LEARN, UNLEARN & RE-LEARN

S. No. Chapter Name Page No. 01. Indian Space Crafts 2-18 Space Crafts of other countries & 19-33 02. Space Missions

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Indian Space Crafts 01

1.1 About ISRO 1.7 ISRO’S Space Science & Exploration 1.2 ISRO centers Satellites 1.3 ISRO’S Launchers 1.8 ISRO’S Experimental Satellites 1.4 ISRO’S Communication Satellites 1.9 Small Satellites 1.5 ISRO’S Earth Observation Satellites 1.10 University / Academic Institute 1.6 ISRO’S Navigation Satellites Satellites

1.1 About ISRO

 Indian Space Research Organisation, formed in 1969, superseded the erstwhile The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR). , having identified the role and importance of space technology in a Nation's development, provided ISRO the necessary direction to function as an agent of development.  ISRO develops and delivers application specific satellite products and tools to the Nation: broadcasts, communications, weather forecasts, disaster management tools, Geographic Information Systems, cartography, navigation, telemedicine, dedicated distance education satellites being some of them.

1.2 ISRO centers:

1.2.1 Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram  Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, is the lead centre of ISRO responsible for the design and development of launch vehicle technology.  The Centre pursues active research and development in the fields of aeronautics, avionics, materials, mechanisms, vehicle integration, chemicals, propulsion, space ordnance, structures, space physics and systems reliability.

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1.2.2 Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC)  Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is the centre for design, development and realisation of liquid propulsion stages for ISRO's Launch Vehicles.  Development of fluid control valves, transducers, propellant management devices for vacuum conditions and other key components of liquid propulsion systems are also under the purview of this centre.  LPSC activities and facilities are spread across its two campuses namely Thriruvananthapuram and Bengaluru.

1.2.3 Space Centre (SDSC) OR Sriharikota Range (SHAR), Andhra Pradesh  Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) or Sriharikota Range(SHAR), Sriharikota, the Spaceport of India, is responsible for providing Launch Base Infrastructure for the Indian Space Programme.  The Centre has two launch pads from where the rocket launching operations of PSLV and GSLV are carried out.  SDSC or SHAR has a separate launch pad for launching sounding rockets.

1.2.4 (URSC), Bengaluru  U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), formerly known as ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) is the lead centre for building satellites and developing associated satellite technologies.  These spacecraft are used for providing applications to various users in the area of Communication, Navigation, Meteorology, Remote Sensing, Space Science and interplanetary explorations.

1.2.5 ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu  ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) is equipped with state-of-the- art facilities necessary for realising the cutting edge propulsion technology products for the Indian space programme.  The activities carried out at IPRC, Mahendragiri are: assembly, integration and testing of earth storable propellant engines, cryogenic engines and stages for launch vehicles; high altitude testing of upper stage engines and spacecraft thrusters as well as testing of its subsystems; production and supply of cryogenic propellants for Indian cryogenic rocket programme, etc.

1.2.6 Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad  Space Applications Centre (SAC) has multi-disciplinary activities. The core competence of the Centre lies in development of space borne and airborne instruments / payloads and their applications for national development and societal benefits.

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 These applications are in diverse areas and primarily meet the communication, navigation and remote sensing needs of the country. 1.2.7 National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad  National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is responsible for remote sensing satellite data acquisition and processing, data dissemination, aerial remote sensing and decision support for disaster management.

1.2.8 Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres (RRSSCs)  RRSCs support various remote sensing tasks specific to their regions as well as at the national level. They support fields in natural resources like agriculture and soils, water resources, forestry, oceanography, geology, environment and urban planning.  There are five RRSSC in India. They are located at Bangalore, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Delhi (previously in Dehradun), and Nagpur. All of these are integrated with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) located in Hyderabad.

1.2.9 ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru  ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), is entrusted with the major responsibility to provide tracking support for all the satellite and launch vehicle missions of ISRO.  The major objectives of the centre are: carrying out mission operations of all operational remote sensing and scientific satellites, providing Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) services from launch vehicle lift-off till injection of satellite into orbit and to estimate its preliminary orbit in space and hardware and software developmental activities that enhance the capabilities of ISTRAC for providing flawless TTC and Mission Operations services.

1.2.10 (MCF)  Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh monitors and controls all the Geostationary / Geosynchronous satellites of ISRO, namely, INSAT, GSAT, Kalpana and IRNSS series of satellites.  MCF is responsible for Orbit Raising of satellites, In-orbit payload testing, and On-orbit operations all through the life of these satellites.  MCF activities include round-the-clock Tracking, Telemetry & Commanding (TT&C) operations, and special operations like Eclipse management, Station- keeping manoeuvres and recovery actions in case of contingencies.

1.2.11 ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram  ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), is responsible for the design and development of Inertial Systems for Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft programmes of ISRO.  Major systems like Inertial Navigation Systems based on mechanical gyros and optical gyros, Attitude Reference Systems, Rate Gyro Packages and

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Accelerometer Packages are developed indigenously and used in various missions of ISRO.

1.2.12 Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), Bengaluru  The Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS) is responsible for design, development and production of electro-optic sensors and optics for spacecraft use.  Sensor system includes earth sensors, star sensors, sun sensors, magnetic sensors, fiber optic gyro, temperature sensors and processing electronics.

1.2.13 Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU), Ahmedabad  The Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU) , is dedicated to realizing satellite communication based societal applications in the country.  The major activities of DECU are – SATCOM (Satellite Communication) networks configuration, implementation, upgradation, migration, utilisation, sustenance, social research and evaluation, Programme production and transmission and Training.

1.2.14 Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun  Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) is a premier institute with the objective of capacity building in Remote Sensing and Geo-informatics and their applications through education and training programmes at postgraduate level.

