured images over South America, the Bengaluru-based start-up Digantara said. Digantara had launched the space surveillance satellite SCOT (Space Camera for Object Tracking) on January 14 aboard SpaceX's Transporter-12 rocket. The satellite started operations on Saturday. "Space just ran out of hiding spots," the start-up said in a post on X. In a statement, the company said the SCOT satellite achieved first light on Saturday and its inaugural image while passing over South America -- a breathtaking view of Earth's limb, with the city of Buenos Aires glowing against the planet's curvature. "SCOT's first image is more than a technical milestone; it's a symbol of our team's resilience and unwavering commitment to safeguarding Earth's orbits for generations to come," said Digantara CEO Anirudh Sharma. The satellite

Isro's POEM-4 successfully completes one thousand orbits on March 4

ISRO on Friday announced that the fourth edition of the PSLV Orbital platform Experiment Module (POEM-4), the repurposed spent upper stage of the PSLV vehicle used for the space docking experiment mission, has successfully completed 1,000 orbits on March 4. The PSLV-C60 Mission was launched on December 30, 2024, and POEM-4 began its operations subsequent to the successful injection of the SPADEX spacecraft, it stated. In a statement, ISRO said, "POEM-4 was configured as a three-axis stabilised platform that carried 24 payloads including 10 payloads from Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) and 14 payloads from ISRO. All the payloads including those from NGEs have completed the intended experiments in orbit." According to ISRO, POEM-4 carried out experiments in space robotics, germination of seeds and growth of bacterium in microgravity, green propulsion, laser ignition of pyro thrusters, amateur radio transmission and advanced sensors. A space start-up also tested the uplinking and ...