AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

Online Course – The New Space Age

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A new online introductory (yes – for beginners) course from the Workers’ Educational Association supported by the Royal Astronomical Society. Enrolment requirements include:

  • You have been resident in the UK, EU or EEA for the last 3 years
  • You are aged 19 years or older on 1st September 2019
  • Starts at 19:00 on Tuesday 10th March 2020. Cost is £20 or free if eligible
International Space Station
Credit ESA

Over six weekly ninety-minute sessions online, the course will look at space programmes and missions being conducted by many countries and companies right now.  Starting 10th March 2020. The six sessions will cover

  1. From the Space Race to the New Space Age. How has human space exploration evolved since the launch of Sputnik in 1957?
  2. Services from space. All those satellites in space, what impact do they have on the quality of lives of people on Earth?
  3. The Private Space Sector. It has been emerging for many years. Has it finally arrived?
  4. Environmental control in space.  Can the international community apply the lessons of climate change on Earth to the space environment around Earth and beyond?
  5. Militarisation of space. Humans on Earth have always fought on the land, sea and the air. Is war in space inevitable?
  6. Humans in Space.  In this decade, will humans walk on the Moon again? Will this decade deliver, finally the promise of space tourism?
More info and Signup Here
























India’s Human Spaceflight programme – Gaganyaan. Brief update


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It’s been more than a year since India’s PM Narendra Modi made the announcement that India will launch its own astronauts, using an Indian launcher from Indian soil. The goal he set for the Indian Space Research Organisation was to place an Indian crew in low Earth orbit for a week before a safe recovery following splashdown in the Indian ocean. 





How is that mission, called Gagayaan, coming along? Look here.







Episode 91 – ISRO and the Spy  who was not


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Nambi Narayan





One of the most fascinating and colourful characters associated with the Indian Space Programme is Narayan Nambi.    





In 1994, Nambi Narayanan an ISRO aerospace engineer was falsely arrested by the Investigation Beuro on charges of espionage. He was accused of passing on confidential launch vehicle flight test data to foreign nationals. In 1996 he was cleared by the Central Investigations Bureau and India’s Supreme Court found him not guilty in 1998. In 2019 he was presented with India’s third-highest civilian award,  the Padma Bhushan. 





In 1966 he joined ISRO or INCOSPAR as it was known at that time. With the guidance and support of Vikram Sarabhai, he went to study liquid and cryogenic engine technology at Princeton in 1969. He worked on the early stages of the development of the Vikas liquid engine which now powers two of the four stages of the PSLV.





 Some of the topics we discussed include: 





  • During the 1960s he visited the Spadadam site near Carlisle. Today it is a Royal Airforce Station but in the 1960s it was the site used by the British Government test rocket engines and to develop Blue Streak – an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile. 
  • In 1974 ISRO concluded a barter arrangement – no money changed hands. India would provide 100 man-years trained engineers. 75% of this time would towards supporting France developing their (then new)  Ariane 1 launcher and 25% would be used by India to develop the Vikas Engine with the technology transfer from France. Indian engineers would also build, test and qualify 100,000 pressure transducers for France.
  • He claims to be the architect of this unique barter arrangement.  In addition to being the father and architect of the PSLV.
  • He suspects that the intelligence Beuro picked on him to slow down the Cryogenic engine development and remove him as project director. 
  • Speculating on the why the Vikram lander failed to make a soft landing he thinks it may have been related to the automatic landing sequence (software) or an issue with the braking thrusters.
    He is an advocate of an Asian Space Agency lead by India. 
    He believes China space programme is not ahead of India’s because India has succeeded with the Mars Orbiter Mission.
    He would like India and China to increase collaboration in space.
    In 2017, he published a book on his experiences and a film based on the book will be released in late 2019.





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Consumer-level Internet from Space – LEOSAT


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Credit LeoSat 





It was always well understood in the industry that not all of the companies currently vying for the consumer level internet from satellites constellations in LEO would make it. LEOSAT appears to have been one of the early victims as the investors backed out. An interesting piece by Viasat has the following takeaways














  • The consumer-level ground infrastructure for LEO constellations is not yet available at the capacity nor the price point required. Not yet anyway
  • The consumer-level infrastructure to support internet from GEO is already in place. 
  • The higher latency for GEO internet is not really an issue for isolated communities. They will be happy to have internet access – even if it is a bit slow.
  • The cost models for Leo sat constellation provide 247 coverage for the whole of the Earth. But in reality, people live in concentrated communities. Most of the LEO sats constellation will provide services when and where there is nil or very little demand while expensive space assets will depreciate (as experienced by ISRO’s NAVIC). This is not really cost-effective. 
  • LEOSAT fundamental business model is sound. If it is able to find an alternative investor it could rise again.