1.2.15 Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC)  This new center is created with the responsibility to act as the lead center for Human Space Flight Program. This center will be responsible for the execution of program that involves R&D in new domains of Space Science and Technology

1.2.16 Limited, Bengaluru  Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL), is a wholly owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of the .  Antrix Corporation Limited was incorporated as a private limited company owned by the Government of India in September 1992 as a Marketing arm of ISRO for promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO.  Another major objective is to facilitate development of space related industrial capabilities in India.

1.2.17 NewSpace India Limited (NSIL)  NewSpace India Limited, got incorporated on 6th March 2019, as a wholly owned Government of India Undertaking / Central Public Sector Enterprise, under the administrative control of Department of Space.

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 It has the primary mandate of enabling Indian Industries to scale up high- technology manufacturing and production base for Indian space programme

1.3 ISRO’S LAUNCHERS

 Launchers or Launch Vehicles are used to carry spacecraft to space. India has two operational launchers: Polar (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).  Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, located in Thiruvananthapuram, is responsible for the design and development of launch vehicles. Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre and ISRO Propulsion Complex, located at Valiamala and Mahendragiri respectively, develop the liquid and cryogenic stages for these launch vehicles.  Satish Dhawan Space Centre or Sriharikota Range( SHAR), is the spaceport of India and is responsible for integration of launchers. It houses two operational

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launch pads from where all GSLV and PSLV flights take place.

1.3.1 PSLV  PSLV was developed to launch Low Earth Orbit satellites into Polar and Sun Synchronous Orbits. It has since proved its versatility by launching Geosynchronous, Lunar and Interplanetary spacecraft successfully.  It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages  The vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively

1.3.2 GSLV or GSLV MkII  GSLV was developed to launch the heavier INSAT (Indian National Satellite) class of communication satellites that operate from Geostationary orbit and hence are placed into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit..  In its third and final stage, GSLV uses the indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage.  GSLV with indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage has enabled the launching of up

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to 2.5 tonne class of communication satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and upto 4 tonnes in Low Earth Orbit.  What is cryogenic Engine?  A cryogenic engine/ cryogenic stage is the last stage of space launch vehicles that uses a cryogenic fuel or oxidizer, that is, its fuel or oxidizer (or both) are gases liquefied and stored at very low temperatures.  Cryogenic engine makes use of Liquid Oxygen (LOX) and Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) as propellants which liquefy at -183 deg C and -253 deg C respectively  More fuel can be stored in the tank due to more density of liquid fuel stored at low temperatures.  A Cryogenic rocket stage is more efficient and provides more thrust for every kilogram of propellant it burns compared to solid and earth-storable liquid propellant rocket stages.

1.3.3 GSLV Mk III  GSLV Mk III is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO. The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.  GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 8 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of the GSLV Mk II. It was chosen to launch the Chandrayaan- 2 spacecraft.

Types of Major Space Orbits

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Launch Vehicle Specifications Core G XL DL QL 3S Alone Height of Launcher 44.4 44.4 44.4 44.4 44.4 X Lift of Mass 230T 295T 3196T 257T - 176 Stage 4 4 4 2 4 3 LEO Payload 1.1T 1.6 T 1.8 T 1.3 T 1.5 T 0.5 T 1019 1257 1523 GTO Payload - 1.1 T 1.3 T - - - 1425 Strap-on motors 6(S-9) 6(S-12) 2(S-12) 4(S-12) -

MK1 MK2 MK3 Height of Launcher 49.13 49.13 13.43 Lift of Mass 401 T 415 T 460 T Stages 3 3 3 LEO 5 T 5 T 8 T GTO 2.5 T 2.5 T 4 T

1.3.4 SOUNDING ROCKETS Sounding rockets are one or two stage solid propellant rockets used for probing the middle and upper atmospheric regions and for space research. They also serve as easily affordable platforms to test or prove prototypes of new components or subsystems intended for use in launch vehicles and satellites. Currently, three versions are offered as operational sounding rockets, which cover a payload range of 8-100 Kg and an apogee range of 80-475 km.

1.3.5 Launch vehicles in development stage: RLV-TD  Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) is one of the most technologically challenging endeavors of ISRO towards developing essential technologies for a fully reusable launch vehicle to enable low cost access to space.  The RLV-TD will act as a flying test bed to evaluate various technologies like powered cruise flight, hypersonic flight, and autonomous landing using air- breathing propulsion. Application of these technologies would bring down the launch cost by a factor of 10.

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 The development envisages launch of a winged body Orbital Re-entry Vehicle (ORV) to a low earth orbit using an ascent vehicle and demonstration of re-entry of the ORV and autonomous landing on a runway.  In future, this vehicle will be scaled up to become the first stage of India’s reusable two stage orbital launch vehicle.

1.3.6 Scramjet Engine - TD  The first experimental mission of ISRO’s Scramjet Engine towards the realisation of an Air Breathing Propulsion System was successfully conducted in Aug2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.  The Scramjet engine designed by ISRO uses Hydrogen as fuel and the Oxygen from the atmospheric air as the oxidiser.  What is scramjet engine? The scramjet engine works on the Air-breathing Propulsion System. The system uses natural oxygen present in the atmosphere to burn the fuel stored in the rocket. It reduces the amount of oxidizer to be carried along with the fuel, bringing down launch costs. A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) is a ramjet engine in which the airflow through the engine remains supersonic, or greater than the speed of sound.

 What is a Ramjet engine? A ramjet or an athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air without an axial compressor or a centrifugal compressor. Because ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed, they cannot move an aircraft from a standstill. A ramjet-powered vehicle, therefore, requires assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.

