INDIA JANUARY 2018 – June 2020
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SPACE RESEARCH IN INDIA JANUARY 2018 – June 2020 Presented to 43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Sydney, Australia | Jan 28–Feb 4, 2021 SPACE RESEARCH IN INDIA January 2018 – June 2020 A Report of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) For the 43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly 28 January – 4 Febuary 2021 Sydney, Australia INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION BENGALURU 2 Compiled and Edited by Mohammad Hasan Space Science Program Office ISRO HQ, Bengalure Enquiries to: Space Science Programme Office ISRO Headquarters Antariksh Bhavan, New BEL Road Bengaluru 560 231. Karnataka, India E-mail: [email protected] Cover Page Images: Upper: Colour composite picture of face-on spiral galaxy M 74 - from UVIT onboard AstroSat. Here blue colour represent image in far ultraviolet and green colour represent image in near ultraviolet.The spiral arms show the young stars that are copious emitters of ultraviolet light. Lower: Sarabhai crater as imaged by Terrain Mapping Camera-2 (TMC-2)onboard Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter.TMC-2 provides images (0.4μm to 0.85μm) at 5m spatial resolution 3 INDEX 4 FOREWORD PREFACE With great pleasure I introduce the report on Space Research in India, prepared for the 43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, 28 January – 4 February 2021, Sydney, Australia, by the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The report gives an overview of the important accomplishments, achievements and research activities conducted in India in several areas of near- Earth space, Sun, Planetary science, and Astrophysics for the duration of two and half years (Jan 2018 – June 2020). The report also reflects the major facilities for space research available in India and the important scientific results obtained using these facilities. The report summarizes the contributions from various ISRO centres, national institutes, and the universities. The period spanning 2018–2020 witnessed noteworthy developments on many fronts along with significant growth in research and academic activities and exploration program. This period, specially the year 2020 has been challenging in almost all the strata of human life due to the pandemic situation faced world-wide. This has taught us many lessons and has shown that by working together only we can handle problems of global nature. It has also paved new ways for scientists to interact and conduct meetings and discussion forums connecting remotely. In the area of space science, one of the major milestone during this period is the launch of Indian second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2 on 22 July 2019, and its insertion into the lunar orbit on 20 August 2019. The Chandrayaan-2 mission had three components: Orbiter, Lander and Rover. Though the soft-landing attempt near the south pole of the Moon was unsuccessful, the Orbiter placed in the 100-km polar orbit is providing high-quality observations. The early science results from observations are being published. All the eight experiments aboard Orbiter are working well, and first-set of data has been released to public on 24 December 2020. At present about 1100 worldwide users have registered for publicly available Chandrayaan-2 data. Scientific publications reporting new results from the observations made by the first lunar mission of India Chandrayaan-1 are continuing. The Indian Mars Orbiter mission continues to orbit Mars completing more than six years of operations around Mars. Another major accomplishment in space science is the completion of 5 years of AstroSat in operation on 28 September 2020. AstroSat is India’s first multi- wavelength astronomical mission. From October 2017, the observatory is open to Indian and International astronomy community. Currently AstroSat has a registered user base of around 1500 from 48 countries. Several interesting and important science outcome have emerged from AstroSat. In the first five-years AstroSat has produced more than 150 refereed publications, and more than thousand conference proceedings, GCN circulars, Astronomer’s telegrams and other non-refereed publications. The discovery of Lyman continuum emission from a low mass clumpy galaxy at z = 1.42 in extreme UV by Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat is a breakthrough result. This opens up a new window to constrain the shape of the ionizing spectrum. The other notable results from AstroSat during last two and half years are the discovery of extended UV emission in Butterfly nebula, detection of rare triple thermo-nuclear bursts, estimation of mass of a black-hole rotating 6 PREFACE with near to maximal possible speed, detection of X-ray polarization from Crab, resolving the nature of a SU Lyn star using spectroscopic capability of UVIT, and several gamma ray bursts, etc. India joined the elite club of countries, which have discovered planets around stars beyond our solar system, when a sub-Saturn or super-Neptune size planet (mass of about 27 Earth Mass and size of 6 Earth Radii) known as EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b was discovered using the PARAS instrument on the 1.2-m telescope of Physical Research Laboratory at Mt. Abu. In the last two years India has made significant contributions towards the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) International Observatory. India TMT has completed the state-of-the art facility for large optics fabrication for polishing of 90 mirror segments of 1.45-m diameter using stress mirror polishing (SMP) technique. Apart from hardware, India TMT continues to provide software modules as part of observatory software suite and contributing to both 1st and 2nd generation instrument development. Towards the expansion of Indian planetary exploration program, ISRO is conducting study for a possible mission to Venus and next mission to Mars in the coming decade. An announcement of opportunity was released by ISRO for participation of international partners for the Venus mission. Indian first solar observatory Aditya-L1 is getting ready and would be launched very soon. During the past two and half years, the Indian space community has been very active in conducting investigations in many diverse areas related to Astronomy and Astrophysics, Solar Physics, Space and Atmospheric Sciences, Planetary Sciences, Geomagnetism and Geosciences. Observations have been made using various tools and in several wavelengths. This report describes highlights of the research from the studies on ionosphere, magnetosphere, solar wind and space weather, lunar and planetary studies, oceanography, atmospheric structure and dynamics; cloud and convective system; aerosols, radiation and trace gases, weather and climate change, Sun and the solar system bodies, stars, galaxies, galactic and extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. Studies in the area of astro-chemistry have been initiated and expanded. I would like to thank all the scientists who have sent the inputs on the space research activities being carried out in their respective Institutes and Departments in time to prepare this report. I would like to acknowledge the hard work put in by Space Science Programme Office, ISRO HQ, Bangalore for compiling and editing the report on behalf of INCOSPAR. Anil Bhardwaj Chairman, INCOSPAR 7 JOINT NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR COMMITTEE ON SPACE RESEARCH (COSPAR); INTERNATIONAL UNION OF RADIO SCIENCE (URSI) & SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS (SCOSTEP), JANUARY 1, 2020 – DECEMBER 31, 2023 Dr. Anil Bhardwaj Chairperson Dr. Amit Kumar Patra Member Dr. S. Seetha Member Dr. Virupakshi Reddy Member Dr. P.K. Manoharan Member Dr. Devendraa Siingh Member 8 CHAPTER 1 ORGANISATION AND FACILITIES 1. ORGANISATION OF SPACE RESEARCH • INDIAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR SPACE RESEARCH (INCOSPAR) Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) is one of the committees of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), which is the national adhering organisation to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), and a member of ICSU Council. Presently, Dr. Anil Bhardwaj is the Chairman of INCOSPAR and Dr. K. Rajeev is the national representative at COSPAR Council. INCOSPAR has the following terms of reference: i. To recommend and promote national activities and international co-operation in space exploration and space research. ii. To provide necessary liaison with the COSPAR of ICSU, and encourage participation in international activities which contribute to the peaceful uses of outer space. • SPACE COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF SPACE AND INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION The Space Commission and the Department of Space (DOS) were established by the Government of India in 1972 to promote development and application of space science and technology for identified national socio-economic objectives. The Space Commission lays down the framework of important space activities and advises the Government on major policies related to India’s space programme. Dr. K. Sivan is the present Chairman of the Space Commission, Secretary to the Government of India in DOS and Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). DOS functions directly under the Prime Minister of India. The Indian Space Programme is directed towards the goal of self-reliant use of space science and technology for national development, its main thrusts being: i. Satellite telecommunications, navigation, television and radio broadcasting ii. Satellite remote sensing for resource survey and management, environmental monitoring