The Indian Space Programme
India’s incredible journey from the Third World towards the First
Gurbir Singh
Copyright © 2017 by Gurbir Singh
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests contact the publisher at the email address below.
Gurbir Singh/Astrotalkuk Publications
www.astrotalkuk.org
info@astrotalkuk.org
Front and back cover images adapted from ISRO. Front cover GSLV Mk3 launch on 05/06/2017. Back cover image of Earth taken on 1/12/2013 by Mars Orbiter Mission whilst in Earth orbit.
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” via email to info@astrotalkuk.org.
The Indian Space Programme /Gurbir Singh —1st edition.
N: 13 9780956933751
ISBN: 10 956933750
Mohinder – An older brother and an unlikely mentor
About the Author
Gurbir Singh is the publisher of www.astrotalkuk.org and the author of Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester published in 2011 to mark the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first journey into space. A former college lecturer, he is working in the information security sector. He has a science and an arts degree.
Once keen on flying, Gurbir holds a private pilot’s license for the UK, US and Australia. He was one of the 13,000 unsuccessful applicants responding to the 1989 advert “Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary” to become the first British astronaut, for which Helen Sharman was eventually selected and flew on the Soviet space station MIR in 1991.
Born in India, he has been living in the UK since 1966 except for one year in Australia. He is married, with a nine-year-old daughter and lives in Lancashire in England.
Contents
About the Author
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction
Chapter OneRise of National Space Programmes
Tipu’s Rockets
Rockets and Empire
Founding Fathers of Modern Rocketry
National Space Programmes
Scramble for German Rocket Technology
Korolev, the Chief Designer
Von Braun and the Moon
Sarabhai and India's Space Programme
Chapter TwoFrom Vedic Astronomy to Modern Observatories
Colonialism and Renaissance
The Great Trigonometrical Survey
Madras Observatory
The Madras Catalogue
Discovery of Helium
The Earth-Sun Distance
Kodaikanal Observatory
The Evershed Effect
Other Observatories
Modern Astronomy
Chapter ThreeEmergence of Scientific Institutions
Aligarh Scientific Society
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Astronomical Society of India
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
Indian Institute of Science
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Scientific Temper
Chapter FourScience and the Raj
Jagadish Chandra Bose
Srinivasa Ramanujan
C.V. Raman
Satyendra Nath Bose
Homi Jehangir Bhabha
Chapter FiveIndia's Forgotten Rocketeer
Air and Rocket Mail
Rocket Mail and World War II
Smith’s Personal Life
Chapter SixVikram Sarabhai: Leadership by Trust
Education
Sarabhai Family and Gandhi
Marriage
Peaceful Uses
Chapter SevenFirst Launch
Indian National Committee for Space Research
Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station
Pakistan’s Space Agency
First Launch in India
One Village One Television: SITE
SITE Infrastructure
Chapter EightInside the Indian Space Research Organisation
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
Space Applications Centre
ISRO Satellite Centre
Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre
ISRO Propulsion Complex
ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network
Master Control Facility
Recovering Costs - Antrix
Chapter NineSriharikota. India's Spaceport
Mission Control Centre
First Launch Pad
Second Launch Pad
Solid Propellant Booster Plant
Local Propellant Facilities
Electric Propulsion
Launch Dynamics
Chapter TenISRO's Rockets
Inertial Guidance System
Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3)
Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV)
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3)
GSLV-Mk3
Future Launch Vehicles
Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)
Scramjet
Chapter ElevenStruggle with Cryogenic Technology
Cryogenic Engine Technology. Buy or Build?
India’s Cryogenic Engine
Russian Roulette
Missile Technology Control Regime
Commercial Space Services
Chapter TwelveSatellites and Saris
India's First Satellite: Aryabhata
Earth Observation: Bhaskara and IRS
Bhaskara 1 and 2
IRS-1A
Remote Sensing Instrument
Passive instruments
Active instruments
Data from Earth Observation Satellites
Ariane Passenger Payload Experiment
Communication Satellites
INSAT 1 Series
INSAT 2 Series
Education and Defence
Satellite Assisted Search and Rescue
Chapter Thirteen Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System
Space Segment
Ground Segment
User Segment
Navigation Satellite
GAGAN: GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation
Global Navigation Satellite Systems
Chapter Fourteen Human Space Flight
India’s First and Only Astronaut Rakesh Sharma
Still-born Astronaut
Roadmap for Human Spaceflight
Chapter FifteenMoon, Mars and Science
Destination Moon
Building Chandrayaan-1
Journey to the Moon
Many nations, one spacecraft
Moon Impact Probe
Science from Chandrayaan-1
Chandrayaan-2: Journey to the Lunar Surface
Why India Went to Mars
From Sriharikota to Mars
Science from Martian Orbit
Astrosat - Astronomy from Orbit
Operational Status
Future Science and Interplanetary Missions
Return to Mars
Aditya-L1
Venus Orbiter Mission
Tea
m Indus
Chapter SixteenSpace and National Security
Space Infrastructure
For All Mankind
War and Space
Anti-Satellite Weapons
Space Debris
Chapter Seventeen The Road Ahead
Rockets or Rotis
Satellite TV, Demand and Supply
Private Sector
Research and Development
Global Space Market
Regional Space Power
International Collaboration
Value of Space
Chasing a Chimera?