1.4 ISRO’S COMMUNICATION SATELLITES

 The Indian National Satellite (INSAT) system is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in Asia-Pacific region with nine operational communication satellites placed in Geo-stationary orbit. Established in 1983 with commissioning of INSAT-1B, it initiated a major revolution in India’s communications sector  The INSAT system with more than 200 transponders in the C band, Extended C and Ku-bands provides services to telecommunications, television broadcasting, satellite newsgathering, societal applications, weather forecasting, disaster warning and Search and Rescue operations.

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List of satellites: 1.4.1 GSAT-30  India’s telecommunication satellite GSAT-30 was successfully launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on January 17, 2020 from Kourou launch base, French Guiana by Ariane-5 VA-251.  It will provide continuity to operational services on some of the in-orbit satellites. It will serve as a replacement to INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage  The satellite will provide communication services to Indian mainland and islands through Ku-band and wide coverage covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia through C-band.  It will provide DTH Television Services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, Stockexchange, Television uplinking and Teleport Services, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications.

1.4.2 GSAT-31  India’s telecommunication satellite, GSAT-31 was successfully launched on February 06, 2019 from Kourou launch base, French Guiana by Ariane-5 VA- 247.  This satellite will augment the Ku-band transponder capacity in Geostationary Orbit for at least 15 years.  GSAT-31 will provide continuity to operational services on some of the in-orbit satellites.  The satellite derives its heritage from ISRO’s earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series. The satellite provides Indian mainland and island coverage.  Help bridge the digital divide in the Indian subcontinent

1.4.3 GSAT-7A  GSAT-7A is the 35th Indian Communication satellite built by ISRO.  Spacecraft is configured on ISRO’s standard I-2000 Kg (I-2K) Bus.  The Satellite is built to provide communication capability to the users in Ku- band over the Indian region.  GSAT-7A is an advanced military communications satellite meant primarily for the Indian Air Force with Indian Army using 30% of capacity. GSAT-7A is similar to Indian navy's GSAT-7 and the Indian Air Force will be the sole operator of the satellite.  Launch Vehicle: GSLV-F11.

1.4.4 GSAT-11  India’s next generation high throughput communication satellite, GSAT-11 was successfully launched on December 05, 2018 from Kourou launch base, French Guiana by Ariane-5 VA-

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246. Weighing about 5854 kg, GSAT-11 is the heaviest satellite built by ISRO.  It is the fore-runner in the series of advanced communication satellites with multi-spot beam antenna coverage over Indian mainland and Islands.  GSAT-11 will boost the broadband connectivity to rural and inaccessible Gram Panchayats in the country coming under the Bharat Net Project, which is part of Digital India Programme  GSAT-11 was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and subsequently ISRO's Master Control Facility at Hassan took over the control of GSAT-11 to perform the initial orbit raising maneuvers using the Liquid Apogee Motor of the satellite for placing it in circular Geostationary Orbit

1.4.5 GSAT-29  GSAT-29 satellite with a lift-off mass of 3423 kg, is a multi-beam, multiband communication satellite of India. This is the heaviest satellite launched from India.  GSAT-29 carries Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders which will bridge the digital divide of users including those in Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern regions of India.  It also carries Q/V-band payload, configured for technology demonstration at higher frequency bands and Geo-stationary High Resolution Camera carried onboard GSAT-29 spacecraft. An optical communication payload, for the first time, will be utilized for data transmission.  Launch Vehicle: GSLV Mk III-D2

1.4.6 GSAT-6A  GSAT-6A is a high power S-band communication satellite.  The mission life of spacecraft planned is about 10 years.  The satellite will also provide a platform for developing technologies such as demonstration of 6 m S-Band Unfurlable Antenna, handheld ground terminals and network management techniques that could be useful in satellite based mobile communication applications  Launch Vehicle: GSLV-F08

1.5 ISRO’S EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES

 Starting with IRS-1A in 1988, ISRO has launched many operational remote sensing satellites. Today, India has one of the largest constellations of remote sensing satellites in operation.  Currently, thirteen operational satellites are in Sun-synchronous orbit – and four in Geostationary orbit.  Varieties of instruments have been flown onboard these satellites to provide necessary data in a diversified spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to cater to different user requirements in the country and for global usage.

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 The data from these satellites are used for several applications covering agriculture, water resources, urban planning, rural development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, ocean resources and disaster management.  -I is the First Experimental Remote Sensing Satellite built in India.

List of earth observation satellites:

1.5.1 -2 Series Satellite  Cartosat-2 Series Satellite is the remote sensing satellite similar in configuration to earlier satellites in the series e.g, Cartosat-2, 2A, 2B, etc and is intended to augment data services to the users.  The imagery sent by satellite will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features and various other Land Information System (LIS) as well as Geographical Information System (GIS) applications.  Launch Vehicle: PSLV-C40

1.5.2 RESOURCESAT-2A  RESOURCESAT-2A is a Remote Sensing satellite intended for resource monitoring.  It carries three payloads a high resolution Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS-4) The second payload is the medium resolution (LISS-3) The third payload is a coarse resolution Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS)Launch Vehicle: PSLV- C36

1.5.3 SCATSAT-1  SCATSAT-1 is a continuity mission for Oceansat-2 Scatterometer to provide wind vector data products for weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking services to the users.  The satellite carries Ku-band Scatterometer .  The mission life of the satellite is 5 years.  Launch Vehicle: PSLV-C35

1.6 ISRO’S NAVIGATION SATELLITES

Satellite Navigation is one of the important programmes of the Department. There are two main components of this program: 1. GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN), and 2. Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)

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1.6.1 GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN)  GAGAN is a joint project of ISRO and Airports Authority of India (AAI). The main objectives of GAGAN are to provide Satellite-based Navigation services with accuracy and integrity required for civil aviation applications and to provide better Air Traffic Management over Indian Airspace.  With the certification of GAGAN for approach and landing operations, India has become the third country in the world to have such capabilities  GAGAN is the first SBAS (Space Based Augmentation System) in the world to serve the equatorial region.

