Wednesday, April 20, 2011

PSLV-C16 successfully launches 3 satellites


Congratulations …… ISRO 

ISRO proved its mettle again by successfully launching PSLV-C16 rocket on 20th April 20, 2011 at 10.18 AM. PSLV-C16 successfully puts 3 satellites Remote sensing satellite Resourcesat-2 and two smaller satellites YOUTHSAT and X-SAT in their respective orbits. The entire launch was completed within the duration 18 minutes.   

This is 18th successful rocket launch with PSLV. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is most reliable and cost effective launch vehicle in the world. PSLV is a synonym for success. 

PSLV is 44 metres tall with a lift off weight of 295 tonne and designed to launch 1600 kg satellites in 620 km sun-synchronous polar orbit and 1050 kg satellite into geo-synchronous transfer orbit. PSLV is one the most versatile vehicle for launching multiple satellites in polar SSOs, Low Earth Orbits and geosynchronous transfer orbit.  PSLV launch vehicle has 4 stages using solid and liquid propulsion systems alternately.
I’m wishing all the iSRO scientists for the successful launch of PSLV-C16.

Jai Ho Bharat 

Jai ISRO……….Sky is the limit …….

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Aurora Borealis as seen from Space


A handy video from our friends at the BBC on a northern light spectacular witnessed in 2009.



Monday, April 11, 2011

MoonEx plans to mine the moon


Moon Express Inc or MoonEx plans to mine the moon and is in the process of building robotic rovers that will search the lunar surface for precious metals and rare metallic elements. Moon Express Inc or MoonEx, co-founded by Naveen Jain, is building the robotic rovers alongside scientists at NASA's AMES Research Centre near San Jose. MoonEx is financially strong and its co-founders include Barney Pell, the head architect behind Microsoft's Bing Internet search engine and Robert Richards, a commercial space entrepreneur.

While there is no guarantee that the moon is "flush" with these materials, MoonEx thinks it "may be a gold mine of so-called rare earth elements. From an entrepreneur's perspective, the moon has never truly been explored," the report quoted Naveen Jain, chairman and company co-founder, as saying.
"We think it could hold resources that benefit Earth and all humanity."

MoonEx's machines are designed to look for materials that are scarce on Earth but found in everything from a Toyota Prius car battery to guidance systems on cruise missiles.  MoonEx should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013," Jain said.
"It's our goal to be the first company there and stay there." MoonEx comprises 25 employees, including former NASA engineers, and has received a NASA contract worth up to USD 10 million.

The company is among several others that hope to win the Google Lunar X Prize 30 million dollar competition that requires a privately-funded team to successfully land a robot on the moon's surface.
The robot must be capable of exploring at least a third of a mile and must also transmit high definition video and images to Earth before 2016.

Naveen Jain said: “the idea of exploiting the moon's resources for private gain is unlikely to be a concern. I also think that the moon will be treated no differently than the international water in our oceans. In this case, no one really owns the water but any company or country can mine the resources ... from the international water as long as they follow certain safety/moral guidelines," he said in the report. MoonEx plans to publicly demonstrate its hardware in the coming months”.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

SpaceX to Launch World's Most Powerful Rocket


Falcon Heavy will lift more than twice as much as any other launch vehicle
Elon Musk, CEO and chief rocket designer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) unveiled the dramatic final specifications and launch date for the Falcon Heavy, the world's largest rocket.

“Falcon Heavy will carry more payload to orbit or escape velocity than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn V moon rocket, which was decommissioned after the Apollo program. This opens a new world of capability for both government and commercial space missions,” Musk told a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

“Falcon Heavy will arrive at our Vandenberg, California, launch complex by the end of next year, with liftoff to follow soon thereafter. First launch from our Cape Canaveral launch complex is planned for late 2013 or 2014.”

Musk added that with the ability to carry satellites or interplanetary spacecraft weighing over 53 metric tons or 117,000 pounds to orbit, Falcon Heavy will have more than twice the performance of the Delta IV Heavy, the next most powerful vehicle, which is operated by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture.

53 metric tons is more than the maximum take-off weight of a fully-loaded Boeing 737-200 with 136 passengers. In other words, Falcon Heavy can deliver the equivalent of an entire commercial airplane full of passengers, crew, luggage and fuel all the way to orbit.

Falcon Heavy’s first stage will be made up of three nine-engine cores, which are used as the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. It will be powered by SpaceX’s upgraded Merlin engines currently being tested at the SpaceX rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Falcon Heavy will generate 3.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. This is the equivalent to the thrust of fifteen Boeing 747s taking off at the same time.
Above all, Falcon Heavy has been designed for extreme reliability. Unique safety features of the Falcon 9 are preserved, such as the ability to complete its mission even if multiple engines fail. Like a commercial airliner, each engine is surrounded by a protective shell that contains a worst case situation like fire or a chamber rupture, preventing it from affecting other engines or the vehicle itself.

Anticipating potential astronaut transport needs, Falcon Heavy is also designed to meet NASA human rating standards, unlike other satellite launch vehicles. For example, this means designing to higher structural safety margins of 40% above flight loads, rather than the 25% level of other rockets, and triple redundant avionics.
Falcon Heavy will be the first rocket in history to do propellant cross-feed from the side boosters to the center core, thus leaving the center core with most of its propellant after the side boosters separate. The net effect is that Falcon Heavy achieves performance comparable to a three stage rocket, even though only the upper stage is airlit, further improving both payload performance and reliability. Crossfeed is not required for missions below 100,000 lbs, and can be turned off if desired.

Despite being designed to higher structural margins than other rockets, the side booster stages will have a mass ratio (full of propellant vs empty) above 30, better than any vehicle of any kind in history.

Falcon Heavy, with more than twice the payload, but less than one third the cost of a Delta IV Heavy, will provide much needed relief to government and commercial budgets. In fact, Falcon Heavy at approximately $1,000 per pound to orbit, sets a new world record in affordable spaceflight.

This year, even as the Department of Defense budget was cut, the EELV launch program, which includes the Delta IV, still saw a thirty percent increase.

The 2012 budget for four Air Force launches is $1.74B, which is an average of $435M per launch. Falcon 9 is offered on the commercial market for $50-60M and Falcon Heavy is offered for $80-$125M. Unlike our competitors, this price includes all non-recurring development costs and on-orbit delivery of an agreed upon mission. For government missions, NASA has added mission assurance and additional services to the Falcon 9 for less than $20M.

Vehicle Overview          
Mass to Orbit (200 km, 28.5 deg):             53 metric tons (117,000 lb)
Length:                                                       69.2 m (227 ft)
Max Stage Width:                                      5.2 m (17 ft)
Total Width:                                               11.6 meters (38 ft)
Weight at Liftoff:                                        1,400 metric tons or 3.1 million lbs
Thrust on Liftoff:                                        1,700 metric tons or 3.8 million lbs