Delhi [Link].

com Friday, August 23, 2024

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NEWS IN NUMBERS
Foreigners detected Hydropower projects Number of People staying in relief Decline in number of
in FT in Assam from damaged due to flash Palestinians killed in camps due to heavy Indian students going
1971 to 2014 floods in Himachal Gaza since October 7 rains in Tripura to U.K. for studies

47,928 14 40,265 65,400 23

In a Hydroelectric projects in The toll At least in per cent. The latest Home
written Himachal Pradesh have suffered includes 12 Office statistics revealed that
reply to a damage due to flash floods 42 people Indians are beginning to show
query by AGP MLA Ponakan Baruah, Chief since July 25, with some being affected deaths in the previous 24 hours, according have died and two others went missing in signs of being put off applying to U.K.
Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the multiple times over the past 10 years. to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Tripura following heavy rainfall in the past universities amid greater migration
Foreigners Tribunal (FT) detected the Experts are calling for disaster risk At least 93,144 people have been wounded few days. Thousands have taken shelter at curbs. PTI
highest number of foreigners in Cachar. PTI analyses to be conducted. PTI in the Gaza Strip. AFP 450 relief camps in the State. PTI COMPILED BY THE HINDU DATA TEAM

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A look at ongoing Indian space missions

Over the past year, ISRO has made significant strides with several key missions; the Aditya L1 spacecraft began studying solar radiation from the earth-Sun
Lagrange point, while the Gaganyaan TV-D1 mission successfully demonstrated crew safety systems

(BAS) by 2035. THE GIST

FULL CONTEXT
Next-generation Launch Vehicle
Pradeep Mohandas Since India is aspiring to both the BAS and !
a full-fledged lunar programme, it ISRO made major progress
The story so far: requires a new launch vehicle that can with missions like Aditya L1 for