1.6.2 Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS): NavIC (Navigation in Indian Constellation)  This is an independent Indian Satellite based positioning system for critical National applications.  NavIC can be extensively used for positioning, navigation and timing applications in a variety of civil and commercial activities related to land transportation, aviation, maritime; mapping, surveying and geodesy; scientific research; timing and telecommunications.  It serves India as well as the region extending up to 1,500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. It provides position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area to the user.  The IRNSS will provide basically two types of services Standard Positioning Service (SPS): available for all users e.g,. Public Restricted Service (RS): it is for authorised users e.g,. Military use.

1.7 ISRO’S SPACE SCIENCE & EXPLORATION SATELLITES

 Indian space programme encompasses research in areas like astronomy, astrophysics, planetary and earth sciences, atmospheric sciences and theoretical physics.

1.7.1 MISSION  AstroSat is the first dedicated Indian multi-wavelength space observatory aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously.  It is providing researchers both in India and abroad with excellent data on a variety of astrophysical objects in our Milky Way galaxy to those far away sources external to our galaxy.  The scientific objectives of AstroSat mission are:  To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes;  Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars;  Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying

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beyond our galaxy;  Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky;  Perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region.  Launch Vehicle: PSLV-C30

1.7.2  Mars Orbiter Mission is India's first interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit.  It has been configured to carry out observation and exploration of Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere by indigenous scientific instruments.  The Mars Colour Camera (MCC), one of the payloads onboard MOM, has produced 1000+ images so far. It offers the unique capacity to image the full Mars disk with a single exposure.  Launch Vehicle : PSLV - C25

1.7.3 Chandrayaan-2  Chandrayaan-2 mission represents a significant technological leap compared to the previous missions of ISRO with the goal of exploring the unexplored south pole of the Moon.  This is a unique mission which aims at studying not just one area of the Moon but all the areas combining the exosphere, the surface as well as the sub-surface of the moon in a single mission.  Chandrayaan-2 is configured as a two module system comprising of an Orbiter Craft module (OC) and a Lander Craft module (Vikram) carrying the Rover () developed by ISRO.  It was launched on July 22, 2019  The GSLV Mk-III carried Chandrayaan 2 to its designated orbit. This three- stage vehicle is India's most powerful launcher to date.  Once the Module reached the orbit of Moon, Lander separated from the Orbiter and attempted soft landing at the predetermined site close to the lunar South Pole.  Vikram Lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed upto an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently communication from lander to the ground stations was lost.  The Orbiter placed in its intended orbit around the Moon will enrich our understanding of the moon’s evolution and mapping of the minerals and water molecules in Polar Regions, using its eight state-of-the-art scientific instruments.  The precise launch and mission management has ensured a long life of almost seven years instead of the planned one year

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KEY PAYLOADS Payload Function Chandrayaan 2 Large Area Soft X-ray Elemental composition of the moon Spectrometer Imaging IR Spectrometer Mineralogy mapping and water-ice confirmation Synthetic Aperture Radar L & S Band Polar-region mapping and sub-surface water-ice confirmation Orbiter High Resolution Camera High-resolution topography mapping Chandra's Surface Thermo-physical Thermal conductivity and temperature Experiment gradient Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and In-situ elemental analysis and Laser Induced Breakdown abundance in the vicinity of landing site Spectroscope

1.7.4 The Gaganyaan Programme.  The Gaganyaan programme, an indigenous mission that would take Indian astronauts to space.  Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft that is intended to send 3 astronauts to a low earth orbit for a minimum of seven days by 2022, as part of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.  A new ISRO centre namely the Human Spaceflight Centre is formed to implement the Gaganyaan Programme.  As part of the development of critical technologies, Crew Escape System (CES)

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PadAbort Testflight (PAT) was successfully demonstrated. It is a major technology that will safely parachute future astronauts down in case of any exigency at the launch pad while taking off and India has become the fourth country in the world to acquire the technology after USA, Russia and China.  Isro's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle, will be used to launch Gaganyaan as it has the necessary payload capability.

1.7.5 Vyomamitra  Before orbiting astronauts on India’s first manned mission to the space in December 2021, the Indian Space Research Organisation will send ‘Vyomamitra’, a ‘lady robot’, in unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft.  The robot will simulate human functions in space and interact with the environment control life support system.  She can monitor through module parameters, raise an alert, and also perform life support operations. Additionally, she can also perform activities like switch panel operations.  Vyomamitra can also be a companion and talk to astronauts, recognise them and to their queries.

1.7.6 ADITYA-L1 MISSION  Aditya L-1 is the first dedicated Indian solar mission to study the various dynamics of solar atmosphere and the puzzling phenomena of coronal heating  The spacecraft will be placed at the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1) for the uninterrupted monitoring of the Sun.  The mission is being designed to meet the following objectives:  Study of Solar upper atmospheric dynamics  Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares  Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun  Development, dynamics and origin of coronal mass ejection (CMEs )  Magnetic field topology and magnetic field measurements in the solar corona (not planned by any mission so far)  Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind)  Solar spectral irradiance (UV) variations and dynamics of chromosphere

1.8 ISRO’S EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITES

 ISRO has launched many small satellites mainly for experimental purposes. This experiment include Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Studies, Payload Development, Orbit Controls, recovery technology etc.  INS-1C (Jan 2018), INS-1A (Feb 2017) and INS-1B(Feb 2017) are a few of the

