As the sun rose over India yesterday
morning, the whole world's media were raving about the success of
India's Mars Orbiter Mission (alias MOM), which pushed the tiny
spacecraft 'Mangalyaan' smoothly into an elliptical orbit around the Red
Planet, after cruising in space for more than 300 days. The objective
is to study prevailing conditions related to the weather, minerals and methane gas.
So
India has now joined the Mars Club as its fourth member (after America,
Soviet Russia and Europe) -- though juniormost, the first one to gain
admission on its very first application. Out of 51 Mars missions
undertaken so far in the world, 21 had failed; but, of course, ISRO
(Indian Space Research Organization) has certainly learnt some lessons
from the unsuccessful attempts of other space agencies, as its Chairman
has gladly acknowledged.
That's
all true so far as the solo Marsbound marathon run is concerned. In
terms of scientific objectives and achievements, ISRO's mission is
admittedly modest and far less sophisticated than those of America's
NASA. But of course, as the spectacular results of the Indo-American
lunar adventure in 2010 showed, NASA does think of ISRO as a worthy associate.
On
this very special and cheerworthy occasion, let me recall my comments
on India's impressive space programs in three earlier contexts:
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Articulations Online
20 Oct. 2010
Bravo, ISRO! Bravo, NASA!
When
I started writing this online column last month with an awesome vision
of the Internet's apparently infinite dimensions, I knew I would find it
necessary to follow it up with some reflections on the impact of modern
science and technology on individuals and society. And I now realize
it will have to be a very long series of essays, because the theme is
extremely complex and bristles with so many intricate aspects. But
rather than risking mental fatigue by considering the same issue week
after week, let us spread out the core series a little, and take up some
other lighter topics in the intervals!
In
the context of the steady scientific progress made by India during the
20th century, I had made the following comment in the preceding essay (Psychology Of Turbulence,
October 13): ".... And in the frenzied field of the ongoing
information revolution today, India seems to be running a neck-to-neck
race with the most advanced countries of the world".
Well,
India today seems to be among the front-runners in other scientific
fields also, like space exploration, for instance! Its very first moon
mission, which seemed to have been on the brink of failure last year,
actually turned out to be a great success.
Troubles and....
I
am, of course, referring to the unmanned lunar vehicle Chandrayaan-1,
launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). which carried
some instruments developed in India, and also some others sponsored by
NASA in America, ESA (European Space Agency), and BAA (Bulgarian
Aerospace Agency).
Chandrayaan
was launched into lunar orbit in October 2008, and was expected to
remain there for a couple of years. But within a few months, there was
serious malfunction of some vital systems (including solar panels and
star sensors which were essential for power supply and
direction-finding); and there were no radio signals from August 29,
2009 due to failure of electronic components. Meanwhile, the vessel
had gone round the moon more than 3,000 times, undertaken various useful
experiments, and transmitted more than 70,000 images to the earth, some
of them with very fine resolution upto five metres.
Back
home, in India, there was great disappointment as the mission was
declared closed prematurely. But although there was some resentment
that ISRO hadn't fully disclosed the troubles as they arose, by and
large there was no hostile criticism of ISRO's efforts, as there was a
general awareness of the immensity of the venture and the equal chances
of success and failure.
In an editorial rather emotionally titled Adieu, Chandrayaan-1,
India's most responsible newspaper THE HINDU made a rational
assessment on August 31: ".... Yet these problems make what has been
achieved all the more remarkble. It is a tribute to ISRO’s mission
management team that they could find ways to keep the spacecraft and its
instruments operational for so long.... In the months and years ahead,
data from the Indian probe will help scientists better understand the
Moon’s origin and evolution, its mineral composition, and whether water
might lie trapped in its permanently shadowed polar craters".
.... Triumph!
And
sure enough, the prediction came true very soon, perhaps much sooner
than even The Hindu had expected! For within a few weeks, towards the
end of September 2009, the prestigious international magazine Science
reported that NASA's instrument M3 (moon mineralogy mapper) had
discovered the presence of water molecules on the moon.
Moreover,
following extensive analysis of the data collected, it was reported in
an international science congress in March 2010 that NASA's Mini-Sar
(miniature synthetic aperture radar) had found extensive masses of ice
in several huge polar craters with diameters ranging from two to fifteen
kilometres.
What
this meant, of course, was that there's a precious natural resource on
the moon for the benefit of manned space missions, in the vital forms
of drinking water (H2O), breathing air (oxygen), and rocket fuel
(hydrogen). As a delighted Dr. Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary
Institute, Houston, declared: "Now we can say with a fair degree of
confidence that a sustainable human presence on the Moon is possible....
The result.... seen in the last few months are totally revolutionizing
our view of the Moon."
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Articulations Online
1 Dec. 2013
Destination Mars : Bravo, ISRO! Bravo, India!
Around
this time three years ago, India, on its very first and highly
successful lunar mission, had helped America to find conclusive evidence
of the existence of water on the Moon. And now India has just taken
off on its maiden mission to Mars!
