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Muns
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by Muns » Fri Jul 05, 2019 5:51 am
Guys with the imminent launch of Chandrayaan 2 over the next 10 days, I thought it important to open up this thread and post my article below on some details of the Chandrayaan mission. Would appreciate any feedback and if there are any corrections to be made, I will be happy to change them.
15 minutes of harrowing Decent! Chandrayaan 2 and all the details.
By Vikram Hakura
https://www.india-aware.com/opinion/15- ... e-details/
On July 15th at 2:51 a.m. in the morning Chandrayaan 2 will be launched. It will involve a rover weighing approximately 27 kg as well as a Lander weighing approximately 1.4 ton and an Orbiter as well weighing in at 2.4 ton. This Leads to a total weight of the launch satellite at 3.8 times.
It will be launched on the GSLV MK3 into a geostrategic orbit. The moon itself is 384000 km from the Earth. From then it will take approximately 16 days off self raising maneuvers before a final burn for a trans-lunar injection. Having done so it takes approximately 5 days for the journey to the Moon. After that a number of breaking maneuvers will be conducted to slowly reduce the orbit for a landing date on the 6th of September 2019.
In total the Orbiter has approximately 8 payloads while the Lander has 3 and the Rover 2 approximately with one payload contributed by NASA to accurately estimate exact distances between Earth and the Moon.
It represents the accumulation of decades of indigenous work evolving support from not only governmental organizations but now private Industries as well. Indeed, it seems that 500 indigenous industries were required to build the GSLV MK3 launch vehicle and over 120 Industries required to build the Chandrayaan spacecraft.
ISRO has often been the nation's pride as well as the envy of our neighbors. We have launched numerous important scientific missions and will continue to do so. The failures of which are all too apparent, Israel recently try to launch its own moon mission but unfortunately this smashed into the surface of the Moon.
Many of the worlds countries often ask why does India need to have space program, and over the years India has shown them how technology can benefit and fully advance the lives of its own citizens.
ISRO now leading the way India shows and helps other countries to follow its own example by launching their own missions.
I know for one thing, that come 6th of September 2019, I along with over a billion Indians will hold their breath for those 15 minutes of decent!
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Muns
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by Muns » Sun Jul 07, 2019 7:38 am
I watched this documentary today really on history of rockets as well as engineering and the way ahead for interplanetary travel. Right of the end of the documentary it had a fascinating piece on plasma engines as well ion thrusters that can effectively propel a spacecraft up to 3 times faster than what chemical engines can effectively power today.
This means that for an effective space travel time to Mars which would include approximately on average travel time of 115 days, an Ion engine could effectively do this in 3 times quicker at 39 days.
I briefly remembered as well that GSLV 9 carried this new technology of an ION engine by ISRO to effectively cut down on the amount fuel that It would take for space craft maneuvering during its life.
However to effectively move a crew to Mars requiring Ion propulsion, it would really mean that we would need to have nuclear power to generate the amount of Megawatts to create and maintain a ION engine with its magnetic field.
However the technology really already exists for ISRO .We have really miniaturized nuclear power stations, including for recent Arihant. Now think of it as a space craft that can run off nuclear power running a ION engine to Mars in just over a month.
With such a engine, the entire Solar System is within humanity's reach.
For the next decade however most private companies of still banking on chemical propulsion as well as rockets to take us to Mars. This includes the BFR by space X.
In any case, we already possess the technology especially with regard to nuclear generation and some experience with the running ion engines. Potentially it would mean that by the time chemical rocket reaches Mars, a ION engine would've just about made 3 trips.
I also hold hope that ISRO Continues to work with the same kind of dedication that it has and wish it all the success in the above mission.
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Muns
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by Muns » Sun Jul 07, 2019 5:45 pm
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Muns
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by Muns » Mon Jul 08, 2019 5:28 am
I think I cried a little when I saw the above Vid....ISRO has come a long way....both tech wise and social media wise as well. The ISRO site looks fantastic to me.....
What a day will Sept 6 be!.....It'll be a Friday....not sure of the time yet....but intend whatever it is to be awake......
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Narasimha
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by Narasimha » Mon Jul 08, 2019 9:07 pm
We are using Hall thrusters. Not strictly ion engines
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Muns
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by Muns » Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:00 am
Narasimha, I did some brief reading on this. From what I could tell a Hall thruster seems to be a smaller version of an ion engine. Wiki labels it as a different type of ion engine. However it still uses an inert gas heated up to form plasma and a magnetic coil to control the direction of the thrust.