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experimental satellite of India.  The INS (Indian Nano Satellite) is developed as a co-passenger satellite to accompany bigger satellites on PSLV launch vehicle.  The primary objectives of INS system are to:  Design and develop a low cost modular Nano satellite  Provide an opportunity for ISRO technology demonstration payloads  Provide a standard bus for launch of on demand services  Provide an opportunity to carry innovative payloads for Universities / R&D laboratories

1.9 SMALL SATELLITES

 Sub 500 kg class satellites - a platform for stand-alone payloads for earth imaging and science missions within a quick turnaround time.  Microsat (Jan 2018) and YOUTHSAT (Apr 2011) are two examples of small satellite

1.10 UNIVERSITY / ACADEMIC INSTITUTE SATELLITES

 ISRO has influenced educational institutions by its activities like making satellites for communication, remote sensing and astronomy. It has increased the interest of universities and institutions towards making experimental student satellites.  Capable Universities and institution can venture into space technology on- orbit with guidance and support from ISRO in following ways :  Development of payload  Satellite Design & Fabrication

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Space Crafts of other

countries & Space Missions 02

2.1 NASA's InSight 2.24 NASA Mars Helicopter 2.2 Parker Solar Probe 2.25 Radar in a CubeSat (RainCube) 2.3 TESS 2.26 UltimaThule renamed as 2.4 Chang'e 4 spacecraft ‘Arrokoth’ 2.5 Queqiao Relay Satellite 2.27 NASA’s Orion spacecraft 2.6 Yutu 2-China 2.28 Lunar ‘Gateway’ space station 2.7 Japanese Hayabusa2 2.29 Cassini-Huygens spacecraft 2.8 VISIONS-2 2.30 The Hubble Space Telescope 2.9 NASA's OSIRIS-REx (HST) 2.10 BEPICOLOMBO 2.31 New Shepard rocket and space 2.11 Voyager 2 reaches interstellar capsule space 2.32 Sentinel-3B- European Space 2.12 Dawn mission Agency 2.13 Soyuz 2.33 Gaia Mission- European Space 2.14 Interstellar Mapping and Agency (ESA) Acceleration Probe (IMAP) 2.34 Aeolus Satellite- European Space mission Agency (ESA) 2.15 Chandra Xray Observatory 2.35 STARS-Me – Japan 2.16 James Webb Space 2.36 BeiDou Navigation Satellite 2.17 ICESat System (BDS)- China 2.18 Ibuki-2 2.37 China to launch Artificial Moon 2.19 EuCROPIS 2.38 Emirates Mars Mission -Hope 2.20 NASA’s Lucy and Ralph Probe 2.21 Advanced Supersonic Parachute 2.39 The Bangabandhu Satellite-1- Inflation Research Experiment Bangladesh (ASPIRE) 2.40 MeerKAT radio telescope – South 2.22 Mars 2020 Mission Africa 2.23 MAVEN spacecraft

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2.1 NASA's InSight

 InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a NASA Discovery Program mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior.  The InSight mission will seek to understand the evolutionary formation of rocky planets, including Earth, by investigating the interior structure and processes of Mars.  InSight will also investigate the dynamics of Martian tectonic activity and meteorite impacts, which could offer clues about such phenomena on Earth.

2.2 Parker Solar Probe

 Parker Solar Probe will perform its scientific investigations in a hazardous region of intense heat and solar radiation. The spacecraft will fly close enough to the Sun to watch the solar wind speed up from subsonic to supersonic, and it will fly through the birthplace of the highest-energy solar particles.  The primary science goals for the mission are to trace how energy and heat moves through the solar corona and to explore what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles.

2.3 TESS

 The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an MIT-led NASA mission to spend two years discovering transiting exoplanets by an all-sky survey.  TESS will survey 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun to search for transiting exoplanets.  What are transiting planets?  Transiting planets are those that go in front of the star as seen from the telescope and, to date, is the most successful discovery technique for finding small exoplanets.

2.4 Chang'e 4 spacecraft

 China's Chang'e 4 mission successfully carried out the first-ever soft landing on the moon's far side.  Often mistakenly called the "dark side" of the moon (it does receive sunlight), the far-side region is the back of Earth's natural satellite that is perpetually turned away from planet earth.  Chang'e 4 will collect data so that scientists can better understand the evolution and formation of the moon.  Chang'e 4 landed over a special, possibly insightful location. Von Kármán

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crater, a 186 kilometer wide feature, is full of scientific potential. It's home to igneous rock that may reveal clues about the moon's internal structure, and includes fascinating volcanic constructs (mantle deposits that resemble the shape of Earth's cinder-cone volcanoes), secondary craters made by the ejecta of earlier impacts, landslides and more.

2.5 Queqiao Relay Satellite to explore Far Side Of Moon – China

 China's Chang'e-4 probe has started the exploration on the far side of the moon thanks to the relay satellite, Queqiao, that provides a communication link with ground control.  Queqiao, meaning Magpie Bridge, became the first communication satellite operating in the halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the earth- moon system.  The satellite processes data from the probe and transmits it to earth. It could also provide communication for probes from other countries if they intend to explore the moon's far side within the lifetime of the satellite.

2.6 Yutu 2-China

 Yutu-2 is a robotic lunar rover that formed part of the Chinese Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon.  In December 2019, Yutu 2 broke the lunar longevity record, previously held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover, which operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days (321 Earth days).

2.7 Japanese Hayabusa-2

 It is an asteroid sample-return mission operated by the Japanese space agency, JAXA.  Hayabusa2 was launched on 3 December 2014 and rendezvoused with near- Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu on 27 June 2018.  The aim of Hayabusa2 is to return a sample of the asteroid back to Earth, just as the original Hayabusa spacecraft did nearly a decade ago.  About Asteroid 162173 Ryugu :  It is a primitive carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid. Carbonaceous asteroids are expected to preserve the most pristine materials in the Solar System, a mixture of minerals, ice, and organic compounds that interact with each other.