A
fter a busy 2023, things have deliver heavier payloads per launch than solar research, Gaganyaan
been quiet at Sriharikota, its PSLV or GSLV rockets. This is set to be TV-D1 testing crew safety, and
India’s spaceport. But silence the Next Generation Launch Vehicle XPoSat for X-ray studies.
here doesn’t mean India’s (NGLV).
space programme itself has been ISRO set up a team led by S. Sivakumar !
dormant. A lot has been happening since that submitted a project report to the Successful launches and tests
the Indian Space Research Organisation Union Cabinet in February with a request include the SSLV’s final
(ISRO) successfully landed the lander of for funding and details of the NGLV, development flight, the
its Chandrayaan 3 mission, Vikram, on including manufacturing requirements. INSAT-3DS meteorological
the surface of the moon. Prime Minister ISRO has planned for NGLV to be a satellite, and the RLV-TD
Narendra Modi has declared this date, three-stage launch vehicle powered by a landing experiments.
August 23, India’s National Space Day. semi-cryogenic engine, a liquid engine, !
and a cryogenic engine. ISRO doesn’t plan
Highlights in the last year to continue the use of the GSLV once the ISRO is focused on its 25-year
Aditya L1: India followed its lunar NGLV is ready. The PSLV is already under roadmap for Gaganyaan, a new
success with the successful launch of its production by a private consortium led by Next Generation Launch
solar science mission Aditya-L1 on Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Vehicle, and the Bharatiya
Antariksh Station by 2035.
September 2, 2023. The launch was the Aeronautics, Ltd.
easiest part of the mission, onboard This said, ISRO is developing a !
ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle semi-cryogenic engine for the LVM-3
NSIL manages commercial
(PSLV). The spacecraft executed a series rocket — another name for the GSLV Mk
missions, and private
of manoeuvres to move into an orbit III — to enhance its launch capability. On companies like Agnikul Cosmos
around the first earth-Sun Lagrange point May 2 and 21, it successfully tested the and Skyroot Aerospace are
(L1) on January 6, 2024. It completed its engine’s pre-burner ignition test article. advancing their own space
first orbit around L1 on July 2, 2024. It technologies.
studied a solar storm in May 2024 NSIL missions
together with observatories on the ISRO is focusing on research because NSIL !
ground and spacecraft in lunar orbit. has been tasked with conducting missions New policies and licenses are
Gaganyaan TV-D1: ISRO used a and chaperoning commercial activities. boosting private sector
modified L-40 Vikas engine to build its On May 1, ISRO transferred all commercial participation and foreign
Test Vehicle (TV) that it used to perform activities related to Indian Remote investment in India’s space
the first abort mission on October 21, Sensing satellite data and products to sector.
2023, as part of its ‘Gaganyaan’ human NSIL.
spaceflight mission. The mission NSIL signed an agreement with SpaceX
demonstrated the ability of the Crew to launch the GSAT-20/GSAT-N2 satellite.
Escape System (CES) to separate from the LVM-3 currently can’t launch this
TV, take the crew module to safety, and 4,700-tonne machine. SpaceX is expected
the crew module’s ability to decelerate to launch it in August 2024.
before splashing down in the Bay of On May 10, NSIL released a request for
Bengal. The crew module at the test’s end qualification for the production of LVM-3
was recovered by the Indian Navy vessel through a public-private partnership and
INS Shakthi. signed a dedicated launch service
XPoSat: ISRO celebrated the new year agreement with an Australian private
with the launch of its X-ray Polarimeter space company to launch the SSLV.
Satellite (XPoSat) on January 1, 2024. The
satellite will study how radiation from Private space missions
various celestial objects is polarised. It is Agnikul Cosmos successfully launched its
the second such space-based observatory SoRTeD-01 vehicle from its launch pad at
after NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry the Satish Dhawan Space Center in
Explorer (IPEX), launched in 2021. The Sriharikota on March 21. This was the first
two instruments on board XPoSat, called launch of a vehicle powered by a
XSPECT and POLIX, began operating on semi-cryogenic engine as its first stage
January 5 and 10. from Indian soil.
INSAT-3DS: ISRO launched the Skyroot Aerospace is progressing
meteorological satellite INSAT-3DS on towards the launch of its Vikram 1 rocket.
February 17 onboard a Geosynchronous It had previously pressure-tested
Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). This solid-fuel engines between May and July
mission was important to prove the 2024 and launched a test vehicle called
vehicle’s credibility before the critical Vikram S from Sriharikota on November
NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar 18, 2022.
(NISAR) mission, now expected to launch Dhruva Space and Bellatrix Aerospace
in early 2025. This version of the GSLV flew their experiments on the fourth and
had previously successfully launched the demonstrate the use of reflections from a has been to train its astronaut-candidates, final stage of the PSLV-C58 mission on
NVS-01 satellite in 2023. global satellite navigation system for earth or Gaganyatris, for spaceflight. January 1.
RLV-TD: ISRO used a downscale observation, and one ultraviolet Prime Minister Modi revealed the
version of the Reusable Launch Vehicle, dosimeter and alarm to be tested ahead of candidate’s names on February 27: Wing IN-SPACe
called Pushpak, to conduct two landing their use in the Gaganyaan crew module. Commander Shubhanshu Shukla and In the last year, there have been several
experiments — LEX-02 and LEX-03 — on Group Captains Prashanth Nair, Ajit notable policy updates and licences
March 22 and June 7 at its Aeronautical ISRO roadmaps Krishnan, and Angad Pratap. issued by India’s new space regulator,
Testing Range in Challakere, Karnataka. After handing over operational Earlier this month, Mr. Shukla and Mr. IN-SPACe. Most importantly, it released
The tests simulated landing conditions responsibilities to NewSpace India, Ltd. Nair travelled to the U.S. for advanced the ‘Norms, Guidelines, and Procedures
from space by dropping the Pushpak (NSIL), ISRO has prioritised research. In training ahead of a flight to the for Authorisation of Space Activities’ on
vehicle from a Chinook helicopter, in December 2023, ISRO Chairman S. International Space Station (ISS). Mr. May 3.
LEX-02 along its landing path and in Somanath announced a 25-year roadmap Shukla is likely to fly in this mission, with It also granted the country’s first
LEX-03 500 metres to one side. Successes until 2047 for Gaganyaan. It intersects Mr. Nair as his designated backup. The satellite broadband licence to Eutelsat
in these tests gave ISRO the confidence to with the lunar exploration roadmap in the mission will be conducted by Axiom OneWeb on November 21, 2023, and the
move on to the ‘Orbital Return Flight form of an Indian landing on the moon by Space, a private company, with inputs first licence for a ground station as a
Experiment’. 2040. Mr. Somanath also shared a lunar from NASA and using SpaceX’s launch service to Dhruva Space on July 15.
SSLV: On August 16, ISRO launched the exploration roadmap that includes — vehicle and crew capsule. The flight is Finally, on February 21, the
third and final development flight of the apart from a crewed lunar mission — a scheduled for 2025. Government of India amended its foreign
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), sample-return mission, a long-duration ISRO has also planned at least four direct investment (FDI) policy to allow
placing the EOS-08 and the SR-0 Demosat mission on the moon’s surface, docking more abort tests using its Test Vehicle 100% direct FDI in all space and
satellites in orbit. With two consecutively with NASA’s Lunar Gateway (under the before the historic crewed flight. The first spaceflight segments except for a 74%
successful test flights, ISRO declared the Artemis programme), and building moon uncrewed Gaganyaan flight is expected in ceiling in satellite manufacturing and
SSLV’s development complete and habitats. late 2024. operations and 49% in launch
green-lit its transfer to industry. EOS-08 Mr. Somanath’s roadmap also includes infrastructure.
carried three payloads: one for earth Gaganyaan plans to build an Indian space station Pradeep Mohandas is a technical writer
observation in the infrared range, one to One of ISRO’s primary focus areas of late called the ‘Bharatiya Antariksh Station’ and space enthusiast in Pune
CM A ND-NDE
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