Posted on 09 October 2008 by ashok
As India readies to launch its first unmanned lunar mission on 22nd October, space authorities are awaiting the green signal from the government for the country’s maiden human space flight planned around 2015.
The excitement is palpable in this spaceport of India ahead of the launch of Chandrayaan I which the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) says IS aimed at unravelling many secrets of the moon.Preparations are in full swing at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR), about 100 km from Chennai, and weather permitting India’s first spacecraft mission beyond earth orbit is slated to be launched onboard India’s workhorse rocket PSLV-C11 at 6.20 a.m on 22nd October.
A project report on the human space flight is ready and is awaiting final approval from the government, SHAR Director M P Dathan said.
For the proposed human space flight (manned mission) programme, Dathan said there will be a new launchpad–the third–at Sriharikota.
Dathan said the indigenously built geosynchronous launch vehicle will be upgraded to undertake this mission.
According to ISRO officials,this human space flight is expected in 2015.
On critics questioning the need for a moon mission by India after several countries have undertaken similar ventures in the past, ISRO officials said though dozens of manned and unmanned spacecraft have explored the moon, this does not mean that every important aspect of the moon is known to humans or is fully understood by them.
On the contrary, they said there are many secrets which the moon is yet to reveal.
These concerns the origin and evolution of the moon,very detailed understanding of the mineralogy of the moon, abundance of Helium-3, said to be a relatively clean fuel for the future nuclear fusion reactor.
Posted on 04 October 2008 by ashok
New Delhi: The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) hopes to develop an indigenous Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarine in four to five years, chief controller, Research and Development, A Sivathanu Pillai has said.
Research and development work was going on at the DRDO Naval Material Research Laboratory (NMRL) in Mumbai to develop hydrogen-based fuel cells for the diesel-powered submarines, Pillai told mediapersons in Kochi on Friday.
“NMRL already has developed number of fuel cells,” Pillai, who was at Trikkakara near Kochi in connection with a national symposium at the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), said.
Diesel power submarines will have to surface everyday for air, while the hydrogen based technology is new and presently not operational anywhere in the world.
“It is being developed by one or two countries. We are also going to develop that technology and that will be installed in the diesel submarines,” he said.
The hydrogen based technology could enable submarines operate for long duration, may be 20 to 25 days under water, he said.
To a query, he said while Pakistan got AIP developed by France last month under the deal to purchase the Agosta submarines, India would be able to to develop the technology indigenously.
India may also go in for AIP system from France or some other countries for the six submarines that are being constructed at Mazgaon.
“But, we are not interested in that system and want a better system that is based on hydrogen,” Pillai said. — DD News