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2.8 VISIONS-2

 It is the sounding rocket launched by NASA to get a closer look at the how the Earth's atmosphere is slowly leaking into space.  Objective  Understanding atmospheric escape on Earth has applications all over the Universe, from predicting which far-off planets might be habitable to piecing together how Mars became the desolate, exposed landscape it is today.  The VISIONS-2 mission, short for Visualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral Atom Sensing-2

2.9 NASA's OSIRIS-REx

 The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36), and bring at least a 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth for study.  The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.

2.10 BEPICOLOMBO

 BepiColombo is Europe's first mission to Mercury.  The mission comprises two spacecraft: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). BepiColombo is a joint mission between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), executed under ESA leadership.  The mission will study all aspects of Mercury, from the structure and dynamics of its magnetosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind, to its internal structure with its large iron core, and the origin of the planet’s magnetic field. It will make global maps of the surface elemental and chemical composition and image features to better understand geological processes and how the surface has been modified over time by impact craters, tectonic activity, volcanism and polar ice deposits.  The data will enable scientists to understand more about the origin and evolution of a planet located close to its parent star, and a better understanding of the overall evolution of our Solar System.

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2.11 Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space

 Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets.  It is for the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA's Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere - the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun.  Its twin, Voyager 1 crossed this boundary in 2012, but Voyager 2 carries a working instrument that will provide first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space and Voyagers provide a detailed glimpse of how heliosphere interacts with the constant interstellar wind flowing from beyond.

2.12 Dawn mission

 It is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, Dawn is a mission to the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt – Vesta and Ceres.  Dawn orbited the protoplanet Vesta and is now in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres as part of its mission to characterize the conditions and processes that shaped our solar system.  Vesta and Ceres are the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. By studying these two giant remnants from the epoch of planet formation, Dawn will provide scientists with new knowledge of how the solar system formed and evolved.

2.13 Soyuz

 The Soyuz is a Russian spacecraft which carries people and supplies to and from the space station.  Presently it is the only spacecraft carry people to ISS after USA retired its space shuttle in 2011.

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2.14 Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission

 The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is a heliophysics mission that simultaneously investigates two important and coupled science topics in the heliosphere: the acceleration of energetic particles and interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium.  The planned launch for IMAP is in October, 2024. The IMAP spacecraft has a science payload of ten instruments and is a simple Sun-pointed spinner in orbit.  IMAP also continuously broadcasts real-time in-situ data that can be used for space weather prediction.

2.15 Chandra Xray Observatory

 NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope specially designed to detect X-ray emission from very hot regions of the Universe such as exploded stars, clusters of galaxies, and matter around black holes. Because X-rays are absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, Chandra must orbit above it, up to an altitude of 139,000 km in space.  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date.  Recently It entered protective “safe mode” due to a malfunction.

2.16 James Webb Space

 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2021, will probe the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe from the Big Bang to alien planet formation and beyond.  It will focus on four main areas: first light in the universe, assembly of galaxies in the early universe, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and planets (including the origins of life.)  It will be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

2.17 ICESat

 NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 is the new Earth-observing satellite will measure the height of our planet’s ice in unprecedented detail.  Objectives: 1. Quantify how much melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica contribute to sea level changes. 2. Quantify how ice sheets and glaciers are gaining or losing mass at a regional level, to help researchers understand the mechanisms behind those changes.

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3. Estimate the thickness of sea ice and monitor any changes. 4. Measure the height of vegetation in forests and other ecosystems worldwide.

2.18 Ibuki-2

 Ibuk-2i also known as The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSat)  It is an Earth observation satellite and the world's first satellite dedicated to greenhouse-gas- monitoring. It measures the densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations on the Earth's atmosphere. The GOSAT was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

2.19 EuCROPIS

 EuCROPIS (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-Food Production in Space) is a life science satellite developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and is intended to investigate the possibility of growing plants (specifically tomatoes) in different levels of gravity, such as on the Moon and Mars, as a sustainable food source while using human urine for moisture and as the source of fixed nitrogen.

2.20 NASA’s Lucy and Ralph

 Lucy is the First Mission to Jupiter’s Trojans. It will comprise a 12-year journey with a fly-by to seven different asteroids -- six Trojan asteroids and a Main Belt asteroid -- more than any other previous asteroid mission.  Jupiter's swarms of Trojan asteroids may be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, and serve as time capsules from the birth of our Solar System more than 4 billion years ago.  The data collected on the Lucy mission could provide essential clues about how organic molecules form in primitive bodies, a process that might also have led to the emergence of life on Earth.  The Lucy mission payload will explore the Trojan asteroids using: o the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) --- It will take high- definition photos of the Trojans o the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (L’TES) --- It will analyze the heat given off of the Trojans’ surface structures o L’Ralph --- It will detect the Trojan asteroids' chemical fingerprints.  L’Ralph is a near-twin of Ralph which was first launched aboard the New Horizons spacecraft in 2006 and obtained stunning flyby images of Jupiter and its moons. It also flew past a Kuiper Belt object named ‘Arrokoth’ in January 2019.  L’Ralph or ‘Lucy Ralph’ instrument allows scientists to interpret data provided by Sun's reflected light that are the fingerprints of different elements and compounds.

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 What makes Ralph special is its dual capability to observe both visible and infrared wavelengths.

2.21 Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE)

 ASPIRE is NASA’s parachute testing series for its Mars 2020 mission.  The mission relies on special parachute to slow spacecraft down as it enters Martian atmosphere at over 5.4 kilometers per second.  NASA conducted a series of sounding rocket tests to help decide which parachute design to use.  During the tests, NASA achieved the fastest inflation in history of a parachute of that size and created a peak load of almost 70,000 pounds of force. Within four- tenths of a second, the 180-pound parachute billowed out from being a solid cylinder to being fully inflated.  The mass of nylon, Technora and Kevlar fibre that make up the parachute will play an integral part in landing NASA's state-of-the-art Mars 2020 rover on the Red Planet in February 2021.