A Hall thruster really seems to be smaller version of this but using the principles this can readily be scaled up depending on the amount of energy that we are able to create for continual plasma production.
I guess what I was trying to say was to get on the scale of interplanetary travel it would take phenomenal amount of energy provided by a nuclear reactor hopefully to initiate the plasma reaction as well as sustain it on such a trip.
Space X seems to be banking on its BFR to do the job. However, we may be able to skip a step and perhaps have some kind of prototype in the next decade. With such an engine as a prototype, the whole solar system is literally within our reach.
Just my thoughts. Would appreciate any feedback from you.
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Muns
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by Muns » Thu Jul 11, 2019 5:02 am
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Muns
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by Muns » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:25 am
I was watching this documentary Back to the Moon on NOVA which is the documentary channel here in the US. I think what was especially shocking was the absolute non mention of Chandrayaan 1 and its discovery of water ice on the moon by the MIP(moon impact probe) and its CHACE detector. It is well known now that MIP detected water well before the NASA M3 did and ISRO was waiting just for NASA to confirm its findings.
In fact the documentary goes as far to give credit to the NASA spacecraft LRO and its impact analysis for really making the discovery. Not just that, but the whole Chandrayaan mission is not even mentioned. Other missions by China and even Israel missions were well talked about….. The Israeli mission Beresheet basically crash landed into the surface and was completely lost.
Even Mexico, was given more airtime by hiring a private company in the US to try and make their Lunar mark.
If you ask me, pretty insulting actually. I’m not sure why the complete avoidance of India’s space achievements here in the US. Maybe just this one documentary, but for everybody’s excitement regarding huge water deposits on the moon and the capability that it allows for not only permanent habitation but also providing a launching pad to was the solar system, this is definitely a discovery that really should belong to India.
In any case, exciting times over the next few months.
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Muns
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by Muns » Sun Jul 14, 2019 9:52 pm
Launch has been unfortunately called off. Somekind of technical snag seen in the GSLV and many are assuming that it is the cryogenic engine. Unfortunately hopefully they can figure this out fast and launch tomorrow. If not they have a really tight window in July...
Some initial concern really with the Indigenous cryogenic engine...Fatboy has given us concerns in the past...
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crams
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by crams » Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:01 am
MunsJi, call me a conspiracy buff, but I can bet you, CIA and Chinncoms have all put their best assets on this. And of course, no dearth of 5th columnist in India for hire (green cards and $s). With the rise of BJP/ModiJi, there is so much hatred against India and there are those within and outside happy and more sinister, collude to see India fail. I mean even in kirket, judging by tweets, starting with Kashmiri Muslim traitors, there was jubilation when India lost to NZ.
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Muns
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by Muns » Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:13 am
To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised. The BBC today had a small commentary on Chandrayaan and the host seemed to imply that Chandrayaan was not really doing anything different than what NASA had done in the 1960s. ISRO seems to be just reinventing the wheel. Also India's whole purpose of doing this is to really just show up the Chinese. I mean some really fascinating theories. Again no credit to the fact that Chandrayaan 1 was really the spacecraft that made the breakthrough via the moon impact probe to really set up the water detection on the moon. This has huge significance for not only human habitation on but also the moon serving as a launching pad towards the rest of the solar system.
I could almost hear the glee with the reports from the BBC that the Chandrayaan 2 had a technical glitch.
If it is sabotage then fantastic job by ISRO to detect it on the launchpad and hopefully solve the problem soon. Otherwise the whole thing could've just made a spectacular explosion on the launchpad.
I think they used to be a discussion on BR a little while ago regarding the war on civilizations. This is our time to weed out those in our own network before finally and hopefully spreading Dharmic ideas beyond India's current boundaries. If the moon is to serve as a launchpad to the rest of the solar system, then it is time that India does the same ideologically in a much more aggressive way.
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Muns
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by Muns » Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:49 am
So the fault seems to have been located. Something to do with the nipple joint of the helium gas tank. Apparently according to this they don't need to disable the hold rocket to get it fixed. Looks like they can access via entry point and repair just that section. Hopefully that's the only thing that fat boy has been holding back on us. I hope that they can turn this around quickly and launch to make up for the schedule. Let's see how things turn out. No updates as yet from official ISRO latest update section as well.
Isro pinpoints GSLV-MkIII leak to 'nipple joint' of cryo eng ..
Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... aign=cppst
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Muns
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by Muns » Fri Jul 19, 2019 6:31 am
ISRO today has said that the new launch will happen on January 22 at 1443hrs Indian standard Time. A quick turnaround I'm glad to see that it is going ahead. Otherwise the next window would've probably been somewhere in September.