I
am copying below, for instant reference, a couple of relevant reports
from today's exciting news, and also some significant comments I had
made in Articulations Online in October 2010. This steady and
spectacular scientific progress takes my mind back 30 years to the time
when I was having a very close association with India's elite scientific
community, and in particular to the following context:
The
Prime Minister of India, as the ex-officio Chairman/Chairperson of the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, presides over the annual
meeting of the CSIR Society, which has many distinguished Indian
scientists as members. This recurring intellectual get-together serves
as a useful forum not only for obtaining a wide-angled perception of
important specific issues concerning CSIR's affairs, but also for
exchanging views on the direction and overall progress of science and
technology in a national perspective.
In
the Society meeting held in 1983, where I was present as CSIR's
Financial Adviser, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said she had received a
query from a very young child from a foreign country asking her what
was India's most remarkable scientific achievement during the preceding
year, and she was having some difficulty in giving an immediate and
impressive answer. And she asked: would the scientific community
please do some soul-searching?
I suppose Ms. Gandhi could have taken a far brighter view of things and shot off a confident reply: "Look,
my child, you can't judge the scientific progress made by a country in
one week or one month or even one year! India has made a lot of
progress in many scientific fields in the last 25 years, including space
science. Who knows, 25 years from now we may even be reaching the
Moon!"
Which
is precisely what we did in 2008! I wish I had been curious enough to
have found out the identity of that adorably curious child; for I would
love to trace and tell him or her that India is now a member of the
still-exclusive Moon Club -- and, if all goes well with the ongoing
space slingshot, is very likely to be admitted to the
still-more-exclusive Mars Club by this time next year.
*
THE HINDU, 1 Dec. 2013
14-20 Indian Standard Time
India’s
spacecraft to Mars has bid adieu to its Earth-bound orbit and is
cruising in its sun-centric orbit. In a remarkably successful execution
of a complex manoeuvre, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
fired the propulsion system on board the spacecraft for a prolonged
duration of 23 minutes from 0049 hours on Sunday.
*
THE HINDU, 1 Dec. 2013
17-30 Indian Standard Time
India’s
maiden mission to Mars left Earth’s orbit early on Sunday and
successfully entered the second phase of its 10-month-long voyage to the
Red Planet after performing a crucial manoeuvre described as “mother of
all slingshots”.
Clearing a critical hurdle to achieve a major milestone in the country’s space history, ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft or ‘Mangalyaan’
was placed in the designated Mars Transfer Trajectory in a 22-minute
manoeuvre almost an hour past midnight without any hitch to tear itself
away from Earth’s gravitational pull.
It
marked the first step of the Mars mission’s 680 million-km-long voyage
to its destination to put on course the India’s first ever
inter-planetary space odyssey.
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Articulations Online
12 Jan. 2014
India Joins Exclusive And Elusive Cryogenix Club
Just
a few weeks ago India had successfully sent an internationally
well-equipped space vehicle on its way to a Mars orbit which is
expected to be achieved in a few months' time. And now comes the news
that its long-term endeavour to develop a powerful
entirely-made-in-India cryogenic spacecraft engine has also succeeded at
last after overcoming several serious setbacks.
Are you watching, Indira Gandhi? (see Articulations Online, 1 Dec. 2013 : Destination Mars : Bravo, ISRO! Bravo, India!).
*
THE HINDU
6 Jan. 2014
GSLV-D5 launch places India in elite league
One
of India’s most ambitious dreams became a reality on Sunday when its
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5), powered by an
indigenous cryogenic engine, effortlessly put the 1,982-kg GSAT-14
communication satellite into a perfect orbit after 17 minutes of flight.
The cryogenic engine built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) fired for 12 of those 17 minutes.
The
precision of the cryogenic upper stage was such that it put the GSAT-14
into an orbit with a perigee of 179 km, against the target of 180 km,
and the apogee achieved was off by a mere 50 km for a target of 36,000
km.
The
grand success caps 20 years of hard work by ISRO’s engineers, after
being denied cryogenic technology under pressure from the U.S.,
suffering a heartbreaking failure with an indigenous cryogenic engine
flight in April 2010 and having had to scrub its second attempt with an
indigenous cryogenic engine in August 2013. . . .
The
mission’s success means India now has the ability to put satellites
weighing more than two tonnes in orbit, joining the elite club of the
U.S., Russia, France, Japan and China who have mastered this perilous
technology of using cryogenic propellants -- liquid oxygen at minus 183
degrees Celsius and liquid hydrogen at minus 253 degrees’ Celsius.
*
THE HINDU
7 Jan. 2014
Editorial
Resilience pays off
The
Indian Space Research Organisation is adding feather after feather to
its cap. Just recently, it sent off the country’s first effort at
planetary exploration, the Mars Orbiter Mission. On Sunday, the
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), equipped with an
indigenous cryogenic engine, put the GSAT-14 communication satellite
into orbit with effortless ease.
It
was an unequivocal demonstration of the space agency’s mastery of
cryogenic technology, a key element in building more powerful launch
vehicles. While its older sibling, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV), can accommodate communication satellites weighing about 1,200
kg, the GSLV will be able to carry spacecraft that are heavier by around
1,000 kg. . .
