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Episode 90 – An update on ISRO’s activities with S Somanath and R Umamaheshwaran

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R Umamaheshwaran (Scientific Secretary) and S Somanath (Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre)

This interview with S Somanath (director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) and R Umamaheshwaran (Scientific Secretary) was recorded on 24th October 2019 during the International Astronautical Congress in Washington DC. It was not focused on a specific theme but rather an update on all things ISRO – current and future activities. We spoke about ISRO’s potential participation with NASA on its Artemis programme, ISRO’s innovative Orbital Platform (repurposing the 4th stage of a PSLV), Human Spaceflight and Gaganyaan, Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, Semi Cryogenic engine development, potential new launch site Kulasekharapattan, Chandrayaan-2 and future international collaboration.

The award-winning book mentioned is Integrated Design for Space Transportation System by B.N Suresh and K. Suresh.

The conversation started with India’s bid to be the host for IAC2022. The other candidates were Brazil, Singapore and Azerbaijan. The day after this recording it was announced that the International Astronautical Federation selected Azerbaijan.

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Some of the topics we covered are listed below

  • India, along with Singapore, Azerbaijan and Brazil were candidate countries to host 2022 IAC. India hosted the IAC 1988 and 2007. This interview was recorded a day before the announcement was made. Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan was selected as the host for 2022.
  • Potential ISRO participation with NASA’s Artemis programme return to the Moon. Italy and Japan will join NASA. (ISRO remains uncommitted at this stage).
  • PS4 Orbital Platform – ISRO is making use of the 4th stage of the PSLV to host payload in LEO for several months after it has completed the delivery of the primary payload(s). It will be augmented with RCS and propulsion system to maintain attitude and orbit – potentially indefinitely! Solar panel on the outside will deliver up to 100W. End of mission, the platform will comply with agreed guidelines – to a minimum perigee of 500km if not deorbit.
  • Gaganyaan – Coming up parachute tests by end of this year, launch abort t(in-flight) test. Uncrewed test flight next year and 2021. Crewed flight to LEO by 2022 is still on target.
  • Crew selection process is still progressing. Selection criteria require test pilot experience so females will not be part of the first crew. The first flight will consist of a crew of 3. Initially, a team of 4 will go to Russia for astronaut training – a single backup. (Surprising – I would have expected at least 6 for two teams – primary and back up).
  • Human Spaceflight and Exploration conference in Bangalore, India in January 2020. This mission is to generate public awareness of India’s Gaganyaan programme. Rakesh Sharma and astronauts from other countries will also be present.
  • Small Satellite Launch vehicle (SSLV) to address the newly developing market for small satellites. Currently, small satellites use rideshare that does not offer customised timing or orbit. Both are determined by the primary payload. The SSLV to only from Sriharikota.
  • The reference in the Indian (Google translation from original Telegu) press for a proposed new launch site in Kulasekharapattan is not really taken seriously by ISRO. Initially to be launched from Sriharikota but may develop a mobile launcher in the future. Sea launch is not under consideration at the present.
  • Alternative launch sites may come in the future but currently, Sriharikota’s launch capacity is not being used fully.
  • ISRO’s first mission to Venus (Shukriyaan) to be launched in 20203. Mass and mission architecture already defined. Aditya-L1 – launch in the second half of 2022. Mars Orbiter Mission 2, architecture not yet finalised – may include lander and rover. No date yet.
  • Chandrayan-3 – not announced yet but there will be a Chandrayaan-3 and more.
  • Failure Analysis Committee investigating. ISRO has a fairly good idea from the data on what went wrong. So far – hard landing resulting in spacecraft damage. Why did it happen? The problem is a minor due to “dispersion”? i.e. something was off-nominal but would not say if hardware or software issue? The FAC report will be publically published.
  • Space station – announced by the ISRO chairman. It will happen but no timeline.
  • Reusable Launch Vehicle second mission will involve an airdrop and land on a strip at Chitradurga in Karnataka. Target date – December 2019.
  • Semi cryogenic engine. Engine development in progress with a target date of 2022. Testing and significant progress will take place AFTER the Gaganyaan mission is over.
  • Next GSLV-Mk3 scheduled for mid-2020 for comsat launches.
  • Will India use the name “astronaut”? ISRO will conduct something in the way of a public poll and make a formal decision.
  • Gaganyaan will not be one-off. May go to the Moon, ISS or participate in Artemis. ISRO not ruling out anything.
  • ISRO continuing to cooperate with Russia, France, ESA, the USA, Collaboration with China is also possible. Two experiments from the Indian Institute of Science will be conducted on the Chinese Space Station. Collaboration with China in science is straight forward but at the agency level – that may come in the future

IAC2019 Heads of Space Agency – Press Conference

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This audio recording captures most of the Q&A that took place on Monday 21st October.

Heads of Space Agency Press Conference.
21 October Washington DC

The agencies represented included

  • S. Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
  • Jim Bridenstine, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States
  • Hiroshi Yamakawa, President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
  • Sergey Krikalev, Executive Director for Piloted Spaceflights, State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS, Russian Federation
  • Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Director General, European Space Agency (ESA)

The audio quality is poor in a few brief instances.

