News Analysis India

Tag: ISRO

  • Brazilian, Indian startup satellite in ISRO’s first mission in 2021 on February 28

    By PTI
    BENGALURU: In its first mission in 2021, India’s space agency ISRO planned to launch on February 28 Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 and three Indian payloads, including one built by a home-grown start-up.

    The satellites are slated to be launched onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-51 at 10.28 am from the Sriharikota spaceport, over 100 kms from Chennai.

    Secretary in the Department of Space and Chairman of Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) K Sivan confirmed the PSLV-C51 schedule to PTI on Friday.

    Amazonia-1, reportedly the first earth observation satellite entirely developed by Brazil, is the primary payload.

    ‘Anand’, ‘Satish Dhawan’ satellite and ‘UNITYsat’ will be the co-passengers.

    ‘Anand’ is built by Indian space startup, Pixxel, and ‘Satish Dhawan Satellite’ by Chennai-based Space Kidz India.

    UNITYsat is a combination of three satellites designed and built as a joint development by Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumpudur (JITsat), G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur (GHRCEsat) and Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore (Sri Shakthi Sat).

    “PSLV-C51 marks the launch of the countrys first commercial private remote-sensing satellite (Anand) on an ISRO PSLV rocket”, an ISRO official said.

    Sivan had earlier described the upcoming mission as “special for us, special for the entire country” and beginning of a “new era of space (sector) reforms”.

    Pixxel CEO, Awais Ahmed had said: “We are elated with the fact that Indias first commercial private satellite will now launch on an Indian rocket.

    This is not only a proud moment for us as an organisation but also as citizens to work with our nations capabilities”.

    Bengaluru-based Pixxel has said it plans to build a constellation of 30 satellites by 2023.

    The company inaugurated it’s new facility here last month.

    According to Space Kidz India, Satish Dhawan satellite (SD SAT), named after former ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan, aimed to study space radiation and Magnetosphere and demonstrate the indigenously designed and developed nanosatellite components.

    “The satellite also tests the capabilities of LoRa technology in Space which could be helpful for many applications in the future in short and M2M communication”, it said.

  • Gaganyaan’s first unmanned launch slated for December 2021: Sitharaman

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan is slated for December, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

    The mission was originally scheduled for launch in December 2020 but had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    In her budget speech, Sitharaman said as part of Gaganyaan, India’s manned space mission, four Indian astronauts are being trained on generic space flight aspects in Russia.

    “The first unmanned launch is slated for December 2021,” Sitharaman said.

    The Rs 10,000 crore Gaganyaan mission aims to send a three-member crew to space for a period of five to seven days by 2022 when India completes 75 years of independence.

    The ISRO had started planning for the mission accordingly.

    The first unmanned mission was planned in December 2020, the second unmanned mission in June 2021.

    The final and the main component, the manned mission of Gaganyaan, was scheduled six months later in December 2021, much before the 2022 deadline.

    ISRO had earlier indicated that there would be a delay in several missions as the space body’s work has been hit by disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Among the major projects that have been affected are Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan.

    Chandrayaan-3, the third mission to the moon, was scheduled in late 2020.

    Staff members from ISRO’s different centres were infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic and only essential and process-related work was going on.

    The related industry was also affected due to the coronavirus lockdown.

  • ISRO scientist Tapan Mishra’s Facebook post on his alleged poisoning ill-timed?

    Express News Service
    BENGALURU: Senior scientist and adviser Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Tapan Mishra’s claim that he was poisoned with arsenic trioxide on May 23, 2017, when he was in a promotional interview at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, has come at a time when India is smarting under China’s recent space conquest and the former’s failed landing component of Chandrayaan-2 mission  in September 2019.

    China’s Chang’e-5 returned to earth last month with 4.4 pounds of precious lunar material, which has signalled China’s growing supremacy in the international space programme.

    Mishra’s claim of an “espionage embedded in the government set up” to remove scientists, who are handling critical and sensitive projects, is an “attack on the image of India’s apex space research organization at a time when the country is aiming to secure the fourth place to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and boost its credentials as a low-cost space power after Russia, the US and China,” said sources.