Appendices
Abbreviations
List of Interviews
Indian Currency
Types of Orbits
Satellite Communication
International Treaties
ISRO Spaceflight History
References
List of Figures
Figure 1‑1 History of Mysore 1617-1799. Credit John Bartholomew & Co. 1897
Figure 1‑2 Battle of Pollilur. The Ammunition Cart Exploding in the Middle of the Defensive British Square. A Mural in the Summer Palace, Srirangapatna. Credit Author
Figure 1‑3 Congreve rocket fired at Stonington in August 1814. Credit Stonington Historical Society
Figure 1‑4 Sir William Congreve Second Baronet. Circa 1812. Credit James Lonsdale
Figure 1‑5 Congreve 32-pounder (15 kg) incendiary rocket. Credit National Air and Space Museum
Figure 1‑6 Robert Esnault-Pelterie 1907. Credit San Diego Air and Space Museum
Figure 1‑7 Robert Goddard at his launch control shack. Credit NASA
Figure 1‑8 Sergei Korolev middle of picture transporting his glider to the launch site in October 1929. Credit Natalya Koroleva
Figure 1‑9 Wernher von Braun with President Kennedy 16 November 1963. Credit NASA
Figure 2‑1 Jantar Mantar in Jaipur. Credit McKay Savage
Figure 2‑2 Transit of Mercury Recorded by Jeremiah Shakerley from Surat. 3 November 1651. Credit Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Figure 2‑3 The Madras Observatory 1838. Credit Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Figure 2‑4 Solar Eclipse. Turkey. 29 March 2006. Credit Toni May
Figure 2‑5 Transit of Venus 8th June 2012. Had photography been available the 1761 transit would have looked similar. Credit Author
Figure 2‑6 Kodaikanal Observatory. 1908. Credit Unknown Artist
Figure 2‑7 Halley's Comet photographed by John Evershed from Kodaikanal 1910. Credit Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Figure 2‑8 Eugène Lafont (1837–1908). Credit Grentidez
Figure 2‑9 Bhavnagar Telescope in Ladakh 1984. Credit Indian Institute Astrophysics
Figure 2‑10 Devasthal Optical Telescope. September 2015. Credit Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences
Figure 3‑1‑Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Credit Unknown
Figure 3‑2 Original Building of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Calcutta. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 3‑3 Seal of the Astronomical Society of India Designed by Member F.C. Scallan in February 1911. Credit Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Figure 3‑4 Indian Institute of Science. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 3‑5 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai. Credit Author
Figure 3‑6 Max Born (front row fourth from the right) and Homi Bhabha (left-hand side fourth row) at an Informal Meeting on Nuclear Physics. Institute for Theoretical Physics Copenhagen 1936. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 3‑7 India's First Digital Computer TIFRAC. 15 January 1962. Credit TIFR
Figure 4‑1 Jagadish Chandra Bose at the Royal Society in London. Credit Wikimedia Commons
Figure 4‑2 Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920). Credit Professor Richard Askey
Figure 4‑3 Sample from Ramanujan's Lost Notebook. Credit University of Madras
Figure 4‑4 C.V. Raman at the IISc. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 4‑5 Raman in Europe. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 4‑6 Transcript of S.N. Bose’s 1924 Letter to Albert Einstein. Credit S.N. Bose
Figure 4‑7 Bose-Einstein Condensate. Credit Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Figure 4‑8 Homi Bhabha (second from the left) in Cambridge. Credit. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Figure 4‑9 Indian Institute of Science prior to the reorganisation in 1948. From Altor Homi Bhabha Registrar A.G. Pai Director J.C. Ghosh J. Taylor C.V. Raman. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 4‑10 Sketch of C.V. Raman by Homi Bhabha. 1945. Credit IISc Archives
Figure 5‑1 Stephen H. Smith. Credit Superior Galleries
Figure 5‑2 Cover Flown in the First Airmail Flight, Allahabad 1911. Credit India Study Circle - India Post January–March 2011
Figure 5‑3 Letter from the King to Stephen H. Smith Marking the First Airmail Flight between Britain and India. Credit Eric Winter
Figure 5‑4 Regulus I Missile Fired from USS Barbero. 8 June 1959. Credit Smithsonian Postal Museum
Figure 5‑5 Covers flown to the Moon on Apollo 15 July 1971. Credit NASA
Figure 5‑6 King of Sikkim Igniting One of Smith’s Rockets. April 1934. Credit Stephen H. Smith
Figure 5‑7 Stephen Smith and Fay Harcourt Married on 6 November 1918 in Dhurrumtollah Street Roman Catholic Church Calcutta. Credit Paul Sandford
Figure 5‑8 Stephen Smith Centenary Commemorative Stamp. Credit Philately World
Figure 6‑1 Vikram Sarabhai with Son Kartikeya and Daughter Mallika. Credit Mallika Sarabhai