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IAC 2019 Washington DC

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This year’s IAC conference attracted nearly 7000 visitors, exceeding the 6500 in Bremen last years. Two record-breaking years for the IAC in consecutive years. Many astronauts (including Mae Jamison, Charles Bolden, Sergei Krikalev, Oleg Kotov, Sandy Magnus, Jean-François Clervoy, André Kuipers, Buzz Aldrin) were present to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Apollo.

A couple of the themes that caught my eye included

  • Space Situational Awareness (SSA) – The precision (and thus the ability to detect potential collisions) of what is up there and where it exactly is, remains a concern. This will be exasperated with more space assets from emerging nations and the private sector in the coming decade. The mega-constellations will significantly add to the congestion.
  • Satelite Service and refuelling – Lots of new players are developing the early stages of solutions that will prolong the operational lifetime of the spacecraft by providing servicing and refuelling. The use of additive manufacture (3-D printing), automation based on Machine learning and neural networks are already being developed on earth and demonstrated in space.

A bit about the International Astronautical Congress. It was established in 1950 and its governing body, the International Astronautical Federation, in 1951. An annual international congress is held in a different country each year in October. Last year, IAC was held in Germany, next year it will be in Dubai, Paris in 2021 and Baku in Azerbaijan was announced as the host city for 2022. India, Brazil and Singapore had put in a submission for 2022.

The current IAF president Jean-Yves Le Gall has come to the end of his term and is handing over to Pascale Ehrenfreund. The IAF has several vice presidents including ISRO’s S. Somanath since 2018. His welcome address for 2019 is below.

China and Russia had a minimal representation at IAC2019. The programme and the exhibition list entities from China but were absent. It appears that the Chinese delegations were denied US visa at very short notice.

Made-in-India – products for the global markets

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A two-day summit called Spacetronix and Deftronix, organised by the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association in Bangalore attracted over 50 speakers, 45 exhibitors and 600 visitors. The first day, Spacetronics focused on India’s space sector and the second on defence – Deftronix. The key themes addressed the state of manufacturing of hardware, outsourcing and supply chain, a closer look at some successful space startups and the challenges of standards and security. 

The two-day event was extremely well organised and the venue, the Taj Yeshwantpur, met all the needs. It was disappointing that the organisers were left waiting by the tardy attendance by the keynote speaker, the first one on the second day. Being an industry centred event, many of the presentations involved major sponsors showcasing their products. Some of the speakers such as minister of state Dr. Jitendra Singh and DRDO chairman Dr. Satheesh Reddy did mot make an appearance but in both cases, their billing was subject to confirmation.

The first day focused on space. Representatives from a variety of Indian Space Research Organisation centres made presentations indicating their willingness to engage with the private sector to help meet their increasing capacity demands in avionics, semiconductors, 4th generation wifi products, digital receivers, high-speed data acquisition and playback, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, systems and cybersecurity. In addition to capacity building and reducing costs, ISRO was looking to the bourgeoning private space sector to introduce innovations in products design and manufacturing techniques.  

The general view from outside ISRO is that India’s space sector is dominated by its national space agency – The Indian Space Research Organisation. Private sector startups find it hard to overcome ISRO’s role as the primary producer, customer and regulator. The emerging space startups see ISRO as a gatekeeper restricting the commercial opportunities to new players. 

Gurvinder Singh
ISRO Semiconductor Laboratory in Punjab

Multinationals choose to setup manufacturing plants in China because, unlike India, China has an internal market for their products. India’s advantage, a cheap labour force, is offset by the need to export goods once they are made in India.

Challenges experienced by the private sector when working with ISRO included 

  • No single point of contact for initial registration by a private sector company
  • No support (risk sharing) for small companies that invest in prototyping as part of the bid-process
  • ISRO is a big organisation and currently has no template for interfacing with the private sector. 
  • Start-ups have to work work to ISRO’s methods and process which are not consistent.
  • Companies that work with ISRO IP tend to be favoured over those that  are offering independent products and services

The two-day event was supported by an exhibition where national and international companies showcased their products and services. Representatives from ISRO centres made presentations indicating their requirements for specific products and services to assist with capacity, cost or new innovative solutions. Whilst ISRO centres hold international industry standards such as ISO 9001 (Quality), AS9000 (Aerospace) and 14001 (Environment) but security standards such as ISO 27001 was conspicuous by its absence. This was especially striking since security was a major theme of the event.

In June 2019, India’s prime minister announced a new target of 5 trillion USD digital economy by 2024 from the current 2.8 trillion USD. Space and defence are two of the sectors where the digital economy will grow. Numerous former ISRO chairmen have announced initiatives to facilitate greater engagement with the private sector but engagement remains weak.

NASA has about as many employees as ISRO but 20 times the budget. Most of NASA’s budget is spent on outsourced projects. Although NASA was not explicitly cited, one theme was to learn from other countries on the benefits of outsourcing space projects. An interesting word used during an ISRO presentation was “Indeginization”. This was a reference to a desire for ISRO to make in-house components and systems that are currently imported or made by international manufacturers in India.

During the early 1990s, India’s went through an economic liberalisation that reduced the role of the government and attracted private and foreign investments. Millions of Indians benefited from easier, cheaper and faster access to private telephone lines, cars and household goods. The national economy has seen huge growth since. For India to achieve similar growth in the new strategic areas of space and defence, a similar liberalisation is required if the targets of the digital economy are to be met. One urgent step for the government is the needs to establish a space policy and publish a space bill that will allow the nascent Indian startups to flourish.