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Mission
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Points to Remember
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GAGANYAAN
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- It is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft mission (jointly made by ISRO and HAL) that is expected to carry three people seven days into space and intended to be the basis of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.
- This will be the first indigenous human mission developed by ISRO.
- It is planned to be launched on ISRO’s GSLV Mk III in December 2021.
- Prior to sending humans, there will be two unmanned Gaganyaan missions to be undertaken. This will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400km.
- ISRO Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) at Bengaluru will be responsible for implementing it.
- I.S.R.O. has entered into a pact with Russian company Glavkosmos to pick and train astronauts for the Gaganyaan project in the region.
- In terms of experience, I.S.R.O. will obtain assistance from the French space agency C.N.E.S. in various areas, including space medicine, astronaut safety control, radiation protection, and life support.
- After the former U.S.S.R., the U.S., and China, India could potentially become the fourth country to send a man into space.
- Gaganyaan would be smaller than the current Russian Soyuz, the Chinese Shenzhou, the Orion spacecraft planned for N.A.S.A.
Vyommitra
- I.S.R.O. will send Vyommitra in the unmanned Gaganyaan Spacecraft.
- Vyomamitra is an artificial intelligence-based robotic system to mimic crew activity inside the crew module of Gaganyaan.
- Scientists at IISc in collaboration with I.S.R.O. has been developing this.
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CHANDRAYAAN 1
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- It was launched in October 2008.
- It was the first lunar probe of India.
- The mission had a lunar orbiter and an impactor.
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CHANDRAYAAN 2
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- I.S.R.O. Launched the Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon in July 2019, but its lander did not touch the lunar surface.
- It is a completely indigenous mission comprising of an Orbiter, Lander (called Vikram) and Rover (called Pragyan).
- It was ISRO’s first interplanetary mission to land a rover on any celestial body. The mission had attempted to soft-land a rover 600km from the lunar south pole but got deviated from the path after 3 Km.
- The scientific objective is to map the location and abundance of water on the Moon surface.
- Scientific Objectives of Chandrayaan 2:
- Moon provides the closest link to Earth’s Ancient history.
- to build up on Evidence of Chandrayaan-1 which discovered water molecules on the Moon so as to map the location and abundance of water on the Moon surface
- It will also study new types of rock that have a unique chemical composition.
- Orbiter– observe the lunar surface, and relay contact between the Lander of Earth and the lander of Chandrayaan 2.
- Lander (called Vikram)-equipped to carry out the first soft landing of India on its atmosphere is lunar.
- Rover (known as Pragyan): an AI-powered vehicle which is to move on the lunar surface and perform chemical analysis on-site.
- Launcher – The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle G.S.L.V. MkIII-M1 was used as the launcher.
- Few other Pointers:
- 1st space flight to gently land in the southern polar region of the Moon.
- 1st Indian expedition to try soft lunar surface landing with homegrown technology.
- After the United States, India became the 4th country ever to soft-land on the lunar surface.
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N.A.V.I.C.
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Navigation in Indian Constellation
- Indian Constellation Navigation (NavIC) is an Indian Regional Satellite Navigation System (I.R.N.S.S.), developed by the ISRO.
- It is an independent indigenous regional system developed on par with the US-based Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS of Russia, Galileo by Europe, BeiDou by China and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) by Japan.
- I.R.N.S.S. consists of eight spacecraft, three geostationary spacecraft, and five geosynchronous satellites.
- IRNSS will provide two types of services:
- Standard Positioning Service for civilian users
- Restricted Service (encrypted service) provided only to specific users
- The main goal is to provide reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services across India and the neighbourhood.
- It works in the same way as the established and popular U.S.A. Global Positioning System (G.P.S.) but over a subcontinent within a distance of 1,500 km.
- Recently, Global standards body 3GPP, which develops mobile telephony protocols, has approved NaVIC, India ‘s regional navigation system.
- The Indian Space Research Organization (I.S.R.O.) and its Antrix Corporation Ltd. commercial arm are set to market India ‘s Regional Navigation Satellite System-Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC).
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GSAT-30
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- GSAT 30 has just been deployed successfully.
- India ‘s telecommunication satellite GSAT-30, weighing 3357 kg, was launched by launch vehicle Ariane-5 VA-251 into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (G.T.O.) from the launch base in Kourou, French Guyana.