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Muns
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by Muns » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:27 am
Countdown to ISRO launch of Chandrayaan 2 well on the way! Sivan already stating that he expects no more glitches. What a way to go by the ISRO team in turning this around to launch tomorrow. Unfortunately for all of us, that will be well into the early morning when a lot of us will be sleeping. We will only wake up now to the news that the launch was successful.
All the best to team ISRO!
Glitch fixed, Chandrayaan-2 will be a success: Isro chief Sivan
Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... aign=cppst
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Muns
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by Muns » Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:41 am
We posted a video to try to get some public opinions before Chandrayaan 2 was launched. It's so heartening to see that Indians are so involved with the space program. Watching this video myself I felt that most have really and truly come to follow and understand all of the achievements that ISRO not only does with its high-end missions being Mangalyaan and Chandrayaan... but how ISRO is really involved in changing their own day to day lives. All of them here I believe have given great examples of how satellite data is really transforming India.
Telecommunications, weather reporting, disaster management, groundwater planning, city planning the list truly is endless. Makes you wonder, how can a country run without such data? Unfortunately they're forced to purchase it at quite exorbitant prices.
Other great responses.... Especially to countries that commonly question why India has a space program when they should be focusing on their poor.... Just great responses in saying that development in science, technology, space and digital India is really only to benefit the poor. One cannot take sacrifice of the other and can only mutually enhance each other.
Wanted to post this before the launch happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RdvEsvslaw&t=5s
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Muns
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by Muns » Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:47 am
Well it seems another fantastic launch by ISRO on the GSLV MK3. The indigenous cryogenic engine was quickly repaired being the helium tank within a matter of 48 hours it seems. ISRO really had the tight launch window, of what it seems only one minute to get it right. Talk about threading the needle. In any case it's going to be an exciting times over the next two months. Looking forward to posting as much of the data as we can. We did take another interview from a prominent DRDO scientist for which I still need some time to review and hopefully can post here soon.
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Muns
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by Muns » Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:48 am
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Muns
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by Muns » Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:41 am
https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-latest-updates
Second earth bound orbit raising maneuver for Chandryaan-2 spacecraft has been performed successfully today (July 26, 2019) at 0108 hrs (IST) as planned, using the onboard propulsion system for a firing duration of 883 seconds. The orbit achieved is 251 x 54829 km.
All spacecraft parameters are normal.
The third orbit raising maneuver is scheduled on July 29, 2019, between 1430 – 1530 hrs (IST).
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Primus
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by Primus » Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:09 pm
The third maneuver has also been successfully completed. From what I am reading, C-II may well save enough fuel to extend the orbit time by one more year. That would be an amazing feat.
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Muns
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by Muns » Sat Aug 03, 2019 5:27 am
The fourth orbital raising has been successful! The above taken from the ISRO site. From my view it seems that Chandrayaan, seems to be catching up on some intel ops while it is passing over the Red Sea and just catching the tip of Saudi Arabia.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
who knows, on the next orbit it may well be flashing high above Makkah?
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Muns
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by Muns » Sun Aug 04, 2019 10:56 pm
ISRO just posted these. A fantastic shot of North America including Baja California and Mexico. I believe another raising and then transmitting our injection. In the case some great shots. Other great shots are at the link below.
https://www.isro.gov.in/chandrayaan2-gallery
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Muns
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by Muns » Wed Aug 07, 2019 5:49 am
Next date is a little bit of a wait. Really on August 14 for translunar injection. Thinking again, with Chandrayaan 's passing over countries and imaging them. I wonder what the US might've thought with Chandrayaan passing overhead and taking images of the North American continent. Then again it has me thinking whether some of the other satellites in polar synchronous orbit and passing over sensitive areas that could be intelligence gathering.
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Muns
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by Muns » Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:55 am
Big day tomorrow with regard to the translunar injection which is happening August 14 at Indian standard Time anywhere from 0300 hrs. to 0400 hrs.This would mean Pacific standard Time of 2:30-3.30 PM and eastern standard time of 530 p.m. to 6:30 PM. Unfortunate, as I really wanted to see this live on TV. Will be working at the hours above. I tried to find exactly the name of the engine for the orbiter and some of the data related to this liquid engine which is powering the translunar injection. Could not really find anything regarding this. I wonder if any of the members would have more luck. I wonder if it is the same engine that powered Chandrayaan 1 during its translunar injection. Although, I would be surprised considering the significant increase in mass regarding Chandrayaan 2. All in all fingers crossed for tomorrow.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)