2.22 Mars 2020 Mission

 The Mars 2020 rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long- term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet  The mission will seek signs of ancient Martian life by deploying rover for investigating evidence in place and by caching drilled samples of Martian rocks for potential future return to Earth  It will carry out search by conducting drills for core samples that may contain proof of microbial life from the past  The rover will also examine different methods to create oxygen from Mars's atmosphere  The mission is timed for a launch opportunity in July/August 2020 when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars

2.23 MAVEN spacecraft

 Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) is a spacecraft developed by NASA that went into orbit around Mars to study the planet's atmosphere. Mission goals include determining how the atmosphere and water, presumed to have once been substantial, were lost over time.  Data from the MAVEN orbiter published in 2015 confirmed that the solar wind is responsible for stripping away the atmosphere of Mars over the years, as the shielding effect of the global magnetic field was lost as the planet's internal dynamo cooled.  In 2019, MAVEN mission embarked on a new campaign to tighten its orbit

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around Mars. The operation is aimed at reducing the highest point of the MAVEN spacecraft’s elliptical orbit from 3,850 to 2,800 miles (6,200 to 4,500 kilometers) above the surface and prepare it to take on additional responsibility as a data-relay satellite for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, which launches in 2020.

2.24 NASA Mars Helicopter

 The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.  As a technology demonstrator, the Mars Helicopter carries no science instruments. Its purpose is to confirm that powered flight in the tenuous Martian atmosphere (which has 1% the density of Earth's) is possible and that it can be controlled from Earth over large interplanetary distances.  The helicopter also carries a camera capable of providing high-resolution color images to further demonstrate the vehicle's potential for documenting the Red Planet.

2.25 Radar in a CubeSat (RainCube)

 RainCube (Radar in a CubeSat) is a technology demonstration mission funded through NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) to enable Ka-band precipitation radar technologies on a low-cost, quick-turnaround platform.  RainCube has three main objectives: o Develop, launch, and operate the first radar instrument on a CubeSat (6U) o Demonstrate new technologies and provide space validation for a Ka- band (35.75 GHz) precipitation profiling radar. o Enable future precipitation profiling Earth science missions on a low-cost, quick-turnaround platform

2.26 UltimaThule renamed as ‘Arrokoth’

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 Ultima Thule, the farthest cosmic body ever visited by a spacecraft, has been renamed Arrokoth, following a backlash over the previous name's Nazi connection.

 It was discovered in 2014 by NASA’s New Horizons science team, using the Hubble Space Telescope.  New Horizons flew by Arrokoth on Jan. 1, 2019, snapping images that showed a double-lobed object that looked like a partially flattened snowman.  It’s also very red — even redder than Pluto. The object's strange shape — unlike any ever seen — was the biggest surprise of the flyby.  Arrokoth is in a region of space beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt that is swarming with small, icy and ancient objects.  Because they are so far from the Sun, Kuiper Belt objects have only been slightly heated since forming, and are thought to be well-preserved, frozen samples of what the outer solar system was like after its birth more than 4.5 billion years ago.

2.27 NASA’s Orion spacecraft

 Orion is a new NASA spacecraft for astronauts. The spacecraft is an important part of NASA's Artemis program that includes sending the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024.  This spacecraft will take a crew to the Gateway in lunar orbit. The Gateway is a new spaceship that will serve as a place for astronauts to prepare before missions to the surface of the Moon and, ultimately, Mars.  Orion will take astronauts farther than they have ever gone. Orion will do several things: o Carry the crew safely to space. o Serve as a home while the crew is traveling. o Allow the crew to return to Earth safely from speeds as fast as 20,000 mph. o Be a "lifeboat" if the crew has to return to Earth in an emergency.  Orion will launch on NASA's new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).

2.28 Lunar ‘Gateway’ space station

 NASA is working with its partners to design and develop a small spaceship that will orbit the Moon called the Gateway. This spaceship will be a temporary home and office for astronauts, just about a five-day, 250,000- mile commute from Earth.  Astronauts will visit the Gateway at least once per year, but they won’t stay year-round like crew aboard the International Space Station. The Gateway is much smaller, too.

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 Just like an airport here, spacecraft bound for the lunar surface or for Mars can use the Gateway to refuel or replace parts, and resupply things like food and oxygen without going home first.  For months-long crew expeditions to the Gateway, this could allow multiple trips down to the lunar surface, and exploration of new locations across the Moon.  One of the most unique things about the Gateway is NASA can move it to other orbits around the Moon to do more science in new locations. The agency wants to use the Gateway as a science platform to look back at the Earth, observe the Sun, and get unobstructed views of the vast universe.

2.29 Cassini-Huygens spacecraft

 After two decades in space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft reached the end of its remarkable journey of exploration.  A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency, or ESA, and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini launched in 1997 along with ESA's Huygens probe.  The spacecraft contributed to studies of Jupiter for six months in 2000 before reaching its destination, Saturn, in 2004 and starting a string of flybys of Saturn's moons.  That same year it released the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan to conduct a study of the moon's atmosphere and surface composition.  In its second extended mission, Cassini made the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons, flew between the rings and descended into the planet's atmosphere.