Figure 6‑2 Letter of Recommendation to Cambridge from Rabindranath Tagore. November 1935. Credit Vikram Sarabhai Archives
Figure 6‑3 Mahatma Gandhi with Vikram’s sister, Mridula Sarabhai. 1942. Credit Unknown
Figure 6‑4 Vikram Sarabhai R. Aravamudan and an Apollo 11 Moonrock at Thumba in 1969. Credit R. Aravamudan
Figure 6‑5 Crater Sarabhai 4.66 mile (7.5 km). Photographed by Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden from Lunar Orbit. 30 July 1971. Credit NASA
Figure 7‑1 International Geophysical Year 1957-58. Credit NASA
Figure 7‑2 Sputnik. First Artificial Satellite Launched by the USSR. 4 October 1957. Credit NASA
Figure 7‑3 Former Church now a Museum with model launch vehicles in the foreground. Thumba. Credit Author
Figure 7‑4 Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission. Credit SUPARCO
Figure 7‑5 Battle of Guntur 1780. Credit Charles Hubbell
Figure 7‑6 Nike-Apache at Thumba. Credit Professor Praful Bhavsar
Figure 7‑7 R. Aravamudan (right) and A.P.J Abdul Kalam (left) integrating payload for a sounding rocket launch in 1964. Credit Professor Praful Bhavsar
Figure 7‑8 Sodium-Vapour Trail. 21 November 1963. Credit Professor Praful Bhavsar
Figure 7‑9 Vikram Sarabhai and Jacques Blamont in Kanyakumari. January 1964. Credit Jacques Blamont
Figure 7‑10 NASA’s Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-6). Credit NASA
Figure 7‑11 Vikram Sarabhai and NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine Signing the SITE Agreement. 18 September 1968. Credit NASA
Figure 7‑12 ATS-6 Footprint over India. Credit UNESCO
Figure 7‑13 Chicken Wire Mesh Antenna and Television Used for SITE. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑1 ISRO Centres Providing Scientific, Technical and Administrative Support across India. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑2 ISRO Headquarters in Bengaluru. Credit Author
Figure 8‑3 Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑4 Experimental Satellite Communication Earth Station Built in 1966. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑5 George Joseph Explaining to Prof. Dhawan (extreme left) and Prof. Yash Pal the Operation of the Multispectral Scanner Inside a Dakota Aircraft. 1976. Credit Dr. George Joseph
Figure 8‑6 ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑7 ISRO's 32-m Antenna at Byalalu. Credit Author
Figure 8‑8 Main Building of Master Control Facility, Hassan. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑9 Ground Stations Used for Tracking Mars Orbiter Mission Including International and ISTRAC Centres. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑10 Indian Remote-Sensing Satellite RISAT-1. Credit ISRO
Figure 8‑11 Profit After Tax Rs (Lakhs) Antrix Corporation Limited. Credit Antrix
Figure 9‑1 Sriharikota on India’s East Coast. Credit Google
Figure 9‑2 Sriharikota. Credit Google Earth
Figure 9‑3 Mission Control Centre, Sriharikota. Credit ISRO
Figure 9‑4 Second Launch Control Centre. Credit ISRO
Figure 9‑5 Site of the First Launch Pad. Credit Google
Figure 9‑6 First Launch Pad with PSLV-C18. 12 October 2011. Credit ISRO
Figure 9‑7 Site of the Second Launch Pad. Credit Google
Figure 9‑8 Second Launch Pad Noise and Vibration Suppression System. Credit ISRO
Figure 9‑9 GSLV-D5 on the MLP moving from the VAB towards the SLP. Credit ISRO
Figure 9‑10 Launch Trajectories from Sriharikota. Credit Bhushan Hadkar
Figure 9‑11 International Launch Sites around India. Credit Adapted from Federal Aviation Administration Compendium 2016
Figure 9‑12 Proposed Second Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit Adapted from ISRO
Figure 10‑1 ISRO Family of Launch Vehicles. (Left to Right) SLV-3, ASLV, PSLV, GSLV Mk2, GSLV-Mk3. Credit Wikimedia Commons
Figure 10‑2 Inertial Guidance System. Credit GEC Marconi
Figure 10‑3 Attitude Control. Left: SITVC used by PSLV-XL booster for roll control. Centre: PSLV Second Stage engine gimbaling. Right: GSLV-CUS with Two Vernier Engines (circled). Credit Adapted from ISRO
Figure 10‑4 ISRO’s First Hybrid Launch Vehicle with Strap-On, SO-300-200, to Test Strap-On Technology. 16 October 1985. Credit ISRO
Figure 10‑5 Three Configurations of PSLV. Regular, Core Alone and XL (What looks like strap-ons in the Core Alone configuration are SITVC fuel tanks, which are present in all three configurations). Credit ISRO
Figure 10‑6 Launch Profile of the PSLV-C27 IRNSS-1D. Credit ISRO
Figure 10‑7 LVM3-X/Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment Flight Profile. Credit ISRO
Figure 10‑8 Future Launch Vehicles. Based on fact and informed speculation. Credit Norbert Brugge
Figure 10‑9 Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator. Credit ISRO