    Sources on condition of anonymity said that Mishra survived brain cancer and has undergone intensive chemotherapy.

    “The presence of arsenic trioxide, which is an anti-cancer drug, could be because of the chemotherapy,” said sources.

    In his post – ‘Long kept secret’ on Facebook, he did mention that Kiran Kumar (former ISRO chairman) tried his best to convince me that my earlier case of squamous cell carcinoma is resurrecting.”

    But Mishra insisted that he was “poisoned with the help of local, inside support” when he was in a closed-door meeting along with the then chairman, ISRO, A S Kiran Kumar, and the incumbent Chairman K Sivan.

    “It was one of the most secure and safe places to be in and yet I was poisoned. It cannot be an outsider hand without the local, inside support. I want the government to investigate the attack on scientists, who are handling critical and sensitive projects,” he said.

    Mishra added that he knew who could be behind his poisoning but refused to divulge any details.

    Mishra, known as the key spy sat maker, was removed as director, Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, in July 2018 and was appointed as senior adviser to ISRO Chairman by Sivan after alleged differences over privatization issues.

    Mishra, who has been credited for his contribution in making synthetic aperture radars – Risat and Cartosat — that are of strategic scientific, military and commercial importance, continued to stay in Ahmedabad even after being posted as senior adviser.  

    He is due to retire this month-end. Meanwhile, ISRO scientists refused to comment on this issue.

  • Top ISRO scientist Tapan Misra claims he was poisoned three years ago

    By Express News Service
    BENGALURU: A former director of Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Space Application Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad has alleged an “espionage attack” by “mysterious men” who tried to assassinate him twice. He alleges that the gang is targeting scientists and scientific institutions in the country and does not rule out this “modus operandi” for “adjusting” seniority within the organisation.

    Not blaming any person, organisation, or country, the senior ISRO scientist, Prof Tapan Misra, set to retire on January 31, says, “The motive appears to be espionage attack, embedded in the Government setup, to remove a scientist with critical contribution of very large military and commercial significance, like expertise in building Synthetic Aperture Radar. I will also not rule out… a new modus operandi of adjusting seniority (within ISRO) and clear me (sic) who was perceived as (an) obstacle.”

    In a startling Facebook post, “Long Kept Secret”, on Tuesday, Prof Misra, currently a senior advisor to ISRO, says the first assassination attempt on him was made on May 23, 2017 during a promotion interview at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru, and again on July 12, 2019 in Ahmedabad. He also points at more recent attempts to kill him by releasing poisonous snakes into his house in Ahmedabad through “a carefully laid secret tunnel in my compound and hidden in a trove of banana plantations”. 

    Mentioning the “highly suspicious death of Prof Vikram Sarabhai (founder-chairman of ISRO) in 1971” and “doubts about sudden death of Dr S Srinivasan” (former director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre), Misra says that he is “convinced that these are the men, embedded in our system (who) are leading to mysterious deaths of scientists and destruction of our institutions.” He attributes the infamous 1994 ISRO espionage case which targeted Nambi Narayanan to these “mysterious men”.

    Misra alleges that the first attempt in May 2017 involved poisoning him with the deadly Arsenic Trioxide while he was attending an interview for being promoted from Scientist ‘F’ to ‘G’ grade. The attack made him suffer for two years and he lost nearly 30-40 per cent of blood and could barely reach Ahmedabad where he was rushed to a hospital. 

    In the second attempt in July 2019, he says, “My security was breached and I was poisoned with gaseous poison, probably Hydrogen Cyanide, which hypoxiates leaving no trace…. leading to convulsion, loss of senses and memory. I survived because of NSG training for my PSO. I was transferred immediately to hospital, administered ozonised oxygen and had to spend (a) couple of days in ICU.” He says the attempt “happened just prior to (the) planned launch date of Chandrayan-2 on July 15…Probably to prevent me (from being) present there (at Sriharikota).”

    He says, “What pains me is that the ISRO hierarchy and my colleagues tried to shun me as a pariah. I pleaded with two successive Chairmen to help me in getting justice.” Misra confirmed to TNIE that he posted this on FB keeping younger scientists in mind. He said that the incidents should be investigated to rid the system of such elements.