2.30 The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

 Hubble, the observatory, is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space.  It can see astronomical objects with an angular size of 0.05 arcseconds, which is like seeing a pair of fireflies in Tokyo that are less than 10 feet apart from Washington, DC.  Recent achievements of HST : o In 2018, results from Hubble observations of ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, were announced. Hubble, along with other space and ground-based telescopes, measured the object’s trajectory and found that it gained an unexpected boost of speed. o Astronomers released Hubble images of the farthest star ever seen, nicknamed Icarus. It is so far away that its light has taken 9 billion years to reach Earth. Hubble was able to spot Icarus because the star’s light was

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magnified by an intervening cluster of galaxies in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. o Astronomers announced that the Kepler and Hubble space telescopes had gathered evidence of a possible moon orbiting a planet outside our solar system. Potentially as large as Neptune, the suspected “exomoon” accompanies a planet several times more massive than Jupiter called Kepler-1625b, which orbits a Sun-like star 8,000 light-years from Earth.

2.31 New Shepard rocket and space capsule

 Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched NASA experiments, student art projects and thousands of postcards from kids on a suborbital trip to space on board the New Shepard spacecraft and rocket.  New Shepard is a reusable space capsule and rocket. Currently, Blue Origin has used the launch system to fly uncrewed science experiments, art and more to space. But the company hopes to eventually use the vehicle to fly paying tourists on suborbital spaceflights. Those first passenger flights could begin in 2020.

2.32 Sentinel-3B- European Space Agency

 Sentinel-3B is a European Space Agency Earth observation satellite dedicated to oceanography . It is the second (after Sentinel-3A) of four planned Sentinel-3 satellites.  Sentinel-3B will join its twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. The pairing of identical satellites provides the best coverage and data delivery for Europe’s Copernicus programme – the largest environmental monitoring programme in the world. The satellites carry the same suite of cutting-edge instruments to measure oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.

2.33 Gaia Mission- European Space Agency (ESA)

 Gaia is an ambitious mission to chart a three-dimensional map of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, in the process revealing the composition, formation and evolution of the Galaxy.  Gaia will provide unprecedented positional and radial velocity measurements with the accuracies needed to produce a stereoscopic and kinematic census of about one billion stars in our Galaxy and throughout the Local Group. This amounts to about 1 per cent of the Galactic stellar population.  Among other findings, Gaia has provided unprecedented insights into the binary system of stars that caused an unusual brightening of an even more distant star.

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2.34 Aeolus Satellite- European Space Agency (ESA)

 Aeolus, or, in full, Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus), is an Earth observation satellite operated by the European Space Agency (ESA).  Built by Airbus Defence and Space, ADM-Aeolus is the first satellite with equipment capable of performing global wind-component-profile observation and will provide much-needed information to improve weather forecasting.  Aeolus is the first satellite capable of observing what the winds are doing on Earth, from the surface of the planet and into the stratosphere 30 km high.  Aeolus is the fifth planned satellite in the Living Planet Programme (LPP) of the European Space Agency (ESA).

2.35 STARS-Me (Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite - Miniature Elevator) – Japan

 In September 2018, a satellite launched containing a miniature space elevator designed by researchers at Shizuoka University. It intends to serve as a test model of a future space elevator that the Obayashi Corp. hopes to construct in the next 30 years.  The test involves a miniature elevator stand-in -- a box just six centimetres (2.4 inches) long, three centimetres wide, and three centimetres high.  If all goes well, it will provide proof of concept by moving along a 10-metre cable suspended in space between two mini satellites that will keep it taut.  The mini-elevator will travel along the cable from a container in one of the satellites.  Japanese construction firm Obayashi, which is collaborating with the Shizuoka university project, is also exploring other ways to build its own space elevator to put tourists in space in 2050.

2.36 BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)- China

 The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has been independently constructed and operated by China with an eye to the needs of the country’s national security and economic and social development.  BDS provides all-time, all-weather and high-accuracy positioning, navigation and timing services to global users.  When fully completed, BeiDou will provide an alternative global navigation satellite system to the United States owned Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian GLONASS or European Galileo systems and is

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expected to be more accurate than these.

2.37 China to launch Artificial Moon to light up Night Sky

 Chinese scientists are planning to launch an artificial moon into orbit by 2020 to illuminate city streets after dark.  The imitation celestial body — essentially an illuminated satellite — will bear a reflective coating to cast sunlight back to Earth, where it will supplement streetlights at night.  Scientists are hoping to hang the man-made moon above the city of Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan province  China’s space goals are not unprecedented. In the 1990s, Russia experimented with using an orbital mirror to reflect sunlight on some of its sun-deprived northern cities. The project was abandoned in 1999 after the mirror failed to unfold and was incinerated in the atmosphere.

2.38 Emirates Mars Mission -Hope Probe

 The Hope Mars Mission also called Emirates Mars Mission, is a planned space exploration probe mission to Mars funded by the United Arab Emirates and built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, the University of Colorado and Arizona State University and set for launch in 2020.  The probe will study the climate daily and through seasonal cycles, the weather events in the lower atmosphere such as dust storms, as well as the weather on Mars different geographic areas.  The probe will attempt to answer the scientific community questions of why Mars atmosphere is losing hydrogen and oxygen into space and the reason behind Mars drastic climate changes.  The probe will be the "first true weather satellite" at Mars.

2.39 The Bangabandhu Satellite-1- Bangladesh

 The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 is the 1st Bangladeshi geostationary communications and Broadcasting Satellite.  The project is being implemented by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) working hand-in-hand with US based Space Partnership International, LLC. and was the first payload launched by a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket of SpaceX.

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2.40 MeerKAT radio telescope – South Africa

 MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope in Africa, and the locally designed and built MeerKAT was incorporated into the first phase of the SKA.  MeerKAT is a precursor for the SKA-mid array.  In September 2019, an international team of astronomers using South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope discovered enormous balloon-like structures that tower hundreds of light-years above and below the centre of our galaxy.

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