Cheap space service

Having yet to put people on orbit, not yet bringing the remote control robot to Mars, has not yet launched a space probe into the galaxy, but India has been quietly involved in the game for the past five decades. thousands of miles of land and ready to provide the world's cheapest space services.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) does not need to go out of its borders to find technology innovators. This space program is a complete operation that begins with empty hands, with the task of designing and launching satellites and research spacecraft that they have built into space.

Universe and spirituality

Vikram Sarabhai, founder of the Indian space program (Photo: ethernet.in)

In the coming years, ISRO will launch the first space probe, Chandrayaan-1, to map and capture the surface of the Moon. The agency will also launch two new heavy-duty missiles and establish wide-ranging telecommunications networks that can connect the most remote areas of India. It is hoped that the maps that Chandrayaan-1 might make may one day put a research station on the Moon or search for minerals to bring back to Earth.

Every successful launch of satellite by ISRO resonates deeply in patriotic organizations and receives congratulations from all over the country. Some cities even fired so many fireworks that the sky was still thick with smoke after hours. In many other places, people pray for the success of exploration ships in shrines and mosques. Maybe they don't know what is on the rocket launching into the universe, but it certainly brings confidence to India.

However, Indian rocket scientists are humbly talking about their work. Launching large payload missiles into space is a risky job and everything can become problematic at any stage. After 11 successive launches, the most recent launch of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) launch on July 10 had to be canceled when one of the engines failed. But these failures are unavoidable in space research, and not just for India. In 2003, a wave of similar satellite launch by the Brazilian space agency met with a disaster when the missile exploded on the launch pad, killing 21 technicians and having to suspend the space program.

Some scientists even pilgrimage to the famous Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, carrying a small brass satellite model. This model was irrigated with holy water and placed before the statue of Vishnu to be blessed to succeed. "Once you are in the air, there is no time to change anything," said Rajeev Lochan, an ISRO scientific assistant. "It might be useful to have a saint in your corner."

India's space science was born in the early 60s, when primitive missile parts were transferred to the launch yard by bicycle. (Photo: SGTT)

In early 2008, ISRO will launch the Chandrayaan-1 satellite to map the Moon's surface. (Photo: SGTT)

Silent peaks

For the past 49 years, ISRO has gone into space not to look at the stars, but to look back to Earth. Remote sensing is one of the areas that India is playing on par with programs in the US. India is capable of launching satellites in both polar orbit and synchronous orbit. A geosynchronous orbit has a time when the satellite spins all its orbit around the same time that Earth spins around its axis, often with telecom and television satellites. Polar orbit (polar orbit) is a straight trajectory with the Earth axis, perpendicular to the equator, passing through two poles, the satellite moving perpendicular to the motion of

Small brass satellite models are often placed by Indian scientists before the statue of the god Vishnu to ask for blessing to succeed (Photo: SGTT)

The planet should observe every square meter on Earth, suitable for meteorological satellites, satellite satellites and spy satellites.

Therefore, India can capture real-time high-resolution photos of any place on the planet. A satellite launched in 2001 took pictures so well that analysts wondered if it could be used to spy on other countries. However, although this satellite can distinguish an SUV and a closed-top sports car, it lacks the details that Russian and American spy satellites can read, for example, numbers on license plates. Last year, ISRO's Antrix company collected more than $ 500 million, more than half of the agency's operating budget, thanks to huge demand for space and media photography, and only very few countries participated. Join this game. It also aims to account for 10% of the market share in less than a decade.

Although the agency spent about one-tenth of NASA's $ 16.5 billion annual budget for this space research field, some people may say that, on a daily basis, ISRO has done more to make their progress accessible to people. The agency not only brought television to the entire subcontinent in a single raid in the early 1990s, it also took further steps in water management, preserving land, archeology and health. from far away.

The Moon probe is the organization's first purely scientific goal. And it could be the start of a new era of Indian space program. Although there are currently more than 50 countries with space research programs, very few countries are able to plan and operate their own probes. In addition to Europe and the US, the named countries only have China, Brazil, Japan, Turkey and India.

Non-military space

For every other country in the space field, space research programs arise from ballistic weapons research for military purposes. India is different. While the leaders of the world are imagining advanced weapons systems, Indian scientists consider space technology a means to help develop the world.

At the beginning of the cold war, Vikram Sarabhai, founder of the Indian space program, laid the foundation for the country's space research field. After the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957, Sarabhai said: "We think that if we have to play a meaningful role in representing the nation, and in the community of nations, we must be human. second, not everyone else in the application of advanced technologies for real human and social problems. "

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) launcher of India
( Photo: isro.org)

If NASA is interested in exploring space between planets, considering galaxies, stars and other planets, ISRO first and foremost examines the Earth and conceives of applications for space to improve the quality of life right on Earth. That difference is not easily obtained. Since ISRO does not outsource any research in other countries to more developed programs, they must build themselves from empty hands.

These days, orbiting satellites do not surprise many people when NASA sends robots to Mars, but ISRO is gaining commercial position in the space industry to make people pay attention. "We can launch a remote sensing satellite for about half the price of any other place," said Shridhara Murhi, Antrix's chief operating officer, commercial division of ISRO. It is the saving and skillful radical that has started to attract international investors.

Dong Phong

INDIA SPACE PROGRAMS

Attack on the Moon : Around early 2008, ISRO expects Chandrayaan-1, an orbiting space satellite designed to map the Moon's surface. Chandrayaan-1 will begin a two-year exploration with the goal of sending millions of high-quality images to Earth for review by global scientists. Scientists from the European Union, the US, and Bulgaria contributed equipment for this trip.

SCRAMJET : ISRO's Ultrasonic Jet Engine (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet - SCRAMJET) is developing a reusable satellite launcher (Re-entry Launch Vehicle - RLV). RLV will not push itself into orbit, but only gently escape the Earth's atmosphere, place a satellite in orbit and then return to the space center. Once completed, RLV will significantly reduce the cost of satellite launch.

Rocket science : India successfully launched 44 satellites into orbit. In the next two years, a new missile, GSLV-III will be completed, capable of controlling satellites weighing up to 6 tons into space.

Miniature satellites : The construction of single-use multi-stage rockets that only launch one or two satellites at a time will not bring much money. So a group of ISRO scientists began developing miniature satellites that were only half the size of a medium-sized dining table and could launch up to 16 satellites at the same time.

Remote sensing : Nearly all of the 44 satellites that ISRO has launched have at least one device with cameras or other scientific devices. These programs together bring great breakthroughs in research and search, to detect climate change, to open up archaeological sites, manage fisheries and fisheries, detect water in barren areas. most on the planet.

Telemedicine : India has a world-class medical infrastructure in major cities, but most people in the country only have access to poor, specialized medical doctors. With telemedicine, city experts can diagnose and treat patients in the most remote areas of India right from their hospitals. ISRO satellites have now connected to more than 271 rural districts with leading doctors in city areas.

Telecommunications : Before 1980, India still did not have a TV.A state-sponsored television channel provides most of the programs and only a few selected areas catch waves by scattered (terrestrial transmitter) transmitters.In 1982, India delivered an INSAT satellite program that served more than 20 communication satellites and brought television to more and more places and meteorological coverage for the nation.

Thuc Phuong