First trajectory correction manoeuvre on Mars Orbiter successfully done by ISRO

The first flight Correction Man-oeuvre of India's maiden heavenly body mission to Mars was on Wednesday dispensed with success by Isro scientists on the satellite, that is presently traveling some a pair of.9 million kilometer removed from Earth.

"The initial flight Correction Man oeuvre (TCM) of satellite was dispensed with success at 06:30 hrs (IST) by firing the twenty two Newton Thrusters for a length of forty.5 seconds. The satellite is traveling at a distance of regarding twenty nine hundred thousand (2.9 million) kilometer removed from Earth," ISRO aforementioned during a statement.

The TCMs fine tune the flight of the satellite to stay it traveling within the meant track towards the superior planet.

Today's correction was dispensed by the pc on board the satellite, since the quantity of your time needed for the signal to travel and come back was regarding twenty seconds, as mum was already traveling regarding some a pair of.9 million kilometer away, ISRO said.

"MOM team is gaining active expertise in handling the communication delay because it keeps increasing step by step," it said.

The satellite had quarantined of the Earth’s orbit on December one. The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) has planned four TCMs throughout its journey to Mars. The man-oeuvres area unit required to stay the satellite on the specified path. it's additionally essential for maintaining the specified speed.

"The eight thrusters on board are going to be laid-off exactly to steer the mum to Mars throughout the flight Manoeuvrings Correction (TMC). Our navigation team has currently got an exact understanding of the precise flight of mum supported the vary and speed information non-heritable over the many days since the Trans-Mars Injection (TMI). now's the time to eliminate the minor deviations within the flight," Isro aforementioned.

Mangalyaan is on its 680-million-km voyage to Mars. If it makes it, Asian nation can be a part of a pick club comprising the America, Russia and Europe. Once within the Mars orbit, the orbiter’s 5 payloads can then begin performing arts experiments for following six months.

Source: http://www.isro.org/

PSLV - C22/IRNSS – 1A Mission

PSLV - C22 successfully launches India's first navigational satellite IRNSS-1A on Jul 01, 2013

PSLV - C22 / IRNSS – 1A Mission:

• Orbit raising maneuvers completed with fifth Apogee Motor Firing (AMF) on July 06, 2013 at 16:57 hrs (IST) and performance is normal.
• Satellite is in Geo-Synchronous Orbit (GSO) with 27 deg inclination at 44 deg E longitude.
• Present orbital parameters are: apogee 35870 km, perigee 35484 km and orbital period is 23h 50m.
• All the spacecraft subsystem is evaluated and functioning normal.

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C22, successfully launched IRNSS-1A, the first satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), in the early morning hours of today (July 2, 2013) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is the twenty third consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The 'XL' configuration of PSLV was used for the mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was used thrice to launch Chandrayaan-1, GSAT-12 and RISAT-1 satellites.

At the completion of the countdown, PSLV-C22 lifted off from the First Launch Pad at 23:41 hrs IST yesterday (July 1, 2013) with the ignition of the first stage and four strap-on motors of the launch vehicle. The important flight events, namely, stage and strap-on ignitions, heat-shield separation, stage and strap-on separations and satellite injection took place exactly as planned. After a flight of 20 minutes 17 seconds, the IRNSS-1A Satellite, weighing 1425 kg, was injected to the intended elliptical orbit of 282.46 km X 20,625.37 km.

After injection, the solar panels of IRNSS-1A were deployed automatically. ISRO's Master Control Facility (at Hassan, Karnataka) assumed the control of the satellite. In the coming days, five orbit maneuvers will be conducted from Master Control Facility to position the satellite in its Geosynchronous Circular Orbit at 55 deg East longitude.

IRNSS-1A is the first of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users - and Restricted Services (RS) provided only to authorised users.

A number of ground stations responsible for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite control, satellite ranging and monitoring, etc., have been established in as many as 15 locations across the country.

The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2015-16.

Source: ISRO

PSLV to Launch French Remote Sensing Satellite - SPOT - 6

A commercial Launch Services Agreement between Antrix Corporation Limited (ANTRIX), the commercial arm of ISRO; and ASTRIUM SAS, a Company under EADS, France; has been signed at recently. Under this agreement, an advanced Remote Sensing satellite - SPOT -6, weighing nearly 800 kg, built by ASTRIUM SAS, will be launched on-board ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), during the second half of 2012. Along with SPOT - 6 satellite, the PSLV, in its core alone configuration, will carry other co-passenger payloads.

This Launch Services Agreement signed between ANTRIX and ASTRIUM may be a part of the Long Term Agreement signed between the two agencies in September 2008.

It may be recalled that in November 2010, under a commercial contract between ANTRIX and ASTRIUM, an advanced communication satellite HYLAS was successfully build by ISRO and ASTRIUM together for a EUROPEAN customer. In the coming days, further collaboration possibilities between ANTRIX/ISRO and ASTRIUM would be explored.

INSAT-2E Completes 13 years of Successful Operation

After 13 years of satisfactory service, INSAT-2E, the last of the five satellites in the INSAT-2 series, has successfully finished its mission life. INSAT-2E was built with a planned mission life of 12 years and continued to function beyond its mission life. Launched on April 3, 1999 by the European Ariane-5 launcher, INSAT-2E was located at 830 East longitudes in the geostationary orbit.

INSAT-2E carried 14 C-band and 5 lower extended C-band transponders for different communication services. The satellite also carried a Very High Resolution Radiometer and a Charge Coupled Device camera for meteorological observation.

It might be recalled that 11 communication transponders of 36 MHz bandwidth onboard INSAT-2E satellite were leased to International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (INTELSAT), the first such lease from an Indian satellite. INSAT-2E was controlled from Master Control Facility at Hassan.

Shri A S Kiran Kumar takes over as Director of Space Applications Centre

Shri A S Kiran Kumar, Distinguished Scientist and Associate Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmadabad, has assumed the office of Director, Space Applications Centre. He took over the charge from Dr R Navalgund, the outgoing Director.

Shri Kiran Kumar joined SAC/ISRO in 1975. He has made immense contribution to the design and development of Electro-Optical Imaging Sensors for Airborne, Low Earth Orbit and Geostationary orbit satellites starting from Bhaskara TV consignment to the latest Terrain Mapping Camera and Hyper spectral Imager payloads for Chandrayaan-1 mission. He has made very significant contributions to the task of evolving the observation strategy surrounding land, ocean, atmospheric and planetary studies.

As Associate Director of Space Applications Centre, Shri Kiran Kumar has steered the design and realization of communication, navigation, microwave and remote sensing payloads.
Shri Kiran Kumar obtained B.Sc (Honours) degree in Physics and M.Sc degree in Electronics from Bangalore University as well as M.Tech degree in Physical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Shri Kiran Kumar is the recipient of many success and awards like Indian Society of Remote Sensing Award for the year 1994, VASVIK award (Electronic Sciences and Technology) for the year 1998, Astronautical Society of India Award (Space Sciences and Applications) for the year 2001, ISRO Individual Service Award 2006, Bhaskara Award conferred by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing for the year 2007, success for Team Achievement Award 2008 of the International Academy of Astronautics and ISRO Performance excellence Award 2008.

He is a man of the National Academy of Engineers and Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics. Shri Kiran Kumar has represented ISRO in international forums like World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and is currently the Chairman of CEOS.