- GSAT-30 shall serve as a replacement with enhanced coverage to INSAT4A services.
- In 2005, INSAT-4A was launched, and cable operators use it to broadcast their programs abroad.
- The satellite provides Ku-band coverage of India’s mainland and islands and extended C-band coverage of Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries, and Australia.
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GSAT-11
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- It weighs around 5855 Kg.
- It is part of ISRO’s high-throughout communication satellite (HTS) fleet which will drive the Internet broadband of India from space to untouched areas. It is to provide a throughput data rate of 16 Gbps.
- It carries 40 transponders including 32 in Ku-band and 8 in Ka-Band.
- It is for the first time that Ka-Band is introduced in India through GSAT-11.
- It will be placed in circular geostationary orbit which is 36,000 Km away.
- Mission has a lifespan of 15 years.
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G.E.M.I.N.I.
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- The Gagan Powered Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information (G.E.M.I.N.I.) system, a satellite-based advice service for deep-sea fishermen, has been launched by the Government of India.
- It was developed to diffuse emergencies seamlessly and effectively Disaster warning information and communication, Potential Fishing Zones (P.F.Z.), and Ocean States Forecasts (O.S.F.) to fishermen.
- G.E.M.I.N.I. has been developed by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services and Airport Authority of India
- This device receives and transmits data received from G.A.G.A.N. satellites to a Bluetooth mobile communication system.
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CARTOSAT-3
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- Cartosat-3 and 13 commercial nanosatellites were successfully launched by I.S.R.O.
- The Cartosat-3 satellite has high-resolution imaging capabilities.
- Tenure of the Mission: 5 years
- Orbit Type: Sun-synchronous polar orbit (S.S.P.O.), 509 km above sea level.
- Vehicle Launcher: PSLV-C47
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RISAT-2BR1
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- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (P.S.L.V.) launched India’s advanced RISAT-2BR1 radar imaging satellite.
- RISAT-2BR1 is the second radar imaging satellite in the RISAT-2B series and is part of a group of satellites, along with the CARTOSAT-3, that will boost India’s earth imaging capabilities from space.
- The R.I.S.A.T. satellites are equipped with a Synthetic Aperture Radar (S.A.R.) capable of taking pictures of the Earth during day and night, and in cloudy conditions as well.
- The satellite will assist in irrigation, logging, forestry, and coastal protection, soil surveillance, disaster management assistance, and round-the-clock border monitoring.
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Aditya-L1 Mission
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- Aditya-L1 is a first Indian based project to research the solar Corona, which is scheduled for 2021.
- Its objectives are:
- To study solar Corona in near IR and visible bands.
- To study the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)
- To analyse the important physical parameters for space weather like coronal magnetic field structures, the evolution of the coronal magnetic field, etc.
- It will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian Sun-Earth point (L1), about 1,5 million km from the Earth.
- It will be launched using P.S.L.V.
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Geo Imaging Satellite (GISAT-1)
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- Indian Earth observation satellite is designed to enable continuous observation of the Indian subcontinent, rapid monitoring of natural hazards, and catastrophe.
- It will be the first of two spacecraft intended for the Indian Earth Observatory to be put in a geostationary orbit of about 36,000 km.
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XPoSat
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- X-ray polarimeter satellite is a dedicated polarization study mission planned.
- The spacecraft will carry the Polarimeter Instrument in X-ray (P.O.L.I.X.) payload, which will study the degree and angle of polarization of the 5-30 keV energy range of bright X-ray sources.
- The satellite has a five-year mission life and will be placed in a 500-700 km circular orbit.
- It will study black holes around neutron stars, supernova remnants, pulsars, and regions.
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NISAR
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- Nisar stands for Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar.
- It is a joint project of NASA and ISRO.
- It’s the 1st dual-band satellite radar imaging.
- N.I.S.A.R. can provide a way to address extremely spatial and temporally dynamic processes ranging from ecosystem disruptions to collapse of ice sheets and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and landslides
- N.I.S.A.R. is an L-band and S-band dual-frequency radar mission that will monitor Earth from two directions every 12 days.
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Shukrayaan 1
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- The Venusian mission Shukrayaan 1, is a planned orbiter to Venus to study the surface and atmosphere of the Venus
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